Prince Secretly Cremated By Family And Friends

Prince's body has been cremated and a small group of family and friends have attended a private ceremony in his memory.

The singer's publicist Yvette Noel-Schure said in a statement that those close to the 57-year-old had gathered "in a private, beautiful ceremony" on Saturday.

The statement said that a "musical celebration" would be held in future but the star's "final storage" was not for the public.

"We ask for your blessings and prayers of comfort for his family and close friends at this time," it added.

Prince was a Jehovah's Witness, meaning that his funeral needed to take place within a week of his death.

The statement did not say where the service had been held but Prince's sister Tyka Nelson and brother-in-law Maurice Phillips were both seen going into Prince's Minneapolis estate of Paisley Park on Saturday.

The singer's friends, including percussionist Sheila E, bass player Larry Graham and model Damaris Lewis, were also seen there.

Prince - real name Prince Rogers Nelson - was found dead in a lift at Paisley Park on Thursday. An autopsy was done on Friday but officials have not released the cause of his death, saying results could take days or weeks.

Giving an update on the latest in the police investigation into the singer-songwriter's death, Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson said: "There were no obvious signs of trauma on the body at all. We have no reason to believe at this point that this was a suicide."

Celebrity news website TMZ cited anonymous sources saying that Prince was treated for an overdose of the powerful painkiller Percocet while travelling home from concerts in Atlanta days before his death.

Meanwhile, Prince's former manager has claimed that the singer's sister Ms Nelson, 55, is not "business savvy" enough to handle the rights to her brother's huge estate.

Owen Husney's words come amid reports that Ms Nelson, Prince's closest living relative, could inherit his multimillion pound fortune and other items such as his vault of unreleased material.

"I'm sure Tyka is a great person. I would be remiss to think she has the music business savvy to be able to handle a body of work that's got to be worth $250 to 500m.

"Prince's music has never really appeared in commercials. God forbid someone gets hold of this thing and it winds up in some toothpaste commercial.

"I pray that he has left it in good hands with people who know what they're doing."