Sheila E – The first 3 – A brief history.

This thread concentrates on the first 3 albums by Sheila E. They are of special interest to me mainly because of Prince's involvement, but I hope it will also be of interest to those who may not know the background of these albums. Enjoy.

Sheila Escovedo is from Oakland California. Her father is percussionist Pete Escovedo who has played with both Santana and Azteca. Pete and his brother Coke have been premier session percussionists in San Francisco since the 1950's. Sheila began playing percussion at the age of 5. When she was 15, she joined Azteca to sing and play percussion. She then played with George Duke for three years before recording two albums with her father. Before working with Prince, Sheila had recorded or toured with names including Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye.

January 1978.

Prince attends a concert by Al Jarreau in San Carlos California. It is at this show that he meets a young percussionist named Sheila Escovedo. Sheila would later say “he was standing against a wall and we just sort of made eye contact.”

28^th November 1979.

Sheila Escovedo is a backstage guest at the launch of the Prince tour at the Roxy Theatre in L.A. Sheila was playing percussion with George Duke at the time, and Prince wanted to know how much she charged. When Sheila told him, Prince responded “well, I'll never be able to afford that.”

Despite this, the two became friends.

February 1984.

During recording sessions at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A, Prince invited Sheila to the studio to work on some tracks he had recorded. Sheila then sang with Prince on Erotic City which was intended as a b-side. Prince then urged her to launch a solo career, asking her if she might like to sing some songs that he felt may suit her. Sheila had sung backing vocals for many artists, but she was not comfortable with singing. Finally, after much persuasion by Prince, she decided to take the leap and go solo.

1^st April 1984.

Sheila Escovedo begins recording vocals on some songs that she and Prince had chosen for an album. The name of the album was to be The Glamorous Life. These vocal sessions lasted from 1^st April to the 4^th. Prince renamed her Sheila E, he then took the recordings to his management who introduced Sheila to Warner Bros. Within a few weeks, the deal was done and signed.

4^th June 1984.

Release of The Glamorous Life, the debut album by Sheila E. The cover pictures Sheila as a glamorous film star. The full album title is Sheila E, In The Glamorous Life. In keeping with the “cinematic” theme, the album was “directed” by Sheila E and The Starr Company. Prince's name does not appear on the record, though he wrote, performed on and produced the entire album. Sheila is credited as being the writer of four of the six tracks, while Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar is listed as a collaboration between Brenda Bennett, and Strawberry Shortcake with Jesse Johnson. However, it is Prince who is registered as being the writer of all the songs except Noon Rendezvous which has Sheila as co-writer.

The Glamorous Life was released as a single before the albums release and became a club hit. Another two singles were released, The Belle Of St Mark and Oliver's House.

The album reached number 28 on the pop chart and eventually went gold.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/se-glamor.jpg[/img:$uid] Album cover.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/Sheila_Glam.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/sheila-thebel.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

26^th July 1984.

Sheila E performs her first solo performance at the post Purple Rain premiere party held at The Palace in Hollywood.

September 1984.

Sheila E is to be the opening act on Prince's Purple Rain Tour. Sheila warmed up for the tour by playing clubs and theatres in some major U.S cities, she also undertook a brief European tour.

25^th October 1984.

Prince makes a cameo appearance with Sheila E at First Avenue in Minneapolis. He provided five minutes of guitar jamming on Too Sexy.

4^th November 1984.

Sheila E begins her support slot on the Purple Rain tour at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Her set was usually 40 minutes long. Sheila's band included her brother Juan Escovedo on percussion, Eddie Minnifeld on saxaphone, Karl Perazzo on drums, Ken Grey and Susie Davis on keyboards, Benjamin Rietveld on bass and Miko Weaver and Stephen Birnbaum on guitars.

5^th December 1984.

While on the Purple Rain tour, Prince and Sheila begin work on her second album, Romance 1600, at a studio called Master Sound in Cleveland. They recorded Bedtime Story, Dear Michaelangelo, Toy Box and two songs which did not make the album, they were Fish Fries and Small Grey Monkey. Prince spent a lot of time working on the album during the tour, working in various studios along the way.

3^rd January 1985.

Prince and Sheila do more work on Romance 1600 at Cheshire Studio in Atlanta. They recorded Sister Fate and A Love Bizarre.

5^th February 1985.

Prince and Sheila continue work on Romance 1600 at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A, from 5^th-13^th February. They record Romance 1600 and Yellow and then set about putting the finishing touches to her album. The album was completed after the Purple Rain tour when Sheila recorded Merci For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In Summer. Prince was not involved in the recording of this song and Sheila used her own musicians.

26^th August 1985.

The second album by Sheila E entitled Romance 1600 is released on Paisley Park Records. The album continues the cinematic theme of the first album with the full title as Sheila E In Romance 1600. The songs are described as “scenes” and the musicians as “actors.” All the songs on the album are listed as being Sheila E compositions, except for A Love Bizarre which is credited to Prince and Sheila. However, Susan Rogers who engineered most of the album claims that Prince wrote all the songs, both music and lyrics, except for Merci For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In Summer, which Sheila recorded with her own band. On the album, Sheila plays percussion but Prince plays almost every other instrument.

Sister Fate was released as a single before the album but did not have much impact. The second single A Love Bizarre was released in September and became a hit, reaching number 11 on the pop chart. The third single Bedtime Story failed to chart. The album reached number 50 on the pop chart and eventually went gold.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/se-romanc.jpg[/img:$uid] Album cover art.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-1805508-1244481959.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/SheilaELoveBizarrePrinceWomenManagementNewYorkBlog.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-569861-1264984070.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

30^th September 1985.

The song Holly Rock is released by Sheila E on the soundtrack of Krush groove. The song was written by Prince but he gave Sheila the songwriting credit. The track was recorded at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A in April 1985. It was released as a single in May 1986 but did not chart.

The film Krush Groove is the story of the Def Jam record label and it's founders. Sheila performed A Love Bizarre and Holly Rock in the film.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-587112-1135072882.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

8^th March 1986.

Sheila E plays a show at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. Prince and The Revolution join Sheila on A Love Bizarre and Kiss.

The show was filmed and later released as a home video called Romance 1600 Live.

22^nd March 1986.

Prince and Sheila begin work on her third album entitled Sheila E during five days at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A. They record Boy's Club and Love And Sex, which did not make the album.

26^th May 1986.

Prince and Sheila continue work on her third album over four days at Sunset Sound Studio in L.A. They record Pride And The Passion.

September 1986.

Sheila E is the support act for Prince's tour of Japan. Sheila would sometimes sit in as drummer during soundchecks with The Revolution. It is said that it was becoming apparent to other band members that Prince was thinking about replacing Bobby Z with Sheila.

21^st October 1986.

An early version of the third Sheila E album is compiled. (The tracklist for this version is not known)

19^th February 1987.

Sheila E's third and self titled album is released on Paisley Park Records. Prince had less involvement with this album and Sheila co-wrote five of the albums ten songs. The other five songs on the album were written by Prince, they are One Day(I'm Gonna Make You Mine), Love On A Blue Train, Koo Koo, Boy's Club and Pride And The Passion. On the album, these tracks are listed as solo Sheila E compositions. In an attempt to downplay Prince's involvement, he is not even listed in the musical credits, though he does receive a “special thanks.” Sheila is credited as producing and arranging the music with David Z, despite the fact that all songs were produced by either Prince or David Rivkin. Prince plays nearly everything on the tracks that he composed.

The first single from the album was Hold Me, it reached number 68 on the pop chart. The second single Koo Koo failed to enter the chart, the song had a video which was directed by Cat (Catherine Glover).

Unfortunately Sheila did very little promotion for the album, choosing to concentrate on her new job as drummer in Prince's band.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/se-sheila.jpg[/img:$uid] Album cover art.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-449865-1267952940.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/R-103768-1158927584.jpg[/img:$uid] Single cover art.

Check out Cat in this video.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related%20album%20and%20singles/yocbfgehnH9Dmz9.jpg[/img:$uid]

Romance 1600 Live was officially released but this is NOT the official cover. The video was not officially released on dvd.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/SHEILAE.gif[/img:$uid][img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Sheila-E.png[/img:$uid][img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/she.jpg[/img:$uid][img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/susie_wSheila_E_Ban_85.jpg[/img:$uid]

Great article

You do such a good job on these!

Nikademus said:

Great article

You do such a good job on these!

Thanks, i hope you find them useful........of sorts.

Another great thread. Thanks for doing these.

Are Love and Sex, Fish Fries, and Small Grey Monkey circulating?

Efan said:

Another great thread. Thanks for doing these.

Are Love and Sex, Fish Fries, and Small Grey Monkey circulating?

Not that i am aware of Efan.

Fish Fries and Small Grey Monkey are both instrumental tracks. That is all i know.

I love these brief histories, keep 'em coming. They're so interesting.

MIKE !!!! This is nice

I'm really digging this thread

Lot's of background into

OldFriends4Sale said:

MIKE !!!! This is nice

I'm really digging this thread

Lot's of background into

Thanks very much.

Terrific thread. Again.

squirrelgrease said:

Terrific thread. Again.

I love revisiting these albums, i had not played them in a long time. Everyone knows her as the great drummer she is, but these albums deserve more attention i think. I think that Sheila and Jill Jones are two of the most talented proteges Prince has worked with vocal wise, and of course Sheila also had/has the bonus of being a brilliant percussionist too. With Sheila and Jill it was not all about tits and ass. Respect due.

Found some great remixes over at FWV too, stuff i never had.

And that video for Koo Koo with Cat is bloody brilliant.

MikeyB71 said:

squirrelgrease said:

Terrific thread. Again.

I love revisiting these albums, i had not played them in a long time. Everyone knows her as the great drummer she is, but these albums deserve more attention i think. I think that Sheila and Jill Jones are two of the most talented proteges Prince has worked with vocal wise, and of course Sheila also had/has the bonus of being a brilliant percussionist too. With Sheila and Jill it was not all about tits and ass. Respect due.

Found some great remixes over at FWV too, stuff i never had.

And that video for Koo Koo with Cat is bloody brilliant.

I loved it too. It was a precursor of the SOTT "look", the blue jeans, clear eye glasses, ...

KOO KOO KOO KOO KOO!

phunkdaddy said:

KOO KOO KOO KOO KOO!

I like Sheila E a lot, she's a classy woman. Prince shouldn't have let her go, honestly.

motherfunka said:

MikeyB71 said:

I love revisiting these albums, i had not played them in a long time. Everyone knows her as the great drummer she is, but these albums deserve more attention i think. I think that Sheila and Jill Jones are two of the most talented proteges Prince has worked with vocal wise, and of course Sheila also had/has the bonus of being a brilliant percussionist too. With Sheila and Jill it was not all about tits and ass. Respect due.

Found some great remixes over at FWV too, stuff i never had.

And that video for Koo Koo with Cat is bloody brilliant.

I loved it too. It was a precursor of the SOTT "look", the blue jeans, clear eye glasses, ...

Yeah and with Cat in the video too

Promo poster and scene pic from KRUSH GROOVE movie.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/A70-3813.jpg[/img:$uid][img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Krush20Groove20pic203.jpg[/img:$uid]

This was a cool tibit;

5^th December 1984.

While on the Purple Rain tour, Prince and Sheila begin work on her second album, Romance 1600, at a studio called Master Sound in Cleveland. They recorded Bedtime Story, Dear Michaelangelo, Toy Box and two songs which did not make the album, they were Fish Fries and Small Grey Monkey. Prince spent a lot of time working on the album during the tour, working in various studios along the way.

Have either of those unreleased tracks surfaced???

PurpleJedi said:

This was a cool tibit;

5^th December 1984.

While on the Purple Rain tour, Prince and Sheila begin work on her second album, Romance 1600, at a studio called Master Sound in Cleveland. They recorded Bedtime Story, Dear Michaelangelo, Toy Box and two songs which did not make the album, they were Fish Fries and Small Grey Monkey. Prince spent a lot of time working on the album during the tour, working in various studios along the way.

Have either of those unreleased tracks surfaced???

The two tracks in question are instrumentals and to the best of my knowledge are not in circulation.

MikeyB71 said:

PurpleJedi said:

This was a cool tibit;

Have either of those unreleased tracks surfaced???

The two tracks in question are instrumentals and to the best of my knowledge are not in circulation.

What I love about the first two Sheila E LPs is that it seemed like Prince was stretching out and having fun jamming in the studio. The songs seem more experimental and funky than what was on his proper albums at the time. I'll add Koo Koo to that as well. What a crazy-ass wonderful ear biscuit.

I was lucky enough to see Sheila open for Prince and The Revolution on the Purple Rain tour. The crowd ate up her performance, it wasn't a case of tolerating the opening set waiting for Prince to take the stage. She was a star under the spotlight.

I never cared that much for Holly Rock, but I guess it was kind of a throw-away track to begin with. It did seem like she and Prince lost a bit of their creative chemistry at that point.

squirrelgrease said:

I never cared that much for Holly Rock, but I guess it was kind of a throw-away track to begin with. It did seem like she and Prince lost a bit of their creative chemistry at that point.

Yeah...I remember first listening to that track and thinking WTF?

Now...over two decades later, I can listen to that song and appreciate what they were trying to do with the sound. So I wouldn't say that they "lost" their creative chemistry, they just went wayward with it. Kind'a like Prince in general after Graffiti Bridge.

PurpleJedi said:

squirrelgrease said:

I never cared that much for Holly Rock, but I guess it was kind of a throw-away track to begin with. It did seem like she and Prince lost a bit of their creative chemistry at that point.

Yeah...I remember first listening to that track and thinking WTF?

Now...over two decades later, I can listen to that song and appreciate what they were trying to do with the sound. So I wouldn't say that they "lost" their creative chemistry, they just went wayward with it. Kind'a like Prince in general after Graffiti Bridge.

I totally jammed to that song back in the day. I still kinda like it.

Squirrel, it's interesting you say that about their creative chemistry. I think it got immensely better after Hollyrock. My thought has always been that up until Hollyrock, Prince would just bring Sheila in to record over a track he had already done (maybe adding percussion and such, as well as vocals, of course). But after Hollyrock or around that time, they seemed to get more collaborative. This is why I always think of Sheila as having a huge influence on my favorite period of his work (the SOTT and Lovesexy eras and the side projects and unreleased material from that time). That's just my opinion, though.

Efan said:

PurpleJedi said:

Yeah...I remember first listening to that track and thinking WTF?

Now...over two decades later, I can listen to that song and appreciate what they were trying to do with the sound. So I wouldn't say that they "lost" their creative chemistry, they just went wayward with it. Kind'a like Prince in general after Graffiti Bridge.

I totally jammed to that song back in the day. I still kinda like it.

Squirrel, it's interesting you say that about their creative chemistry. I think it got immensely better after Hollyrock. My thought has always been that up until Hollyrock, Prince would just bring Sheila in to record over a track he had already done (maybe adding percussion and such, as well as vocals, of course). But after Hollyrock or around that time, they seemed to get more collaborative. This is why I always think of Sheila as having a huge influence on my favorite period of his work (the SOTT and Lovesexy eras and the side projects and unreleased material from that time). That's just my opinion, though.

I agree.

I always found it interesting that Sheila was featured in a movie about what was at that time a hip hop label. Considering that Holly Rock was the only song of hers that even remotely resembled hip hop (if i'm wrong please correct me).

I'm a big fan of all three of the Sheila albums featuring Prince's involvement, i agree that the first two were pretty much Prince albums, but what fantastic albums. I agree with squirrel in that the music on the first two seemed to be in a different class to what Prince was releasing under his own name, and i feel the same way about The Family album. I'm not saying that Prince's albums in the same period were bad, far from it, but the first two Sheila albums and The Family album just seemed to sound so effortless and classy to my ears.

squirrelgrease said:

What I love about the first two Sheila E LPs is that it seemed like Prince was stretching out and having fun jamming in the studio. The songs seem more experimental and funky than what was on his proper albums at the time. I'll add Koo Koo to that as well. What a crazy-ass wonderful ear biscuit.

I was lucky enough to see Sheila open for Prince and The Revolution on the Purple Rain tour. The crowd ate up her performance, it wasn't a case of tolerating the opening set waiting for Prince to take the stage. She was a star under the spotlight.

I never cared that much for Holly Rock, but I guess it was kind of a throw-away track to begin with. It did seem like she and Prince lost a bit of their creative chemistry at that point.

Seeing Prince on the PR tour must have been amazing, but to see Sheila too must have been a great bonus. I heard that she used to get audience members on stage and handcuff them to chairs and shit, very sexually charged shows. Those performances must have been influenced by Prince's live show during that time. Would you agree?

MikeyB71 said:

squirrelgrease said:

What I love about the first two Sheila E LPs is that it seemed like Prince was stretching out and having fun jamming in the studio. The songs seem more experimental and funky than what was on his proper albums at the time. I'll add Koo Koo to that as well. What a crazy-ass wonderful ear biscuit.

I was lucky enough to see Sheila open for Prince and The Revolution on the Purple Rain tour. The crowd ate up her performance, it wasn't a case of tolerating the opening set waiting for Prince to take the stage. She was a star under the spotlight.

I never cared that much for Holly Rock, but I guess it was kind of a throw-away track to begin with. It did seem like she and Prince lost a bit of their creative chemistry at that point.

Seeing Prince on the PR tour must have been amazing, but to see Sheila too must have been a great bonus. I heard that she used to get audience members on stage and handcuff them to chairs and shit, very sexually charged shows. Those performances must have been influenced by Prince's live show during that time. Would you agree?

I saw the Purple Rain tour too. Sheila was amazing. The glow sticks, the skimpy outfits, the music! She would pull a male audience member up on stage and would tie him to a chair and sing to him. I'm almost positive it was to Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar. Janet Jackson did the same type thing years later. There's a video of The Belle Of St Mark running on a certain video site from the actual tour. Most probably know this too, but if not, there is a soundboard recording of Sheila's set from the last night of the Purple Rain tour in Miami.