MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As the world mourns the death of music superstar Prince, hundreds of people arrived outside the Fox Theatre in midtown Atlanta for an impromptu vigil to honor the legendary musician.
Prince had performed at the Fox just one week earlier in what would be his last major concert.
His hit song "Purple Rain" blasted outside the theater Friday night on Peachtree Street. %
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Fans created a memorial in front of the theater with flowers and drawings of Prince.
Lil John Roberts is a former drummer for Prince. He told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes the last time he shared a stage with him was at the NAACP awards in 2005, where Prince was honored.
“As a musician, it was one of my biggest highs in my career,” Roberts said. “We understood each other and he'd look at me and give me the nod, I like that, if something wasn't right, he gave me that look too like fix that.”
Roberts said the Fox now has a special history in the performer’s life.
“(It’s) a special thing for him to come to Atlanta and that be his last performance,” Roberts said. “He said the musical genius didn't talk much, but said a whole lot.”
[ PHOTOS: Prince fans pay tribute to his memory, music ]
Vigil organizer Janese Jean, with the Stars Social Club, told Fernandes she put Friday night’s event together by spreading the word on social media starting at 3 a.m. Friday.
By 9 p.m. Friday, at least 300 people showed up outside the Fox, blasting Prince's music, and honoring a man they say they’ll miss so much.
“I love the fact that we all can come out and actually show support, show love for what he's done, for what the whole era has done,” James Williams told Fernandes.
Those who knew Prince, and those who didn't, just want more information about why he passed away.
There were no signs of trauma on Prince's body when he was found unresponsive at his home in suburban Minneapolis, and suicide isn't suspected in the musician's death, the local sheriff said Friday.
Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson said during news conference that the investigation was ongoing, but that there were no obvious signs of trauma on the body and "we have no reason to believe this was a suicide." The 57-year-old musician was found dead at his home Thursday morning.
[ READ: Transcript from 911 call from Prince’s house ]
An autopsy was completed Friday to determine what caused the death of the "Purple Rain" superstar, though officials said it could take days or weeks before results are released. Prince was found unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park compound in suburban Minneapolis and could not be revived, sheriff's officials said.
Prince had spoken about struggling with childhood epilepsy, and friends said he had hip trouble. His former percussionist, Sheila E., told The Associated Press that Prince suffered the effects from years of jumping off risers and speakers on stage while wearing high heels. %
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"There was always something kind of bothering him, as it does all of us," she said. "I hurt every single day. You know we're like athletes, we train, and we get hurt all the time. We have so many injuries."
The singer's death came two weeks after he canceled concerts at the Fox, saying he wasn't feeling well. He then played a pair of makeup shows April 14 in that city, apologizing to the crowd shortly after coming on stage.
[ PHOTOS: Prince through the years ]
At one point early in his first show he briefly disappeared from the stage without explanation. After about a minute he returned and apologized, saying he didn't realize how emotional the songs could be. He played the rest of the show without incident, repeatedly jumping up from the piano and pacing around the stage between songs, and performed three encores.
In the later show, Prince coughed a few times, though the show was again energetic.
Then came the reported emergency landing en route to Minnesota. The night after that, Prince hosted a dance party at Paisley Park, where some fans said he looked fine and seemed irked by reports of an illness. "Wait a few days before you waste any prayers," he said.
[ READ: Grieving, Sheila E. recounts her decades with Prince ]
But by his high-energy standards, it was a subdued appearance. Prince didn't play except to tap out a few notes on a new purple Yamaha piano, and lingered only for a few minutes before disappearing.
Prince was slated to perform a surprise set of shows earlier this week in St. Louis but canceled last week because of health concerns, a promoter said.
Promoter Steve Litman said Friday that he had been working for weeks to set up two surprise pop-up shows on April 18 at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. Litman said that tickets were set to go on sale April 15, but that Prince's representatives told him on April 14 that Prince needed to back out because of concern he might have to cancel as a result of illness.
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Associated Press writers Amy Forliti, Robin McDowell and Kevin Burbach in Minneapolis, Jim Salter in St. Louis and Ravi Nessman and Jacob Jordan in Atlanta contributed to this report.