NEW YORK (AP) — Singer and Prince protegé Judith Hill says she was on a plane with Prince when it made an emergency landing in Illinois after the superstar lost consciousness less than a week before his death.
The singer, who appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet From Stardom and on Season 4 of The Voice. The California-based singer was scheduled to be Michael Jackson’s duet partner on the This Is It tour before he died in 2009. In 2015, her solo debut, Back In Time co-produced by Prince, was released.
Hill told The New York Times that she was “very freaked out” when Prince lost consciousness in the middle of a conversation. She said his eyes fixed before he nodded off.
“Thankfully, I happened to be looking into his face,” she said, adding that she might have thought he had simply fallen asleep if she hadn’t been looking at him.
Hill told the newspaper that she shook Prince and called his name while the plane descended to Moline, Illinois.
“We knew it was only a matter of time; we had to get down,” Hill said. “We didn’t have anything on the plane to help him.”
She said he was awake and talking by the time they arrived at a hospital. She said it was the first time she’d ever seen him in distress.
Prince “was quick on his feet,” she said. “Never said anything, that this is hurting, never a sign of struggle. That’s why it’s all very shocking.”
She said Prince was like his old self in the hospital room after the incident.
“He wasn’t dreary or drowsy, or anything,” she said. She told the New York Times he was in a good mood and wanted to watch Zootopia one of his favorite movies. He stayed in the hospital, returning to Minneapolis the next morning. Hill says she returned to California soon after, though she says she did tell people in his inner circle that she thought the incident on the flight was more serious than Prince was letting on.
An attempt to help him resulted in a trip to a local doctor and a call to an addiction specialist, but unfortunately, Prince died of an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl six days after he was taken off the flight. Hill said she found out when she woke up to texts from friends that day.
“That was definitely the worst day of my life,” she said.
At a show in Philadelphia, only her second since his death, Hill was received warmly as she ran through songs from her debut. Her encore, an impassioned funked-up version of the classic ‘Summertime” (an excerpt of Prince playing the song during a rehearsal some years ago has surfaced online) drew a standing ovation. Hill stayed for some time afterward to sign autographs was cordial but seemed understandably fragile.
She’s performing at the Highline Ballroom in New York City tonight and will also be performing at the Essence Festival July 4th weekend.
You can find out more about her at her official website HERE.
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