Prince created a new sound by fusing black American musical styles with white rock, and deeply influenced the current generation of artists, music experts said.

The U.S. music icon was found dead, aged 57, at his studio complex outside his home city of Minneapolis on Thursday.

To millions, Prince was a global icon, but at heart he remained a hometown boy from Minneapolis, nurturing local talent, hosting legendary parties and putting the city on the international music map.

Two days before he was found dead, Prince listened to music at the Dakota Jazz Club, the same venue where he played gigs three years ago that sold out in minutes, and which he frequented often over the years.

Among rock stars, Prince came off as almost otherworldly, an effete pansexual who cherished his own seclusion. Yet through that very image, and occasional forays into more direct advocacy, the artist became a unique political force.

Relishing the fluidity of his own image -- Prince was a straight African American yet was often mistaken for white, Hispanic or gay -- the gender-bending singer presented a new form of black masculinity in the age of hip-hop.

On Prince's 1981 album "Controversy," released days after he opened for the Rolling Stones dressed in bikini underwear and got booed off stage, the singer quipped that he was asked constantly if he was black or white, straight or gay.

The pop icon, who died suddenly Thursday at age 57, oozed sexuality both through his music and his inimitable fashion sense as he turned androgyny into a stylistic symbol.

From Jon Snow's vital signs to festering grudges over wedding dust-ups, hit HBO show "Game of Thrones" ended season five with more cliffhangers than a rock climbing convention.

With so many loose ends needing urgent attention, viewers can only be sure of one thing: winter is coming, and it's going to be tense, bloody and probably semi-nude.

Prince and Michael Jackson were two of the biggest names of the 1980s, musical superstars jostling for supremacy in a golden age of pop.

Loyal fans around the world delighted in debating whether Jackson's "Thriller" bested Prince's "1999" and "Purple Rain," and the media liked to play up the idea of a rivalry.

Prince produced dozens of commercially released albums over the course of his career, augmented by an extensive back catalog of work he kept in his vault at Paisley Park.

Here are some of his landmark releases, in chronological order:

Pop icon Prince -- whose pioneering brand of danceable funk made him one of music's most influential figures -- died Thursday at his compound in Minnesota. He was 57.

The announcement came just a week after the enigmatic Grammy and Oscar winner -- acclaimed for his guitar skills and soaring falsetto -- was taken to hospital with a bad bout of influenza, which he made light of after the scare.

Guy Hamilton, director of four James Bond films including classics "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds are Forever", has died aged 93, former Bond actor Roger Moore said Thursday.

Moore, who was directed by Hamilton in "Live and Let Die" and "The Man with the Golden Gun", tweeted that he was "incredibly, incredibly saddened to hear the wonderful director Guy Hamilton has gone to the great cutting room in the sky. 2016 is horrid".

Britain celebrated the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday with tributes to a popular monarch who has steered it through the decline of empire and a wave of scandals to the Internet age.

The sovereign, who has been on the throne since 1953, emerged from Windsor Castle dressed in a lime green outfit and matching hat to accept presents and flowers from hundreds of well-wishers.