- - Beloved R&B Musician Linked to Prince Hospitalized After Terrifying Apartment Fire

Stacy CareyDecember 7, 2025 at 3:11 AM

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An R&B musician who collaborated with Prince years ago was hospitalized on December 5 after a fire broke out in his apartment.

Alexander O'Neal worked with Prince in the 1980s. He was the lead singer for the Prince-connected band The Time for a while, but he was fired and replaced by Morris Day. O'Neal went on to have a solid solo career and was still performing not long ago.

According to TMZ, O'Neal and his wife, Cynthia O'Neal, were at their apartment in Burnsville, Minnesota, when he woke up and discovered a fire. He had just been released from the hospital hours before the fire after an almost two-week stay.

Cynthia O'Neal told TMZ that her husband awakened her around 1 a.m. "with his arms in the air" as the fire grew. She saw "a bubble of fire" in the cord connected to the oxygen machine that Alexander O'Neal needed.

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In addition, she told the media outlet, there was a small fire on the apartment floor that the musician tried to put out with his foot. He burned his foot doing that, and then the mattress caught on fire, too.

The couple left their apartment and called 911. They carefully made their way down three flights of stairs from their apartment to the ground, and they were rushed by ambulance to the hospital.

Before the fire, the singer spent almost two weeks in the intensive care unit at the hospital. Cynthia O'Neal told TMZ that he had been on life support and while at the hospital, while experiencing an enlarged heart and bacterial pneumonia.

After the fire, she was released from the hospital once she had been checked out. Alexander O'Neal, however, stayed at the hospital so doctors could do testing, especially related to his lungs. He was released later in the day on December 5.

Sadly, the couple's apartment was "totally demolished," she told TMZ. "There was nothing left. There was water up to my ankles," she revealed. She noted that upon returning to the apartment, she found her husband's medication bottles melted.

The apartment fire destroyed four units in total, a Burnsville city representative told TMZ. Local media outlet KSTP reported that two people were taken to the hospital, indicating nobody from neighboring apartments was seriously injured.

While four apartments were impacted by the fire, KSTP noted that the rest of the residents were able to return to their units.

Cynthia O'Neal stated, "We are so happy to be alive. We may not have a toothbrush, but we have a car! Our spirits remain good and we are moving forward."

This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 7, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”