Get to Know The Queen of Percussion – Shelia E!
September 12, 2024
Hey, 80s Cruisers!
It’s Lori Majewski here with another spotlight on a 2025 80s Cruise performer!
In addition to my work as a host on SiriusXM’s First Wave channel — home to 80s classic alternative on the satellite radio network — I’m the host of a show on the SiriusXM app called FIERCE: WOMEN IN MUSIC. In that capacity, I’ve spent countless hours talking with the extraordinary likes of Annie Lennox, Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson, Berlin’s Terri Nunn, and other eighties ladies — including one who’ll be a headlining artist on the next cruise: Sheila E.
For years, Sheila E. was best known for her musical and romantic relationships with Prince. She sang on his 1984 track “Erotic City” (a radio staple despite being the provocative B-side to “Let’s Go Crazy”); he returned the favor by writing and co-producing two of her biggest hits, ’84’s “The Glamorous Life” and ’85’s “A Love Bizarre.” For a while, Sheila E. was also his go-to drummer (that’s her in Prince’s 1987 concert film, Sign o’ the Times).
With the passing of the years, though, the artist born Sheila Escovedo (her father is acclaimed Latin and jazz percussionist Pete Escovedo) has come to be celebrated as a legend in her own right — and rightly so! After all, she was an acclaimed musician before she met Prince; and she was as much of an influence on him as he was on her. Today, Sheila E. has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Latin Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award, and a long list of A-list collaborators who seek out her talent as a player and a bandleader.
Here are some more impressive facts you need to know about the Queen of Percussion:
She’s been performing for more than 60 years!
Born in Oakland, California, Sheila E. was 5 years-old when she got up on stage with her dad — her first public performance! A decade later, she filled in on the congas for his band, the Latin funk band Azteca, and she was so good, it led her to tour with them. At 19, she and her dad released an album (her first!), Solo Two.
Music is in her genes — literally.
Sheila also drew musical inspiration from her paternal uncles: Javier Escovedo, co-founder of the west coast punk band The Zeroes, and Alejandro, co-founder of the Nunas; Mario was frontman of the indie-rock group The Dragons; and Coke was in Santana and founded Azteca. On top of that, Tito Puente was Sheila’s godfather.
Her resume is INSANE (in a good way).
Sheila E has toured with George Duke, Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock and Lionel Richie. She’s drummed behind the likes of Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey. And she was the first woman to lead a late-night TV-show band (for The Magic Hour, the short-lived show with Magic Johnson).
Who HASN’T she played with?
Sheila E. has collaborated with everyone from Beyonce, Phil Collins, Gloria Estefan, Herbie Hancock and Cyndi Lauper to John Rich of Big & Rich, Marc Anthony, Pharrell Willians and Hans Zimmer… And she’s had three stints as the drummer with Ringo Starr’s All Star Band.
That’s Sheila on “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”!
She poured water into glass bottles and took the metal beater from a triangle to play percussion on Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall Hit classic. (BTW, Sheila’s also used a hair brush, a spatula, car keys, and the sound of her biting an apple to get the right percussive sounds while for records.)
She misses Prince. A lot.
“I’m mad that Prince isn’t here anymore — I’m angry at him, and I’m thinking, ‘What could I have done?'” Sheila told the Guardian in 2020, four years after he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose. That year, Sheila was musical director of the Grammy’s Prince tribute TV special, which featured Mavis Stapes, H.E.R., Foo Fighters, John Legend and more, performing Prince songs. (Sheila played quite a bit as well.) Decades after she and Prince had parted as romantic partners, they were still in each other’s lives, said Sheila: “Since I met him, we started jamming and never stopped until a couple of years before he passed.”
Get Onboard!
Don’t miss the chance to see this percussion icon live on The 80s Cruise! Limited cabins are available, now is your chance to secure your spot. Book now to guarantee your place onboard this unforgettable journey back to the 80s! See the rest of our epic lineup here.