Celebrity Death

Prince's former sound engineer is claiming victory over the estate in their battle over song rights, at the same time the engineer made an 8-figure offer to own Prince's enormously valuable music vault.

George Boxill claims the late singer gave him the masters and the rights to a number of Prince's published songs, which Boxill also claims he co-wrote.

The songs have been the subject of prolonged litigation, but Boxill says the estate recently admitted in open court he did indeed have the right to release the tracks and profit from them. This is a dramatic turn, since the estate actually got an injunction that derailed Boxill from releasing all but one song. Boxill is aggressively trying to get the injunction overturned.

Now here's where it gets good. Sources connected to Boxill tell TMZ, Boxill and his music label, RMA, recently made a $10 million offer to the cash-strapped estate for the entire vault of unreleased music, but our sources say they were turned down flat.

There were reports Jay-Z offered $40 mil but we're told it was way less and was for the entire catalog. Universal actually made a $31 mil offer for the entire catalog but the deal fell apart.

John Blackwell Jr. -- who toured with Prince as his drummer for over a decade -- died Tuesday.

John's wife, Yaritza said he died peacefully in her company. She said, "Thanks God for his life and thanks everyone for their support."

The cause of death is unknown but Blackwell battled a brain tumor last year after undergoing a battery of tests at a hospital in Japan. Yaritza setup a GoFundMe page last July ... and as of date it's raised over $78,000 to help cover medical expenses.

Blackwell took up drums at 3 years old, inspired by his father who was himself an accomplished drummer. Blackwell toured with Patti LaBelle before he met Prince, and he also toured with Justin Timberlake on his FutureSex/LoveSounds album.

John was 43.

#RIP

Prodigy may be gone, but he's not forgotten ... especially by his other half in Mobb Deep -- Havoc.

The rapper took the stage Friday night at the NJ PAC Center for the first time since Prodigy's death for the Art of Rap Festival ... and it was powerful stuff.

East Coast rap was fully represented for the show ... especially when Ice T joined Havoc on stage.

Prodigy was hospitalized after a show in Vegas and died June 20th. He suffered from sickle cell anemia for years, but his cause of death is still unknown.

Adam West -- star of TV's "Batman" -- has died after a short battle with leukemia.

The actor played Batman/Bruce Wayne in the campy 1960's television series and years later landed a recurring role on "Family Guy" as the voice of the mayor of Quahog.

The TV version of "Batman" ran on ABC from 1966 - 68 and was an enormous, campy hit and remains an iconic version of the famed Caped Crusader.

Wayne was always on the receiving end of hilarious lines delivered by co-star Burt Ward, aka Robin ... "Holy atomic pile," "Holy barracuda," "Holy Benedict Arnold," "Holy popcorn," and "Holy shrinkage!"

West died Friday night at his home in Los Angeles. The family released a statement, saying ... "Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight, and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans’ lives. He was and always will be our hero.”

Fellow Batman actor, Ben Affleck, echoed the sentiment in a tweet ... "Adam West exemplified heroism. Kind, funny and an all around great guy. Thank you for showing us all how it's done."

He was 88.

RIP

Gregg Allman's family and close friends gathered for a private funeral service before heading to the cemetery to lay the Southern rock legend to rest.

Allman's ex-wife, Cher, arrived at the service at a small chapel before the group of about 100 people moved to the Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, GA ... the same place his brother Duane is buried.

Fans lined the streets from the funeral to the cemetery to pay tribute to The Allman Brothers Band frontman.

We're told former President Jimmy Carter attended as well.

Gregg died last week from complications due to liver cancer. He was 69.

Gregg Allman -- the musician, singer and songwriter known for fronting The Allman Brothers Band for 45 years -- has died from complications due to liver cancer ... TMZ has learned.

Allman's longtime manager tells us ... he died peacefully at his home Saturday in Savannah, Georgia. We're told he has been dealing with multiple health issues ever since being diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago.

The manager also tells us Gregg had finished his last record ... which will be released in September of this year.

Allman was known for his long blonde hair and being a rock n' blues pioneer along with his brother Duane. They founded their band in 1969, and Gregg rocked with them until their final show in 2014.

He became the band's frontman in 1971 after Duane was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. He composed such hits as "Midnight Rider," "Whipping Post" and "Melissa."

He is survived by his wife, Shannon Allman, 5 children -- including a son he had with Cher -- 3 grandchildren and a large extended family.

Gregg was 69.

RIP

Chris Cornell was honored Friday night at the Rock on the Range music festival by the lead singer of Slipknot ... and the entire crowd got in the act.

Corey Taylor was joined onstage by his bandmate from Stone Sour, guitarist Christian Martucci, and they performed 2 tribute songs to Chris -- Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and "Hunger Strike" by Cornell's Temple of the Dog.

There was also a video montage honoring the late rock legend -- who died Thursday -- set to Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun."

Ashley McNeely -- who appeared with Tila Tequila on her reality show, 'Shot at Love' -- was found dead Thursday ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us cops responded to an incident and found him dead in his hometown, Beckley, WV. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear.

McNeely had his moment ... in 2004 he rang in the New Year with Ryan Seacrest for the Times Square crystal ball drop on ABC.

Ashley also appeared on 6 episodes of the series, "That's Amore!"

He was 35.

Sandy Gallin -- who repped the likes of Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Cher, Richard Pryor, Barbra Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Diamond, Donny and Marie, and many, many others -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

Gallin was clinging to life at UCLA Medical Center where he was in ICU after suffering a relapse of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.

The former powerful Hollywood manager's condition had deteriorated over the last few days to the point his closest friends -- including Calvin Klein, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen and many others -- visited Sandy in the hospital.

Gallin's powerful clout in Hollywood transcended into politics as one of the Democratic party's driving forces ... raising millions for various candidates and causes. Gallin, who is gay, also lent huge support to gay rights legislation.

He also found success in real estate ... making untold millions as the house flipper to the stars.

Gallin was 76.

#RIP

The oldest person in the world -- and last living person born in the 1800s -- has reportedly died in Italy.

Emma Morano was born on November 29, 1899. She credited her long life to good genes and steady diet of 3 eggs a day -- 2 of them raw.

Emma was the oldest of 8 siblings and outlived them all. She died at her home in the city of Verbania. She was 117.

Now that Emma has passed, the next oldest verified person is a Jamaican woman named Violet Brown ... who is also 117. She was born in the year 1900, though.