this morning on "world news now," the death of a legend. what we're learning overnight about the mysterious details surrounding prince's death. just ahead. >> also this half hour, the political firestorm on the campaign trail. >> that's right. the war of words between donald trump and ted cruz as they weigh in on the issue of transgender people using bathrooms as clinton hopes for sanders to drop but is bernie ready to give up just yet? >> putting the "m" back in mtv well, it could be on the way. the network says there may be a return to form. so what took so long? >> and he was a star in a galaxy of his own. fellow celebrities are paying tribute and sharing memories of the purple one, plus his tender moment with another legend, barbara waters. that's in "the skinny" on this friday, april 22nd.

>> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." >> and good morning. i'm diane macedo. >> i'm ryan smith in for kendis gibson. and what a day it is. you know, a lot of people remembering prince. a lot of people in mourning, as well. >> that's right. it's kind of a double-edged sword. you're kind of in mourning but at the same time, there are a lot of people celebrating him. there are dance parties from everywhere. spike lee is throwing one. the leading story is the shocking death of prince. one of the biggest names in music gone too soon. >> prince was just 57. he was found dead yesterday at his compound in suburban minneapolis. >> the cause of death is unknown but an autopsy is scheduled for today. condolences pouring in. president obama said we lost a creative icon tweeting a strong spirit transcends rules and prince once said, nobody's spirit was stronger, bolder or more creative. >> prince is being remembered by his hometown sports team, the minnesota twins displayed purple lights and an image of the

good night sweet prince. as fans gathderred to honor prince, a rainbow braerd in the sky over his home. fans are celebrating his life in the streets of minneapolis. abc's dan harris is there. >> hello from downtown minneapolis where there is a massive street party going on in honor of a native son who became pop music royalty, prince, of course. thousands of people listening to prince songs in these streets that have been shut down. they're singing along and when the action winds down in the street, it's going to move inside this club, the first avenue club. an iconic club in downtown minneapolis. it's a place where prince himself performed many times. it was also the backdrop for some of the scenes in the classic movie "purple rain." there's a lot of the celebration. there's also an undercurrent of sadness. people here loved prince. he was beloved all over the word and all over the country. this was his hometown. he could have lived anywhere but he dhoes stay here.

they used to see him in the local supermarkets. outside of prince's home and studio paisley park, people have been laying flowers and balloons. many of them purple in honor of the man sometimes known as "the purple one." the investigation is ongoing into what caused his death. but as one person said here, his music will live forever. dan harris, abc news, in downtown minneapolis. >> thank you, dan. prince signed his first record deal as a teenager. his music and lyrics transcend generations and genres. >> people of all ages turned out last night for a street party in brooklyn hosted by spike lee paying tribute through song and dance. we have more now from abc's byron pitts who looked at the superstar and his unforgettable mark on rock, funk and soul. ♪ >> reporter: prolific, pioneering. ♪ little red corvette >> reporter: a star so big the world knew him simply by his fi

born prince rogers nelson, 1958, in minneapolis. writing his first song at 7, his first album at 19. his hits endless. ♪ mixing the profane, the profound, an intoxicating brew of sexuality and spirituality on stage. ♪ she wore a raspberry beret ♪ the kind you'd buy in a secondhand store ♪ >> reporter: seven grammys, a golden globe, an academy award for "purple rain" in 1985. ♪ purple rain, purple rain >> reporter: standing just 5'2", his flamboyance, his funk. known to have played every instrument, sung every line of his music.

here he is at his 2004 rock and roll hall of fame induction ceremony. "rolling stone" called him one of the 100 greatest artists of all time. no one knows exactly how many songs prince wrote and produced. he kept a treasure trove of never released work at his home in minneapolis. married twice, famously private, he changed his name to a symbol in 1993, becoming "the artist formerly known as prince." explaining his reasons in part to larry king. >> i had to search deep within my heart and spirit and i wanted to make a change and move to a new plateau in my life. and one of the ways in which i did that was to change my name and sort of divorce me from all the past and all the hangups that go along with it. ♪ maybe i'm just too demanding >> reporter: prince once said of himself, "as i go on this journey called life i rarely look back." for many nights to come, we will. ♪ this is what it sounds like when doves cry ♪ >> reporter: byron pitts, abc

beautiful tribute there by byron. >> my favorite song, by the way. >> absolutely. i mean, prince's songs. he had so many great ones. they're soaring on itunes. we haven't heard the last of his music. >> experts say prince recorded hundreds of songs he never released. the tracks are believed to be in his vault at paisley park that doubled as his home and studio. we'll get more how fellow celebrities are reacting to prince's death coming up in "the skinny." >> turning to other news, president boll and the first lady are in london where he will dine with members of the royal family. yesterday in saudi arabia, the president and arab allies agreed to a new plan in the fight against isis but no specifics were revealed. u.s. ambassador to the united nations samantha powers says the u.s. will never give up on finding the nigerian girls kidnapped by the terror group boka haram. powers met with protesters who had been holding vigil each day in nigeria's capital. more than 200 of the

abduction two years ago from their school. >> officials are keeping a close eye on two dams in the houston area following historic flooding there. the army corps of engineers say the reservoirs contained by the dams are setting new records every hour and are now at 50% capacity. back in 2012, the corps said the pair of dams had an extremely high risk of catastrophic fail your. >> turning to america's money and an american retail icon taking some drastic cost-cutting steps. sears will close six of its kmart stars and ten sears stores in addition to 50 other store closings. sears has suffered a disappointing holiday sales season. a sign of the times for cracker jack is returning to an old idea for its iconic prizes. the cheap plastic and paper toys will be replaced with stickers containing digital codes for mobile games. before cracker jack started offering prizes in 1912, it slipped coupons into its boxes

that could be collected and redeemed for watches, silverware and sewing machines. >> i used to love searching for the cracker jack box for the prize. >> never got a sewing machine. >> you know who else is in the cracker jack box? >> you never got the sewing machine? >> a coupon for a sewing machine? what would i do with that if i was five? >> adults eat cracker jack, too. >> they do. >> you know who else is going old school? >> who? finish >> mtv. it stands for music television which people might not know and now there's a push to put. the music back into music tv. >> say it ain't so. music television offering music? the network which practically invented the video later became dependent on a series of reality shows from the osbournes to the "jersey shore" but under that strategy mtv saw its primetime audience sink 25% last year alone. >> plans to relaunch the acoustic mtv unplugged and introduce a hip-hop competition series. >> i would watch that. >> you know what's fun about mtv too, it woul

to music that maybe you wouldn't otherwise because it had a lot more variety than your standard radio stations. >> i'll be the first to admit, i don't know anything about music in the last 15 years because we used to watch videos and be attracted to the music. now i don't know where to find a video. >> no mtv. i don't think we ever see a video like "thriller." i'm looking forward to see what else comes out there now. that's true. then we'll have veejays and everything again. downtown julie brown is back. >> coming up in "the skinny," returning to our top story. his talent spanned decades. lis impact on fans and fellow celebrities was unmatched. so many are paying tribute to prince. >> plus, the new clashes on the campaign trail as the candidates crisscross the northeast before five more primaries should john kasich and bernie sanders drop out? >> but first a look at today's forecast. >> announcer: "world news now" weather, brought to you by no! no! hair removal.

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♪ the presidential candidates are making some campaign stops today in some of the five states holding primary contests next tuesday. >> that's right. a main flash point between republicans donald trump and ted cruz centers on north carolina's controversial new law that critics say discriminates against the lgbt community. abc's stephanie ramos reports. >> reporter: the latest debate between gop front-runner donald trump and main rival ted cruz is over a controversial law. >> i am waiting with anticipation for the new baseball caps make pc great again. >> reporter: cruz going after

"today" show about north carolina's bill banning transgender people from using an the bathroom they identify with. >> i think that would be discriminatory in a certain way. leave it the way it is. >> cruz accusing trump of being politically correct and voicing his opinion on the controversial bill. >> here is basic common sense. grown adult men, strangers should not be alone in a bathroom with little girls. >> reporter: trump is still questioning the delegate process but also urging cruz and the third man in the gop race john kasich to drop out. >> we have a job to do. i've got two leftovers. i have to finish that. okay? we have to. >> reporter: both insisting they can snag their party's nomination if there's a contested convention. on the democratic side after her big win in the empire state, hillary clinton campaigning in connecticut. >> hi. >> reporter: and circling back to the big apple. during "gma's" town hall, the democratic front-runner asked whether bernie sanders should drop out of the race. >> that's up to him. i would never tell anybody what

decision. >> reporter: sanders says no way, despite his low delegate count and double digit loss in the closed primary in new york state. >> i don't mind losing but 3 million people in new york state, 3 million people who registered as independents did not have the right to participate in the democratic and republican -- that really is not democracy. >> reporter: stephanie ramos, abc news, washington. >> when we come back, we have a special "skinny" for you. >> that's right. this morning, tributes to the late great prince. stay with us. >> announcer: "world news now" continues after this from our abc stations.

♪ ♪ >> i don't even know that song but i love it. what is that song? >> it's good. >> "balloons." it's a hit. i love it. >> i like all prince songs. >> hard not to dance to them. >> you can't not dance to a prince song. welcome back to our special prince "skinny." we start with some stern words from those who knew and clearly loved him. first up is oprah. >> on twittersley says prince, the doves really are crying now, listening to your music. remembering you #rip prince. >> justin timberlake calls him a once and forever art

i love this. he says it would be silly to say that he has inspired our music. it's beyond that. he's somewhere in every song i've ever written. >> and one of prince's ex-girlfriends carmen electra writes on instagram i feel so sad and confused right now. i love you, prince. hope you're comfortable and peaceful now. play on, my love. play on. prince actually gave her her name. changed her name. >> what was her name before that? >> tara. he said no, you're carmen. >> carmen electra. >> she said okay. >> just like that. >> interesting if somebody walked up to me and said you're not a ryan. you're a franklin. but i like ryan. >> would you go with it? >> no, i like ryan. >> what if it was prince? >> i would go for it. >> that's what i thought. >> and back to you ryan, or franklin. right? i don't even know what i'm saying. next, also playing a tribute to prince, a music legend in her own right, aretha franklin. >> the queen of soul calls his passing surreal. franklin never collaborated with him but her appreciation

talent sums up the feelings of millions. >> it was just a blow, a real blow. anytime he got to the beat, you wanted to get up and move. he had longevity in the industry simply because he was a natural and he had "it," what they call "it" in the business. he's gone, but his music will live on forever. >> prince, pop it. >> prince featured stevie wonder. prince was featured on a stevie wonder song caud "so what the fuss." >> last night wonder spoke emotionally about prince with our friend anderson cooper on his cnn show. >> you know, it's rare for me that i can feel, you know, with every single breath how he just passionately loved music, you know. he was incredible. and i'm just glad that i was able to be say to him, i love u

>> you could see wonder emotional there. he played a piano version of "purple rain," but choked up as he told anderson he would probably break down if he tried to sing the song at that point. >> we mentioned justin timberlake's instagram tribute to prince. part of it mentions prince's sense of humor. timberlake called prince hilarious. >> prince made a number of appearances on "the view," as well. during one of them in 2012, we got a glimpse of that humor in an exchange with barbara walt areas. listen. >> when you go on stage, you're a different person. but off stage, you're very quiet and mysterious. what is that all about? >> i'm just that way around you. >> well -- but it's interesting. >> during that same appearance, prince talked about bruce springsteen saying he learned a lot about being a ba

out the most memorable skit from ve chappelle's show. in it, charlie murphy recounts being out with friends, meeting prince and the revolution at a club. >> prince said he was bored. they went back to his house. that's when prince challenged them to a basketball game. >> so they came out, right? and i look at them. and they still got on the same things they was wearing. it was wow. i was like, i know they ain't thinking about playing ball in that but they were. i said you know what? you know what we're going to call this? the shirts against the blouses. >> and guess what, the blouses won that game handily. prince later confirmed the incident and he said he was a huge fan of the way they retold it. >> afterwards, he made them pancakes. which i love. three years ago, prince released a single "breakfast can wait,"

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k-y touch. ♪ >> finally this half hour, it has been a week dominated by the presidential campaign, an important primary and not to mention some deadly natural disasters. >> those events and the passing of prince now in our "friday rewind." >> thank you, everybody, and thank you new york. we love new york. >> now, my friends, onward to victory. >> today, you proved once again there's no place like home. >> let pennsylvania go forward and tell the world you are going to lead this country into a political revolution. >> i just thought it was just a puddle.

so deep. >> i'm asking all houstonians stay off the roads. stay at home. >> this mudslide was over a half mile wide. it came roaring down this mountain ripping it in half. >> rescued. you found me. >> thank god, right? >> yeah. >> this overpass is one of the busiest roads in gaia kill, the quake causing it to collapse shredding tons of concrete and steel. >> we're on the ring of fire. this is a very active part of the earth and this is a reminder that this is a hazard that we face. >> people are just a little more important than that game right there, and that woman's health is way more important than the results of the game. >> we know that we have a lot of spirit on our side in this city because we responded with love and peace and goodness and good will. that will always win. >> we need a paramedic on paisley park, 7801 audubon road.

person down, not breathing. >> thank you for loving him. he loved each and every one of you. ♪ ♪ raspberry beret ♪ purple rain, purple rain >> the iconic super bowl performance we talked about earlier. >> amazing. we're looking at all the covers for tomorrow's papers. everybody has different prince covers ready to go. our favorite is the new yorker here. >> by far. >> subtle. creative. and yet, totally gets the point across. >> and makes it just so beautiful. fantastic. >> in addition to all the covers, lots of people are paying tribute to prince today and last night with dance parties. >> we were saying this. you know, you can't listen to prince without dancing. you mourn his loss but you celebrate his life. >> seems only appropriate we should pay tribute in that way. >> a little chair dance? >> let's do it.

making news in america this morning, remembering prince, the life and death of a legend. ♪ she wore a raspberry beret >> a music icon transcending generations. ♪ >> an all night dance party on the streets of minneapolis. >> landmarks across the country glowing purple and broadway cast members with amazing tributes. ♪ ♪ purple rain >> where the single suddenly died. >> the investigation under way as the world remembers rock royalty.