Considering she didn't really want to sing in the first place, I think she does a good job!

"Bedtime Story" showed me she had some chops, albeit thin.

Yeah, that junk at the end of "Toy Box" is a bit confused 'n' silly, but I just take it as funny!

She's all hyper and out of control and there's Prince's slowed-down vocals in the background. Nice contrast!

"Hold Me" also has some sultry vocals.

I was about to compare her to recent protgés, but I'll just leave it as is

Prost!

Clearly (and she admits it) she is not a strong singer, although I'm glad that Prince coerced her into trying it.

Her voice has improved as the years went by.

Her voice on Sex Cymbal was better than on her first 3 albums. If you listen to "Mother Mary" (as hockey as the song can be) it's stronger than on "Bedtime Story". And if you listen to any of her newer stuff, she's clearly improved on THAT even.

Unfortunately most people will gauge her on the first 2 albums though.

spelling edit

[Edited 4/25/12 15:00pm]

I like her voice and pretty much always have, except on some of the live boots from the Purple Rain tour. There are times, many times, when she hits some god-awful notes in those. After that, though, she seemed to really improve her live singing voice, and as she's gotten older, I think she's gotten more assured in her voice.

Her first album has some really interesting vocals, because it seems her voice has been interwoven with Jill's in a lot of places. But Prince definitely should have known better than to give her Next Time Wipe the Lipstick Off Your Collar. That really should have gone to Brenda for the Apollonia 6 album, and Sheila should've gotten Blue Limousine or I Love You (A Million Miles). (And on a side note: I've always wondered what the deal was with Pride and the Passion...that's not all her on the lead vocals, is it?)

Anyway...I don't know WHAT you guys are talking about with the end of Toy Box, because she is nothing short of great on that. "Tom!...Bring me the black one! The black one!" Come on...who doesn't love that?

Efan said:

I like her voice and pretty much always have, except on some of the live boots from the Purple Rain tour. There are times, many times, when she hits some god-awful notes in those. After that, though, she seemed to really improve her live singing voice, and as she's gotten older, I think she's gotten more assured in her voice.

Her first album has some really interesting vocals, because it seems her voice has been interwoven with Jill's in a lot of places. But Prince definitely should have known better than to give her Next Time Wipe the Lipstick Off Your Collar. That really should have gone to Brenda for the Apollonia 6 album, and Sheila should've gotten Blue Limousine or I Love You (A Million Miles). (And on a side note: I've always wondered what the deal was with Pride and the Passion...that's not all her on the lead vocals, is it?)

Anyway...I don't know WHAT you guys are talking about with the end of Toy Box, because she is nothing short of great on that. "Tom!...Bring me the black one! The black one!" Come on...who doesn't love that?

I love the ending of "Toy Box" that part is outrageous!! Sheila goes crazy and it's hilarious.I always felt that this song should have been the first single from that album.

Regarding her vocals....I admit,her vocals weren't that great on the first album,but she got better on the subsequent albums.She sounds wonderful on "Bedtime Story",proving that she can handle ballads.Her finest vocal performance is on "Hold Me",which was quite a surprise.With this song,she proved once and for all that she can really sing.

Efan said:

I've always wondered what the deal was with Pride and the Passion...that's not all her on the lead vocals, is it?

I never thought about that.Always assumed that it was just Sheila singing in a low (deep) voice.

SoulAlive said:

Efan said:

I've always wondered what the deal was with Pride and the Passion...that's not all her on the lead vocals, is it?

I never thought about that.Always assumed that it was just Sheila singing in a low (deep) voice.

Me neither. Never thought it wasn't she

PurpleJedi said:

Clearly (and she admits it) she is not a strong singer, although I'm glad that Prince coerced her into trying it.

Her voice has improved as the years went by.

Her voice on Sex Cymbal was better than on her first 3 albums. If you listen to "Mother Mary" (as hockey as the song can be) it's stronger than on "Bedtime Story". And if you listen to any of her newer stuff, she's clearly improved on THAT even.

Unfortunately most people will gauge her on the first 2 albums though.

spelling edit

[Edited 4/25/12 15:00pm]

She was on Way Black When The 80's on TVOne and she said "I'm not a "singer-singer".... I just go 'la la la la"" etc.

Very very humble. Especially considering she actually CAN sing. I saw her live shows 4 times in the past 2 years and she is always in tune, can sing different styles etc. She's not a Patti labelle type singer but she can sing and sounds great live.

Hold Me is probably the best example of her trying to belt it out beyond her normal sweet, singing voice.

EFAN: what are these PR ERa boots you are talking about? Meaning on her own set she hti some bad notes???

And the Toy Box thing was intentional. She's doing her version of the Jaimie Starr/Morris Day persona. It's a little odd but it's Prince' weird sense of humour like on Tricky or Cloreen Baconskin.

GaryMF said:

PurpleJedi said:

Clearly (and she admits it) she is not a strong singer, although I'm glad that Prince coerced her into trying it.

Her voice has improved as the years went by.

Her voice on Sex Cymbal was better than on her first 3 albums. If you listen to "Mother Mary" (as hockey as the song can be) it's stronger than on "Bedtime Story". And if you listen to any of her newer stuff, she's clearly improved on THAT even.

Unfortunately most people will gauge her on the first 2 albums though.

spelling edit

[Edited 4/25/12 15:00pm]

She was on Way Black When The 80's on TVOne and she said "I'm not a "singer-singer".... I just go 'la la la la"" etc.

Very very humble. Especially considering she actually CAN sing. I saw her live shows 4 times in the past 2 years and she is always in tune, can sing different styles etc. She's not a Patti labelle type singer but she can sing and sounds great live.

Hold Me is probably the best example of her trying to belt it out beyond her normal sweet, singing voice.

EFAN: what are these PR ERa boots you are talking about? Meaning on her own set she hti some bad notes???

And the Toy Box thing was intentional. She's doing her version of the Jaimie Starr/Morris Day persona. It's a little odd but it's Prince' weird sense of humour like on Tricky or Cloreen Baconskin.

GaryMF said:

EFAN: what are these PR ERa boots you are talking about? Meaning on her own set she hti some bad notes???

And the Toy Box thing was intentional. She's doing her version of the Jaimie Starr/Morris Day persona. It's a little odd but it's Prince' weird sense of humour like on Tricky or Cloreen Baconskin.

There are a couple of her 1984 shows floating around. One is the last show of the PR tour (in Miami), and then there's one in LA (that was broadcast on Westwood One). For the most part, I absolutely love every second of those shows and listen to them a lot. However, when she's singing Oliver's House and Next Time Wipe the Lipstick Off Your Collar live, her vocal flaws show at times.

Totally agree about Toy Box.

As a solo artist, she has a somewhat weak voice, but I enjoy her singing anyway. It has a self-confident quality that suits Prince's 80's music.

on the other hand, I like Sheila's voice very much as part of backgroung vocals on Prince's records, mixed with other femele voices (W & L & S). Some good examples on Parade....

I love her voice, not every singer has to be a belter. I'd much rather listen to Sheila than an out of control singer like Celine!

Agree on Toy Box, that is just plain silly, but I've never been a fan of the "Romance 1600" album, so I am glad her 1987 album was a return to form (to me anyway).

jazzz said:

As a solo artist, she has a somewhat weak voice, but I enjoy her singing anyway. It has a self-confident quality that suits Prince's 80's music.

on the other hand, I like Sheila's voice very much as part of backgroung vocals on Prince's records, mixed with other femele voices (W & L & S). Some good examples on Parade....

SoulAlive said:

Regarding her vocals....I admit,her vocals weren't that great on the first album,but she got better on the subsequent albums.She sounds wonderful on "Bedtime Story",proving that she can handle ballads.Her finest vocal performance is on "Hold Me",which was quite a surprise.With this song,she proved once and for all that she can really sing.

Agreed. The songs Prince gave Sheila are generally out of her key. Hold Me is her finest vocal moment, and yet Prince didn't write or produce it. Patti Labelle sounds very strange on "Yo Mister" too. Yet if you imagine Prince doing the lead it would probably come off okay. Sheila had enough vocal talent, and Prince wrote some cool songs. But in his roles as producer and executive producer, Prince let a lot get by him.

Albums 'writes of Passage' and 'Heaven' are predominantly instrumental albums - go figure

Sheeila's main hits were Prince penned/ collabs

Hold Me is vocally 'good' - not 'outstanding'

No one can take away Sheila is a virtuoso percussionist but I think even Sheila would agree that her singing is not par

funksterr said:

SoulAlive said:

Regarding her vocals....I admit,her vocals weren't that great on the first album,but she got better on the subsequent albums.She sounds wonderful on "Bedtime Story",proving that she can handle ballads.Her finest vocal performance is on "Hold Me",which was quite a surprise.With this song,she proved once and for all that she can really sing.

Agreed. The songs Prince gave Sheila are generally out of her key. Hold Me is her finest vocal moment, and yet Prince didn't write or produce it. Patti Labelle sounds very strange on "Yo Mister" too. Yet if you imagine Prince doing the lead it would probably come off okay. Sheila had enough vocal talent, and Prince wrote some cool songs. But in his roles as producer and executive producer, Prince let a lot get by him.

So true! Prince didn't always give the right songs to the right singers,and as a producer,he wasn't always successful in getting the the best vocals from a singer.A perfect example is the Jill Jones album.She's a very talented vocalist but on her album,he's got her screaming,screeching and trying to sound like him.

As mentioned before, she will be the first to admit that she's not a "singer's singer". But with her combination of beauty and musical skills, the vocals are really the last thing that I think about.

SPYZFAN1 said:

As mentioned before, she will be the first to admit that she's not a "singer's singer". But with her combination of beauty and musical skills, the vocals are really the last thing that I think about.

Absolutely agree: A world class percussionist first and foremost

[Edited 4/30/12 15:00pm]

Weak voice, but unlike Bria Valente or Karmen Electra, Sheila's voice is not center stage in her compositions normally, but one of several instruments. Plus her songs are much better.

I love some of her earlier albums. Even with her limited vocal abilities, a Shiela E. concert would be more interesting than just about all the other Prince female proteges combined.

thebanishedone said:

Recently i'm on a Sheila E kick and while i absolutely enjoy music and i do find some of the music Prince composed to be more sophisticated,arty and new wavish i'm bothered with her singing.Sheila sounds like Vanity.Sheila's voice is especially bad on the ending of Toy Box,she tried to achive some Jamie Starr funky voice but instead she failed miserably .althought i did enjoy Sheila's singing on NAACp awards 2005.So what do you think of Sheila's singing ability?

How does one 'fail miserably' and still remain prominent in your chosen path over 2 decades later? This woman has performed for heads of state and is still widely respected in an almost male dominated field. To say she's failed miserably at anything is an exagerration. Her career was intact and still thriving after Romance 1600 and still is to this day.

HonestMan13 said:

thebanishedone said:

Recently i'm on a Sheila E kick and while i absolutely enjoy music and i do find some of the music Prince composed to be more sophisticated,arty and new wavish i'm bothered with her singing.Sheila sounds like Vanity.Sheila's voice is especially bad on the ending of Toy Box,she tried to achive some Jamie Starr funky voice but instead she failed miserably .althought i did enjoy Sheila's singing on NAACp awards 2005.So what do you think of Sheila's singing ability?

On Glamorous Life, I think she nailed it

On a few Romance 1600 tracks she tried to be a bit more out of the box, and it didn't work for me

Hold Me, showed me she could sing. I'm seriously not into the big girl voices with Prince music sooo

Sheila does good, and she is a A+ entertainer

OldFriends4Sale said:

thebanishedone said:

HonestMan13 said:

How does one 'fail miserably' and still remain prominent in your chosen path over 2 decades later? This woman has performed for heads of state and is still widely respected in an almost male dominated field. To say she's failed miserably at anything is an exagerration. Her career was intact and still thriving after Romance 1600 and still is to this day.

she failed on that song man,not in her career,i love some Sheila and this is just a discussion,so chill

I'm sorry you made it sound like you were bothered by her singing throughout her whole career not just a single song. If it's just Toy Box then I think she was meant to sound like that but it was also the first time Prince wrote a pimpish vibe for one of his female proteges. And I don't need to chill cuz I condensate!