(mods, this Shelia E record is a Prince album and you know it! Please don't move this to 'associated artists' or whatevs...)

So, many years ago my cassette of Shelia E Romance 1600 was stolen from me by a guy named Roz Deveraux. I loaned it to him and he just plain refused to give it back. I just recently got the record again on CD, and man is it awesome. I mean it's cheesy, but it's also so weird and original. Songs like Dear Michaelangelo and Love Bizarre I think show Prince at the height of his creative powers.


So let's talk about this. When was this recorded? Who's on it? Did Shelia E. write any of it? Was the Revolution involved? Did she tour this record?

Show some some love!

their gonna move it lol

move it 2 the proper forum please ..

She did tour for this album. It actually was recorded and released. "Sheila E. in a Romance 1600" on VHS. Prince and the Revolution show up at the end for "Love Bizarre". Who wrote what has always been a sticky topic in the world of Prince proteges. He liked giving credit out to them even if they didn't write the track. I'm sure Sheila had more input than most proteges being a musician in her own right. This was done around the ATWIAD/Parade era. in the live show Prince is still sporting his short cut from UTCM.

Also if you look really close at the cover you'll know why Prince substituted sheila's name in "Sister". "She don't wear no underwear!"
[Edited 9/4/09 19:33pm]

HonestMan13 said:

Oh right,I've seen that video. It's kind of awkward. Alot of the tempos for the songs are too fast, and songs like Merci for the sped of... become this flurry of notes. Shelia does this thing with mechanical toy dogs, and it's inexplicable. At one point she takes her coat off, and underneath are like the biggest shoulder pads you've ever seen. Then her band starts pop'n and lock'n. It's like "Shelia E. and the Jherri Curl Misfits" or something. Totally embarrassing. And then Prince and the Revolution come out . They do Love Bizarre and completely destroy all over Shelia's band. Really strange video.

This was her 'transition' album

Glamorous Life is still my favorite beginning 2 end

But Romance 1600 also showcases some maturing sounds out of the camp

The Time had a certain feel and vibe to their music but I Don't Want 2 Leave U & Ice Cream Castles, really show a progression in their style

For Sheila it's Dear Michaelangelo & Love Bizarre
I loved Love Bizarre when I first heard it, but Dear Michaelangelo's feel really impressed me, there's debth and melancholy in the sound

My favotites are Sister Fate (did U see the video?)
Dear Michaelangelo
Merci 4 the Speed of a Mad Clown in Summer
A Love Bizarre

Bedtime Story is ok
Romance 1600: title track, has almost a Dirty Mind new wave vibe, but it's a bit cheasy, if the song was a bit darker, a bit more electric guitar there is just a bit of it near the end of the song, maybe linn drum it might work, something like Sexuality.
Sheila's voice was strong on the track though

but the ballads from G.Life kill the ballads from this album

Yellow just doesn't work for me, too jammish, to James Brownish and is in the same vibe as G.Lifes Olivers House, But doesn't cut it

Toy Box which has clear sounds from the Controversy album, is a sexual song but the music doesn't make it sexy, no steam to it.

have 2 note Eddie M's defining sax sound that just too Purple Music to another level

I love the bands look though, I really like that image of the band on the back

Sister Fate

There's a nasty rumor that's goin' 'round
People think that U and, U and I are goin' down
They insist that we're more, more than just friends
So I'm gonna stick around until this movie ends
CHORUS:
I'm gonna leave it up 2 Sister Fate, destiny
She's the only thing that's standin' in the way of U and me
Sister Fate, destiny
One day we're gonna be 2gether, wait and see, wait and see

There's an awful story that's in the news
People say that I'm, I'm in love with U
If they knew the real truth, they'd probably die
I could never do nothin' 2 live up 2 those lies

CHORUS

Sister, huh

There's a nasty rumor that's going 'round
(There's a nasty rumor goin' 'round)
People think that U and I are going down
(People think that U and, U and I are goin' down)
They insist that we're more, more than just friends
So I'm gonna stick around (Until this movie ends, huh)

CHORUS

Wait and see

Sister Fate {x3}

Sister Fate, destiny
She's the only thing standin' in the way of U and me
Sister Fate, destiny {fade out}
One day we're gonna be 2gether, wait and see

© 1985 Sister Fate Music - ASCAP

the Bside was Dear Michaelangelo



Bedtime Story
Time 2 sleep
But I'm not sleepy yet
Close my eyes
But dreamland's not a sure bet
Don't go

CHORUS:
Stay with me
Tell me a bedtime story

Long ago there was a princess
She was so fine
She was all alone
4 her prince, he never had no time
U can hear her crying

CHORUS

Don't go
Stay with me
Please talk 2 me

Far away I want 2 go
And start my life all over
Instead, I'll stay
Maybe I'll find a 4-leaf clover

Stay with me
Tell me a bedtime story, yeah

CHORUS

Goodnight




Dear Michaelangelo

Every summer in the gardens of Florence
A peasant of female persuasion
Used 2 cry 4 Michaelangelo
2 save her from death's invitation
Some say this woman was crazy
Others say this woman was possessed
Just one look at her face
And it's evident 2 her he was the best (Oh)
CHORUS:
Dear Michaelangelo, color the dreams in my head
I look at your paintings and I'm with U in your bed
Dear Michaelangelo, save me from death's invitation
I'll make love 2 no one unless he's of your persuasion

By summer's end came many offers
All of which the peasant refused
She wanted Michaelangelo
And no other, no other man would do
No one could speak of passion and touch her
Touch her the way that he does
No one except Michaelangelo
It was him (life without love) or a life without love

CHORUS

A life without love, a life without love
Don't die, don't die without love

Dear Michaelangelo {x2}

CHORUS

Dear Mi... chael... an... ge... lo, angel

Dear Michaelangelo, color the dreams in my head
I look at your paintings and I'm with U in your bed

OldFriends4Sale said:

Look, it's Nicole's daddy!

ernestsewell said:

Hey Ernest, I think only one of her brothers was in her band at the time; Juan Escovedo (The guy on the right on the picture). I believe Peter Michael is Nicole's biological dad

Welcome back by the way

MacDaddy said:

They all look alike to me, but you're right, it is Peter Michael.

and thanks handsome. Aren't you in Flickr? Or am I thinking of someone else?

I find Romance 1600 more enjoyable, and more of an experience than The Glamorous Life - but I still loves The Glamorous Life.

The Romance 1600 Live video is fun. Prince doing the "wooden leg" and chopping down Morris' Oak Tree.

squirrelgrease said:

Right, that was the dance, I couldn't put it together, 4gotten all about that dance, I remember the clothing store though

Performances like this helped show the Uptown experience of Prince his band and his protege bands, as being together. Just like the Triple Threat tour and other off shows where V6 was on stage with Prince & the noituloveR or the Time & V6 together, During the ATWIAD - Parade era there was a good amount of that happening too, Sheila E jamming with Mazarati, Mazarati jamming at the UTCM premiere, too band the Family and Jill Jones didn't have more live spots

One of my favs....Love the instrumentals on that CD. Go SHEILA!!!!!

Sheila took a distinctive turn with her sophomore album. After the success of TGL, an album with more hit potential would have made much more sense. But Prince took it in a different direction. I love it, and the art direction they took for the album makes it really cool looking.

Hey everybody, thanks for jumping on this topic!

So, what does "The Vault" say about this record?

I did wish this album had more videos or even been given a storyline like the 3 Chains O' Gold. The music always painted a picture. Sister Fate was a great video and I think Dear Michelangelo would have translated well into a storyline.

Ahh, this album was IT for me back in the day. It was the next best thing to a new Prince album. Anyone remember how BET used to play Sister Fate and Screams of Passion video months before the albums were out? The Paisley Summer of 85.
Is it hard to get on CD now? I think it was reisuued recently, but the original release has been out of print for a while.

fms said:

Both "Romance 1600" and "Sheila E." got reissued. Pretty easy to find at larger music retailers.

I loved this album as a kid. I have lots of great memories listening to the cassette on my walkman. MerciForTHeSpeed Of a-whatever-it's-called is still amazing. Sheila's strained shreiking vocals though ruin the rest of the album. Sheila proved she has vocal talent with 'Hold Me', so the blame is on the arranger/writer/producer.

From Uptown #20 (sorry about the formatting - copied from a PDF)

I grew up in Oakland, in a pretty rowdy neighbourhood. Black.
Thugs. I learned how to fight because I got beat up a lot. They
didn’t know if I was black or white. My mother is real light-skinned,
Creole, from New Orleans, and my father is Mexican.” Born and
raised in Oakland, California, Sheila is the oldest child of Juanito
Escovedo and her husband, Pete, a percussionist. Together with his
brothers, Coke and Phil, Pete had a group called The Escovedo
Brothers. Coke later became a member of Santana, fronted by Carlos
Santana. The Escovedos had known the Santanas for years. As
Pete says, “They used to come around and watch us play before they
even started playing.” Coke and Pete both toured with Santana before
forming their own Latin jazz fusion band called Azteca.
Sheila began playing percussion at the age of three and her first
concert came two years later at Sam’s Ballroom, a bar room in Oakland.
“They had me stand on a stool because the congas were higher
than I was. I remember my mother getting me dressed up for it. She
was putting on a white dress and black patent leather shoes. I remember
walking up to the club and it seemed like there were thousands
of people there. It seemed so big. It only holds 300–400 people.
I remember walking up to the stage and my father announced
me. I don’t remember playing. It’s like I blacked out or something.”

Sports or music
Pete tried to convince his musically inclined daughter to do something
else for a living besides play percussion. He pushed her to take
classical violin lessons. “He bought me a violin when I was five. He
didn’t want me to play drums. He knew how demanding the instrument
was and girls weren’t really playing percussion. Plus knowing
that he had been struggling all his life. There weren’t a lot of people
using percussion and the only ones were Latin musicians and they
weren’t making any money.” In the sixth grade at high school, Sheila
turned down scholarship offers to pursue her violin lessons at
special schools. She much preferred watching what her father did in
rehearsals, and she would take to the timbales to mimic his moves
when the band would go on break.
“I never really went to school a lot. Sports, art and music kept me there.
My mother was really athletic, and before I got into playing music, I
wanted to be in the Olympics. I loved running track and I broke a lot of
records in school. The bad thing was that I went to a couple of basically
all-white schools, and because they thought I was black, when I broke a
record, they didn’t even acknowledge it happened.” Sheila played soccer
for nine years and specialized in track athletics. In the end, the choice
was the Olympics or music. Obviously, music got the decision.
Sheila’s professional life started at the age of 15, when Azteca’s
conga player got sick and they couldn’t find anyone to replace him
for an important show. “I said, ‘Let me play.’ My dad said, ‘You
don’t even know the songs.’ I go, ‘Yes I do.’ I was at rehearsal every
day. Azteca was an 11 or 12-piece band and they were signed to CBS.
We went home that night and I played a song on the album. I
played all the breaks and everything. He says, ‘Well, I guess you can
do it.’ The next day we played the show. I took a solo and got a
standing ovation and he was shocked.”
After the show, Sheila told her father that she wanted to quit
school. “This is it! I wanna play in your band. Let’s go out on tour.
The following month, we went to Bogota, South America, and that
was it.” Two albums in the Latin jazz fusion style with her father,
produced by drummer Billy Cobham, followed.
Billy introduced Sheila to George Duke, “and then from George
Duke that’s when I started doing a lot of session work. A lot of male
drummers didn’t like me. I was playing a lot of percussion, but I did
know how to play drums too, but I just didn’t because nobody would
ever let me sit down on the drums. They would get really upset.”
Stage work and sessions followed with Con Funk Shun and Herbie
Hancock, which led to less demanding but better paying pop work
with Marvin Gaye, Jeffrey Osbourne, Diana Ross, Al Jarreau, and
Lionel Richie.

Meeting Prince
It was backstage after one Al Jarreau concert in early 1978 that
Sheila first met Prince, who was recording his debut album in Sausalito.
“I had heard about Prince, but I didn’t know if the Prince at
the concert was the same guy. He was standing against a wall and we
just sort of made eye contact.” They met again in late 1979 when
Prince was on the Prince tour. Sheila found his stage attire (underwear
and leg-warmers) “kinky,” but really liked the music. “I went
backstage to tell him that I dug his music, that I liked it because it
was different and unpredictable – just like him. As soon as I went
backstage, he came right up to me and said, ‘I know who you are.’ I
was shocked because he told me he was following my career. At the
time I was playing with George Duke. Prince wanted me to play
drums for him. The first thing he asked me was how much I charged.
I told him, and he said, ‘Well, I’ll never be able to afford that.’ We
became friends then.”

Sheila and Prince stayed in touch over the years. “He used to come
over to my house and we sat down and did a little playing. We just
jammed.” It was in late 1983 that Prince invited Sheila into the Sunset
Sound studio in Los Angeles where he was working from late December
1983 until late April 1984, recording songs for his own use and
for The Time’s Ice Cream Castle and Apollonia 6. Sheila played drums
on some sessions before singing with Prince on “Erotic City,” which
was recorded for a single B-side release. “Prince said, ‘Come in to the
studio. I want you to do something.’ I said OK. I thought I was going
to play. He said, ‘Sing.’ I said, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘I just want you
to sing this song.’ So I went in and sang it. That was it.”
Prince had recorded a number of songs which he felt might suit
Sheila. Many of them had originally been intended for Apollonia 6,
including “Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar,” “Oliver’s
House,” and the song that became the title track of Sheila’s
album, “The Glamorous Life.” After singing “Erotic City” together,
Prince asked her if she wanted to sing the songs he had set aside for
her and do an entire album. “‘Why don’t you do your own
album?’ And I said, ‘Nah.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘I don’t want to.’
‘Don’t you think you have been playing behind other people
long enough?’ ‘But I like it.’ ‘I’m telling you that you
need to be out on your own. You can sing, you can play.’
Although Sheila had been singing background vocals for
George Duke, Herbie Hancock and other musicians, she
was not comfortable about singing, and it took a lot of persuasion
by Prince to convince her to step out from behind
the drums and go solo. “I never wanted to sing until Prince
asked me to. Lionel Richie had asked me to sing ‘Endless
Love’ on tour. I said, ‘You’re crazy. I’m not going to do it.’ You
know, I get kind of scared when I hear my voice. When Prince
asked me, though, I just had a feeling that he knew what he was
talking about.”

A few days after recording “Erotic City,” Sheila went into the
studio and recorded percussion parts and replaced Prince’s scratch
vocals on the five songs and one instrumental they had chosen for
her album. Her vocal sessions took five days, and the album was
completed by early April. Prince took the album to his management
company, Cavallo, Ruffalo and Fargnoli, who introduced Sheila to
Warner Bros. Within a few weeks, all was signed and sealed.
Overnight pop star

Sheila was credited as the sole writer of four of the six tracks on
The Glamorous Life, while “Shortberry Strawcake” was listed as collaboration
with Jesse Johnson, and “Next Time Wipe The Lipstick
Off Your Collar” with Apollonia 6’s Brenda Bennett. However, at
the ASCAP copyright office, Prince is registered as the writer of all
of the songs, barring “Noon Rendezvous” for which Sheila was given
a co-writing credit. Apart from Sheila’s percussion parts, Prince
plays more or less everything on the album. Lisa Coleman’s brother
David plays cello on “Oliver’s House” and “The Glamorous Life,”
and Jill Jones sings background on “The Belle Of St. Mark” and
adds vocals to “Oliver’s House.” “The Glamorous Life” showcases
Larry Williams (an experienced session musician) on sax, while “Next
Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar” features Novi Novog on
violin and Nick DeCaro on accordion.
Frozen, as if caught in the act of flight, the black and white cover
shot captures Sheila as a glamorous film star. Elegant and luxurious,
she is dressed in lace, fur, high heels and jewellery. The full album
title also spoofs the conventions of 40’s movie promotion, Sheila E.
In The Glamorous Life. In keeping with the cinematic theme, the
album was “directed” by Sheila E. and The Starr Company.
Showcasing some of Prince’s most accessible and commercial music
ever, The Glamorous Life is crammed to bursting with addictive
hooks and strong melodies. The album is highly consistent, without
weak links, mixing finely crafted pop songs like “The Glamorous
Life,” “The Belle Of St. Mark,” and “Next Time Wipe The Lipstick
Off Your Collar” with funky and instantly catchy efforts like “Oliver’s
House” and the instrumental “Shortberry Strawcake.” With its
accented snare drum attack, the Linn drum machine gives the songs
terrific punch and energy.

Sheila’s timbale work on some of the songs gives the album more of
an individual stamp than most of Prince’s side projects, but the album
exhibits most of the highly distinct trademarks of the 1983–84 model
Prince/Starr Company sound, including predominating synths and the
use throughout of the Linn drum machine. The overall production is
tight and focused, and the album has a clean, uncluttered sound.
The songs are fairly straightforward and direct, and do not have
the complexity of songs Prince reserves for himself. However, at the
same time, most songs lack the adolescent feel of songs given to
Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. Indeed, they have a maturity and musical
complexity befitting Sheila’s talents. The Glamorous Life has stood
the test of time and still ranks as one of Prince’s finest side projects.
“The Glamorous Life” was released as a single on May 2nd 1984
and immediately became a club favourite. It hit number one on
Billboard’s dance/disco chart before picking
up heavy airplay on both pop and black radio.
It reached number seven on the pop singles
chart. Sheila’s duet with Prince, “Erotic
City,” appeared two weeks later as the Bside
of “When Doves Cry.” The Glamorous
Life followed on June 4th to mostly positive
reviews. The album made number seven on
the black album chart and got to number 28
on the pop chart. The second and third single
releases, “The Belle Of St. Mark” (October
1984) and “Oliver’s House” (November 1984) had less impact
on the charts.

The shared production (or “direction”) credit between Sheila and
The Starr Company, as well as the obvious musical similarities between
the album and Prince’s music, fuelled speculation that Prince
was masterminding Sheila’s career. She emphatically denied that
Prince had anything to do with the record, which, she said, had
taken a mere five days to record while “Prince was away working on
Purple Rain.” In interview after interview Sheila found herself having
to fend off questions about her relationship with Prince and his
involvement in the album. “I get the same thing every day, at every
interview. It doesn’t get on my nerves – yet. They all go, ‘Aahh...
well we know Prince produced your record’ and I go, ‘Well, he
didn’t do it.’” According to Sheila, the Starr Company was “anyone
connected with the Prince organization, including The Revolution
and The Time.” Ironically, her father, Pete Escovedo, admitted to
Rolling Stone: “They didn’t want people to know she was backed up
by Prince, because it would look like she wasn’t making it on her
own merits. That’s why he stayed out of the credits. But everyone
knows when you hear the album, you can tell it’s him.”
Obviously, the connection to Prince, at the height of his popularity,
assured media interest and public attention, but it brought mixed
blessings since many saw her simply as a creation of Prince, one in
the line of sexy women who had fallen under his spell and had been
moulded in his own image. Although she had already made her mark
as a percussionist of considerable standing, it was difficult for her to
get the media to focus on her musical talents. “I’m a musician but
not many people know that. I was a musician long before I ever met
Prince. People wrongly assume I’ve gotten where I have because of
Prince. They think he ‘made me,’ just like he’s made other female
artists. I don’t deny that Prince has helped me, but I’m much more
my own creation. That’s a big difference between me and those other
women he has worked with.”
Sheila live

As soon as The Glamorous Life was recorded, Sheila began assembling
a band for live work. The sax player on “The Glamorous Life,”
Larry Williams, was replaced by Eddie Minnifield, who became
known as Eddie M. Sheila’s brother Juan joined to play percussion,
while Karl Perazzo became the group’s drummer. Ken Grey and
Susie Davis played keyboards. Benny Rietveld was recruited to play
bass, while Miko Weaver and Stephen Birnbaum became the group’s
guitarists. Sheila explained what she was looking for: “I wanted people
who hadn’t had a chance to reach the top before. It was hard for
me to ask ten different things of everybody who came to the audition,
but the first question was always, ‘Do you smoke, drink or take
drugs?’ If they did and they wanted the job, they had to quit. Then
they had to look good, know how to play two different instruments,
be able to sing and dance and do it all at once!”
Sheila attended Prince’s June 7th birthday 1984 concert at the
First Avenue. Prince dedicated “Noon Rendezvous” to “that little
girl over there, that’s Sheila E!” Sheila’s eight-piece Bay Area band
re-located to Minneapolis and took turns with The Revolution rehearsing
at Prince’s Eden Prairie warehouse. Sheila’s sax player Eddie
M. played saxophone on two Around The World In A Day cuts,
“The Ladder” and “Temptation,” while Sheila played percussion
on a new version of “I Would Die 4 U,” recorded
for a 12" single release during rehearsals for the upcoming
Purple Rain tour.

Sheila made her debut as a solo performer on July 26th
1984 in front of a star-studded crowd at the Purple Rain
premiere party at the Palace in Hollywood. Sheila pulled
Ray Parker Jr. out of the audience and sang “Next Time
Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar” to him teasingly while
trying to peel off his clothes. She playfully grabbed his crotch
and proclaimed, “You’re the kind of guy who comes home
with the smell of another girl on your jockstrap.” Lionel Richie fell
out of his chair, feigning a faint. Sheila proved a captivating performer
with a lot of charisma and her band was impressively tight.
Sheila was set to be the opening act on the upcoming Purple Rain
tour, and she warmed up by doing a brief US tour in September,
playing clubs and theatres in some of the major cities. Prince guested
with Sheila at her concerts at the Cleveland Agora and at The
Ritz in New York. Later in September, she went to Europe for some
club gigs and television appearances. In her last appearance before
the Purple Rain tour, Sheila played the First Avenue in Minneapolis
on October 25th, once again with Prince guesting on stage.

Recording on tour
The Purple Rain tour kicked off in Detroit on November 4th
1984. Wearing a variety of revealing outfits, Sheila played her new
sexy image to the hilt. She would bring a male onstage, seat him
with his hands secured behind his back by a bodyguard, and simulate
fellatio on him while taunting the crowd about his sexual apparatus,
“Do you want to play with my timbales? Your stick isn’t big
enough!”
“We were killing,” says Miko Weaver, Sheila’s guitarist. “We had
a step for every tune. In fact, we were killing The Revolution, Prince’s
band.” Miko Weaver, Eddie M., Sheila and her brother Juan used
to join Prince’s band for the encores of “I Would Die 4 U” and
“Baby, I’m A Star.” Sheila’s timbale playing was blistering, accented
by neon-lit drumsticks during her encore. Her energetic 45-minute
set was very well-received by the audience, but many critics seemed
to feel her demeanour detracted from the music.
With Prince once again writing all the music and lyrics, as well as
playing nearly everything, Sheila and Prince began recording for her
second album while on the Purple Rain tour. Recording sessions
took place in January 1985 at Atlanta’s Cheshire Studios and at studios
in Cleveland and Cincinnati. After the February 4th 1985 concert
in Memphis, Prince and Sheila went to Sunset Sound in Los
Angeles, where they applied the finishing touches to the album. Back
in Oakland after the tour, Sheila recorded the instrumental “Merci
For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In The Summer,” which was added
to the album. In April, she also recorded
“Holly Rock” with Prince at Sunset Sound,
where Prince was working on the Parade album.
The song was written by Prince for
Sheila for use in Krush Groove, a film that
premiered later in 1985.
Released on August 26th 1985, Sheila’s
second album, entitled Romance 1600, is very
disappointing in comparison to The Glamorous
Life. It is musically more adventurous
than the predecessor, but most tracks lack
the memorable melodies and hooks of The Glamorous Life. There is
a hurried shoddiness about the production and mix of the album.
The sound is muddled and most tracks (“A Love Bizarre” being a
notable exception) lack the sonic clarity of the predecessor. Fusing
an irresistible hookline with a funky beat, “A Love Bizarre” is the
stand-out track. Having written and recorded most of Purple Rain,
Apollonia 6, Ice Cream Castle and the entire The Glamorous Life, The
Family and Around The World In A Day albums within the space of
12 months, Prince simply didn’t have enough first-rate material ready
for Romance 1600.

All the songs on Romance 1600 are listed as Sheila E. compositions, except
“A Love Bizarre” which was co-penned by Prince and
Sheila. In contrast to The Glamorous Life, Prince’s presence on the
album is openly acknowledged. Besides receiving co-credit on “A
Love Bizarre,” he is credited with playing guitar and bass on “Toy
Box” and contributing background vocals to “Yellow.” Even though
the songs are listed at ASCAP as Sheila E. compositions (and are
published by Sheila’s publishing company, Sister Fate Music), some
of the engineers working on the album testify that everything was
written by Prince, music as well as lyrics. By crediting Prince for a
few specific contributions, the intention was obviously to give the
impression that his input was fairly limited.
The album continues the cinematic theme of The Glamorous Life,
with the full title of the album being Sheila E. In Romance 1600. The
songs are “scenes” and the musicians actors, with character names
such as Dame Kelly (Susie Davis), Sir Dancelot (Juan Escovedo),
The Nobleman (Miko Weaver), and Sheila as Sister Fate. The vaguely
18th Century style costumes, by way of Minneapolis glam, worn
by Sheila and her band members in the album’s artwork are also in
keeping with the album’s general historical theme, which was, at
least partially, inspired by the Amadeus film.
Romance 1600 was the first album after Around The World In A
Day, on Prince’s new label Paisley Park Records, formed to provide
him with a secondary outlet for his own material and to develop a
roster of new talent. At this point, however, the label was nothing
more than an imprint on the sleeve since it was administrated out of
Prince’s management company, Cavallo, Ruffalo and Fargnoli, and
did not yet have an office or an executive whose full-time responsibility
was the label.
The release of Romance 1600 was preceded
by “Sister Fate,” released as a single
in May 1985. Despite a Prince cameo in
the video, the single did not have much
impact on the US charts. However, the
second single, released in September 1985,
“A Love Bizarre,” a much more obvious
choice for a single, made number 11 on
the Billboard pop chart. “Bedtime Story”
was released as a third single in November
1985 with little success, but the album sold
gold on the strength of “A Love Bizarre.”
New band
Hyped as “the Purple Rain of rap,”
Krush Groove was a film by black director
Michael Schultz, who directed Car Wash
and some of Richard Pryor’s earliest film
successes. The film is essentially the story
of the Def Jam rap label and its founders,
Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons. Much
like Purple Rain, most of the characters in
the film appear as themselves, including
Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys,
L.L. Cool J, New Edition and many more
from the rap scene in the mid-80’s. Sheila
played the female lead, who is the object
of desire of Run, of Run-DMC (né Joey
Simmons, real life brother of Russell Simmons),
while the Russell Simmons character
(named Russell Walker in the film)
was played by Blair Underwood.
Sheila performed “Holly Rock” and “A
Love Bizarre” (which was also the essence
of the song’s video clip). She felt the film
was “a great experience. Not only did I
get shown how to act, I was taught how to
rap, too.” The film met with lukewarm reviews
and limited success at the box office, but the soundtrack album
produced two US Top 20 hits in Chaka Khan’s “You Can’t
Stop The Street” and Kurtis Blow’s “If I Ruled The World.” Sheila’s
contribution to the Krush Groove soundtrack, “Holly Rock,” was
released as a single in May 1986. Written by Prince, it is a fast,
pounding James Brown-style one-chord vamp with mostly rapped
lyrics by Sheila.
Meanwhile, Sheila put together a new group, her band having
split up after the Purple Rain tour. Prince hired Miko Weaver for
the live line-up of The Family that was rehearsing at the warehouse
for a planned tour in late 1985 with Sheila and Mazarati. Nothing
came of these plans when Paul Peterson left The Family in October
1985 to pursue a solo career.
Miko Weaver was replaced by Levi Seacer Jr., whom had played
Latin rock and jazz-rock fusion with Sheila around Bay Area clubs
earlier in the 80’s. Sheila also brought in Boni Boyer, a childhood
friend from Oakland, to play keyboards. Apart from Levi on guitar
and Boni on keyboards, Sheila’s new band consisted of Rafael Wiggins
Jr. on bass, Carl Wheeler on keyboards, Timothy Riley on
drums, while Norbert Stachel replaced Eddie M. as her sax player.
Her brother Juan continued as percussion player.
Sheila began recording songs for her third album in August 1985.
This time, she was determined to rely less on Prince’s musical input.
Sheila started collaborating on songs with her friend Constance Guzman
(who later married Gilbert Davison) and she worked a lot with
Levi Seacer Jr. in the studio. In late 1985 and early 1986, Sheila and
Levi took part in the so-called Flesh sessions with Prince and Eric Leeds at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. Wendy
and Lisa also participated in some of the sessions.
The Flesh was basically a number of
highly spontaneous jam sessions, focusing on
instrumental jazz-rock/funk fusion music. An
album was sequenced, but it was never mastered,
so nothing ever happened to the project,
which can be seen as a forerunner to Prince’s
and Eric’s later Madhouse project.
Sheila’s third Paisley Park Records album,
Sheila E., was not completed by the time she
embarked on a tour in March 1986. On
March 6th 1986, she played the Universal Amphitheatre
where Prince guested on stage to
perform “A Love Bizarre” with her before continuing
with “America” and “Kiss.” Two days
later, Prince showed up to do another duet
with Sheila, this time at her show at the
Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. The show
was filmed and later released as a home video
called Romance 1600 Live.
After a few headlining concerts, Sheila
joined Lionel Richie’s tour to perform as
opening act on an extensive tour of arenas throughout the States.
The tour exposed Sheila to a new audience: “I was a little nervous,
because the audience was older and mellower than the audience that
came to see me when I was touring with Prince on the Purple Rain
tour. But it came off great, and I didn’t even have to change my
material. Working with Lionel built up my confidence.”
Sheila joins Prince’s band
In September 1986, Sheila opened for Prince in Japan on the final
leg of his Parade tour. She was doing soundchecks with The Revolution,
and it was becoming increasingly apparent that Prince had ideas
about replacing his drummer, Bobby Z., with Sheila. Prince wanted
to move on musically and he needed a drummer who would
follow where he was heading. He wanted to move beyond funk and
pop/rock, and his new direction required more of a jazz-rock fusionstyle
playing, with more time signature and tempo changes. Unquestionably,
Sheila’s experience and background made her the perfect
drummer for Prince.
Prince disbanded The Revolution on October 7th 1986, when he
told Bobby, Wendy and Lisa that he was letting them go. Brown
Mark left soon thereafter. Prince retained Matt Fink, Eric Leeds,
Miko Weaver, Atlanta Bliss, Greg Brooks, and Wally Safford from
his expanded Revolution band. Sheila E. took over from Bobby,
while two musicians from Sheila’s band, Boni Boyer and Levi Seacer
Jr., replaced Lisa Coleman and Brown Mark respectively. Dancer
and choreographer Cathy “Cat” Glover replaced Jerome Benton.
Joining Prince’s band as a drummer, Sheila decided to
call a temporary halt to her solo career. “I wanted to get
away from the pressure of being a solo artist. It was important
for me to get back to playing the drums because I was
just tired of having a band and being the one out front all
the time. I wasn’t thinking that the move was going to affect
my career.” She was advised not to give up centrestage to
play drums behind Prince, which many said would be a step
backwards artistically, but she felt it was a necessary move in
order to be taken seriously as a musician. Clearly, she was
frustrated by the public perception of her as female pop star
and sex symbol rather than a musician. “They thought the whole
thing about the first album was to sell sex, which was how it was
presented. But for the second album, I cut my hair and wore a longsleeved
blouse and long pants, because I wanted to be seen as a
strong musician. But no one got it. I consider myself a musician
much more than I consider myself a female pop vocalist or whatever
it is they call me.”

Sheila wrapped up work on her third album at Sunset Sound in
October 1986. Five of the ten songs on the album were written by
Prince: “One Day (I’m Gonna Make You Mine),” “Love On A Blue
Train,” “Koo Koo,” “Boy’s Club,” and “Pride And The Passion.”
Two of the songs, “Hon E Man” and “Wednesday Like A River,”
were composed by Sheila with Constance Guzman and Levi Seacer
Jr. “Hold Me” was written by Sheila with Constance and Eddie M.,
while “Faded Photographs” featured songwriting by Sheila, Constance,
Samuel Domingo and Boni Boyer. “Soul Salsa” was written
by Sheila with Levi Seacer Jr. and Norbert Stachel.
In an obvious move to downplay Prince’s importance, he is not
even mentioned in the musical credits (even though he receives a
“special thanks”). Sheila takes credit for producing and arranging
the album “in association with David Z.,” but in actuality the songs
were produced by Prince and David Z. The album sees Sheila trying
to establish her own musical identity, and it is her stylistically most
diverse album. Still, the album lacks a flagship tune of the calibre of
“A Love Bizarre” or “The Glamorous Life,” and it is somewhat inconsistent.
The album art features a photograph of Sheila in a very revealing
two-piece outfit. She has her left hand raised above her head and she
looks directly into the camera. Because her clothing almost blends
into the white background, Sheila’s face and finely toned body stand
out in striking contrast. The whole effect is both provocative and
intense, and is quite appropriate for the mix of predominantly party-
oriented songs and a few more serious
songs and ballads which are on the album.
The material Sheila has had a hand in
writing is of varying quality, ranging from
“Soul Salsa,” a salsa-style instrumental (in
keeping with the tradition of having one instrumental
track on every album), and “Hon E Man,” a heavy funk workout, to a syrapy
ballad (“Hold Me”) and a slick hard rock
number (“Faded Photographs”). Interestingly,
the recording of “Soul Salsa” was a family
affair, featuring Sheila and her father, mother, brothers Juan and
Peter Michael and sister Zina on various instruments. Prince is less
to the fore than on The Glamorous Life or Romance 1600, but his
presence is easy to detect. To some extent, his sparse, edgy drum
machine-driven pop tunes with a funky foundation contrast with
Sheila’s more conventional, mainstream material. His contributions compare favourably with Romance 1600, but none of his five songs is
from his top drawer of material.
The album was released February 19th 1987. The sales were disappointing
in comparison to her first two albums, and none of the
singles had much impact on the charts, “Hold Me” (released December
1986), and “Koo Koo” (March 1987). The video of the latter
song was choreographed by Cat, who also appeared in the video
with Sheila.

Sign O’ The Times and Lovesexy
In April, Sheila left with Prince’s band for the Sign O’ The Times
tour, which began in Stockholm on May 8th 1987. Prince gave over
portions of the show to his band, and Sheila was spotlighted rapping
on “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night” (with Prince taking over
the drum kit). Playing with Prince “more than met my expectations,”
said Sheila. “I thought I worked hard, but he outdoes me
and is always trying to improve and think ahead. I’ve played with
everyone, but this is the ultimate. They told me it wasn’t smart to
go from being a solo artist and having some success at it, to playing
behind someone like Prince again. I disagreed. I thought it would
be a good move. Anybody who is anybody comes to see Prince, so
they will see me. And I don’t take a backseat either. He’s giving me
a drum solo and I don’t mind stealing the show from him every
night.”

By the time the European tour was coming to a close, it was apparent
that the Sign O’ The Times album was not going to take off in
the States. The second single, “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” had
bombed completely, and Prince was unhappy with the status of the
album. He felt that there was not enough anticipation for an American
Sign O’ The Times tour, so very abruptly he decided to film the
show instead of continuing the tour to the States. The film was
essentially his way of getting out of doing a US tour.
Back in Minneapolis in July, additional footage for the Sign O’
The Times film was shot at the sound stage of the newly opened
Paisley Park studio complex. In late July and early August, Sheila
took part in sessions at Paisley Park for a second album with Madhouse,
Prince’s and Eric Leeds’ jazz-rock fusion project. Although
Levi Seacer Jr, Matt Fink, Eric Leeds, and John Lewis (drums) are
listed as musicians on the album, 16, most tracks were recorded by
the “Madhouse quartet,” Prince (keyboards),
Sheila (drums), Eric Leeds (sax
and flute), and Levi Seacer Jr (bass).
Sheila was also working on material for
a planned fourth album on Paisley Park
Records. Prior to the Sign O’ The Times
tour, Sheila recorded “3 Nigs Watchin’ A
Kung Fu Movie,” “It’s A Hard Life,” and
“Chicken Legs” at Paisley Park. Most
songs and sessions involved Prince or
Levi Seacer Jr. Sessions at Paisley Park
continued later in 1987 and in early 1988,
when she cut songs like “Knucklehead,”
“Latino Barbie Doll” (revamped in recent
years for use by Mayte), “Soul Company,”
“Day After Day,” “Girl Power,” and
a version of Donny Hathaway’s “The
Ghetto.” Sheila and Prince also cut “Scarlet
Pussy” for Sheila’s album, but it later
turned up as a Prince B-side.
The Sign O’ The Times film opened in
Detroit on October 29th. During November
and December, Sheila and Cat
appeared on several talk shows and radio
stations to promote the film, which
opened on 250 screens in 39 major US
markets. The film became a big hit with
the US critics, and Sheila received highly favourable notices for her
participation.

In December 1987, Prince set about recording the Lovesexy album
after having cancelled the Black Album at last minute. Lovesexy involved
the band to a large degree, and Sheila played drums on many
of the tracks. The theme of the album was transformed into a spectacular
stage show which Prince took on the road in Europe in July
1988. With the exception of Greg Brooks and Wally Safford, who
had left, it was the same band as on the Sign O’ The Times tour.
Once again, Sheila played an important role in the show, taking part
in several set-piece interpretations of songs.
After a hugely successful two-month European tour, the Lovesexy
show arrived in the States in September. Despite the fact that more
than three years had passed since Prince last undertook an extensive
American tour, he had trouble selling out many concerts and the
American leg of the tour lost money. Much of the blame of the
disappointing audience turn-out was put on the Lovesexy album,
which was Prince’s weakest selling album in the States since Controversy.
Some of the financial losses were corrected when the tour
moved to Japan for eight concerts in February 1989.
“A sex cymbal”
Sheila left Prince’s band after the Japanese tour. She and Prince
had creative differences and disagreed on the direction of her planned
fourth Paisley Park Records album. She was released from her contract
and subsequently signed with Warner Bros. The songs she previously
had recorded with Prince for her fourth album were left
behind and she started from scratch on a new album. Having been
so closely linked with Prince for five years, the departure was inevitable
if she was going to establish her own identity.
While working on Sex Cymbal, her Warner Bros. album, in 1990,
Sheila’s lung collapsed and she was bedridden for a long time. “I was
driving along in my car on a freeway in L.A., and all of a sudden I
had a tingle in my left arm. Then it went limp. Then I got chest
pains, and then I couldn’t breathe. Just like that. Then a disc went
out in my back. I was paralysed for about a week. All of a sudden,
my whole life just did a flip.” It took over half a year of recuperation
and physical therapy before Sheila was able to play the drums again.
“I had to learn to play pretty much all over again. I took nearly all
my energy just to play three songs. It was really pretty scary.”
Work on the album was stalled and it was not completed for
release until the spring of 1991. Sheila saw the album as a “continuation
of the things people have heard on my other albums,” but the
reception was less than enthusiastic and the sales poor. Produced by
Sheila with her brother Peter Michael, the album was done entirely
without Prince’s involvement. Musicians on the album include
Brown Mark and former band members Norbert Stachel, Eddie M.,
Karl Perazzo and Boni Boyer.
In recent years, Sheila’s career as a solo artist has taken a backseat
to her work as a session musician. She has been involved in many
different musical projects and guested on numerous albums, including
records with George Duke, Billy Cobham, Gloria Estefan, Carlene
Carter, and even on an album with heavy metal act Poison.
Sheila’s latest project is a group called E Train, a band which includes
Eric Leeds on saxophone. After an appearance on The Arsenio
Hall Show in April 1994, they went on the road, playing clubs across
the States. Sheila sang re-arranged versions of her two biggest hits,
“The Glamorous Life” and “A Love Bizarre,” and mixed blues, gospel
and funky numbers with Latin jazz fusion and salsa instrumentals.
Although Sheila did not have an album out to promote, the
tour was a large success with audiences and critics alike. A two-week
European tour followed in November and December of 1994 with a
slightly different line-up (though still with Eric Leeds). At the time
of writing, Sheila is said to be negotiating to sign with a new label,
having left Warner Bros. in 1994.
Pleasingly, Sheila seems to have found her niche with E Train,
merging her Latin jazz and salsa heritage with pop, funk, soul, blues
and gospel, thus striking a balance between being Sheila Escovedo,
the musician, and Sheila E., the singer. “It’s hard to make money
being a musician,” says Sheila. “As soon as I did the commercial
thing, I became popular. Sometimes, it seems a shame that you have
to sacrifice one thing to get something else. It’s hard to make a
choice. When you get too commercial, pretty soon the music tends
to become boring. On the other hand, I do like to earn a little money.
But it’s not really the glamorous life. It’s real hard work.”

By PER NILSEN.

Thanks to RICK NOORDIJK and DAVID J. MAGDZIARZ.
Quotes from Modern Drummer, Creem, New Musical Express, USA Today,
Record, Philadelphia Daily News, The Face, Blues & Soul, Rhythm, nEws.

Previous articles on The Starr  Company/Paisley Park recording artists have been published in the following issues of
UPTOWN: The Time [#3], Vanity 6 [#5], Apollonia 6 [#18], Carmen Electra [#9], George Clinton [#12], and Mavis Staples [#12].


SHEILA E. DISCOGRAPHY
The discography is limited to Sheila’s career as a solo artist (as Sheila E.).

Albums
The Glamorous Life
The Belle Of St. Mark / Shortberry Strawcake / Noon Rendezvous / Oliver’s
House / Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar / The Glamorous Life /
*The Glamorous Life [Club Edit].
*Bonus track on CD release.
1984 The Starr Company/Warner Bros.

Romance 1600
Sister Fate / Dear Michaelangelo / A Love Bizarre / Toy Box / Yellow / Romance
1600 / Merci For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In Summer / Bedtime
Story.
1985 Paisley Park/Warner Bros.

Sheila E.
One Day (I’m Gonna Make You Mine) / Wednesday Like A River / Hold Me /
Faded Photographs / Koo Koo / Pride And The Passion / Boy’s Club / Soul
Salsa / Hon E. Man / Love On A Blue Train.
1987 Paisley Park/Warner Bros.

Sex Cymbal
Sex Cymbal / Funky Attitude / Cry Baby / Lady Marmalade / 808 Kate [drum
solo] / Loverboy / Mother Mary / Droppin’ Like Flies / What’cha Gonna Do /
Private Party (Tu Para Mi) / Family Affair [percussion jam] / Promise Me
Love / Heaven.
1992 Warner Bros.

7" singles: US discography
The Glamorous Life [Edit] / The Glamorous Life [Part II]
The Belle Of St. Mark [Edit] / Too Sexy
Oliver’s House [Edit] / Noon Rendezvous
Sister Fate [Edit] / Sister Fate [Instrumental]
A Love Bizarre [Edit] / A Love Bizarre [Part II]
Bedtime Story / Dear Michaelangelo
Holly Rock [Edit] / Toy Box
Hold Me [Edit] / The World Is High
Koo Koo / Paradise Gardens
*Sex Cymbal / Bass Base
*Droppin’ Like Flies [Album Edit] / Heaven
*Cry Baby / Lady Marmalade

“Sister Fate” through “Koo Koo” are on Paisley Park Records, the others appeared on Warner Bros. The asterisked singles are cassette singles.
12" singles: US discography
The Glamorous Life [Club Edit] / The Glamorous Life [Part II]
The Belle Of St. Mark [Dance Mix] / Too Sexy
Sister Fate [Extended] / Save The People
Hold Me [Album Version] / The World Is High
Koo Koo [Extended] / Paradise Gardens [Extended]
Sex Cymbal [three versions] / Bass Base
Droppin’ Like Flies [four versions] / Heaven
“Sister Fate” through “Koo Koo” are on Paisley Park Records, the others appeared on Warner
Bros.

Home video
Live Romance 1600
Intro / Sister Fate / Erotic City / Toy Box / S Car Go / Merci For The Speed
Of A Mad Clown In Summer / Holly Rock / The Glamorous Life / A Love Bizarre
[featuring Prince and The Revolution].
1986 PMI

funksterr said:

Do all of your compliments sting?

[Edited 9/7/09 20:02pm]

HonestMan13 said:

The label that reissued them is called Encore. Unfortunately, they were not remastered.

HonestMan13 said:

Just trying to be fair.

fms said:

you can buy all her albums on Amazon.com

Yes, the proteges were taken to another notch after Parade, I just wish Prince managed them all better

I love this album: Dear Michaelangelo is my song
and Sheila & her band used to work those moves,
Remember her in the movie Krush Groove:A Love Bizarre & Hollyrock

squirrelgrease said:[quote]From Uptown #20 (sorry about the formatting - copied from a PDF)

WOW thank U 4 this indepth history/time frame

I love stuff like this, it fills in gaps and explains what was happening behind the music

Sheila is such an import part of Erotic City, and U can tell she still believes in the purple vision

JudasLChrist said:[quote](mods, this Shelia E record is a Prince album and you know it! Please don't move this to 'associated artists' or whatevs...)

So, many years ago my cassette of Shelia E Romance 1600 was stolen from me by a guy named Roz Deveraux. I loaned it to him and he just plain refused to give it back. I just recently got the record again on CD, and man is it awesome. I mean it's cheesy, but it's also so weird and original. Songs like Dear Michaelangelo and Love Bizarre I think show Prince at the height of his creative powers.


So let's talk about this. When was this recorded? Who's on it? Did Shelia E. write any of it? Was the Revolution involved? Did she tour this record?

Show some some love![img]Does anyone else see the the similarity in looks between Sheila and Keri Hilson?

Merci For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In Summer

uses the same intro as....

Queen - Brighton Rock

http://www.youtube.com/wa...dUKi3_QntE
[Edited 9/13/09 16:13pm]

lotusflower said:

WoW! thanks for that! I wonder what the source is?

I never really got into the album having loved TGL so much. "Sister Fate" I loved, but the rest of the album not so. Dear Michaelangelo probably is my favorite track after Sister Fate- and even A Love Bizarre overstays it's welcome at 12 plus minutes. I much prefer the live version off of the Live in Romance 1600 video.

I have to give props to the b-side of the Sister Fate 12", Save The People, a great semi-instrumental with a great timbales solo. I wish the entire album was like that...

Peter Michael wasn't a member of the Romance 1600 band, he later joined Sheila's band when she toured with Lionel Richie in 1986. But he can be seen in the TGL video playing saxophone.