Prince’s posthumous EP pulled from iTunes after singer’s estate files lawsuit

An EP of previously unheard Prince songs has been pulled from iTunes followed a lawsuit from the singer’s estate.

The Deliverance EP, consisting of six new songs recorded by the late singer between 2006-2008, was due to be released on Friday to mark the one year anniversary of his death.

But now the pre-order page has disappeared from Apple’s streaming service, after Paisley Park and Prince’s estate filed a suit seeking to block the songs from being released.

The lawsuit alleges that producer George Ian Boxill "is now trying to exploit one or more songs for his personal gain at expense of the Prince Estate.”

It also alleges that Boxill signed a confidentiality agreement stating that all music he worked on with the star “would remain Prince’s sole and exclusive property.”

According to Rolling Stone, Boxill finished mixing the songs following the musician’s death in April 2016.

The music was set to be released via independent Vancouver-based label RMA, rather than a major record label.

Alongside Deliverance, the EP was going to feature a four-movement medley called Man Opera, which includes tracks I Am, Touch Me, Sunrise Sunset and No One Else.

"I believe Deliverance is a timely release with everything going on in the world today, and in light of the one-year anniversary of his passing. I hope when people hear Prince singing these songs it will bring comfort to many,” said Boxill in a stamen earlier this week.

"Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public,” Boxill said in a statement.

"When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because that's what Prince would have wanted."

Prince died at the age of 57 after taking an accidental overdose of fentanyl, which is a drug 50 times more powerful than heroin.