In death — Prince last month, Jackson in 2009 — the two are finally more closely linked in one way: Their deaths were shocking, untimely and tragic. […]

Your entire response is well said BD.

Sadly, Michael Jackson's death wasn't as suprising for me. In fact shortly before his death, I had just had a conversation with my cousin and expressed to her that I didn't think he was long for this world.

Prince's death, on the other hand, was completely different. I did NOT see that coming at all. And honestly, I still find it a little hard to believe that he really IS gone.

Prince and Michael Jackson.

They were born the same year and rose to colossal fame in the 1980s. Each defined a sound for a generation. They were both committed musicians who helped to integrate the world of mainstream music videos.
Prince and Jackson were intensely private, almost otherworldly. They often retreated into their homes, which were really compounds that let them close off the world.
In life, their careers seemed to track, but rarely touch, one another. Were they friends? Not really. Were they rivals? Not really.
In death — Prince last month, Jackson in 2009 — the two are finally more closely linked in one way: Their deaths were shocking, untimely and tragic.

That Prince, a man well known for his "extremely healthy lifestyle and eating regimen" was in actuality an opioid addict!?! Well, frankly, it makes me wannn holla because it smacks in the face of the person he presented himself to be.

And physicians who provide celebrities with "special" access to all kinds of dangeorus drugs are drug-dealers. End of story. They should be arrested, charged and prosecuted as such.

So then the sad truth is, given that Prince had been on opiates since at least 2010…maybe even longer….his life was lost to himself, and to us, long before he took his last breath.