The music of Sheila E. is based in her family’s musical tradition. Photo Credit: Dennis J. Freeman

The healing power of God is still very real. Sheila Escovedo is a living witness to this testament. Better known to music fans worldwide as the wondrously beautiful Grammy and Emmy-nominated percussionist and composer Sheila E., the supremely talented Escovedo can vouch first-hand how the Higher Power saved her life in more ways than one.

For years, Escovedo lived in shame and embarrassment over the fact that she was raped by a neighbor who was babysitting her when she was a small child. Angered and bitterness manifested. But somehow, someway, God provided a ram in the bush for Escovedo, who recorded the megahit album and single, “Glamorous Life.”

Escovedo’s initial saving grace came in the form of growing up in a talented musical family, spearheaded by her father, Pete Escovedo, one of the premiere percussionists among Latin and smooth jazz artists. Playing music was her outlet. Picking up the sticks, beating the drums and diving all in to music provided Escovedo temporary relief from the constant anguish of being sexually violated.

That temporarily relief did not translate into real peace for the performer who have worked with many of the music industry’s greatest talents, including the late Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Jennifer Lopez, George Duke, Ringo Starr and Lionel Ritchie. All it did was mask a heavy burden and heavy heart Escovedo walked around with.

On the outside, Escovedo beamed that megawatt smile, turned on that irresistible sensual charm that propped her up as a pop sex symbol with hits like “Love Bizarre” and “Hold Me.” Underneath, Escovedo was hurting. She wrestled with her own inner demons of humiliation and feeling disgraced. Finally, Escovedo’s Oakland, California-raised tough exterior broke.

She’d had enough. Something had to give. She wanted to forgive her tormentor but didn’t know how. It was when she had reached her invisible wall that Escovedo received what she needed from God.

“Forgiveness is a hard thing to do,” Escovedo said in a phone interview with News4usonline.com. “I couldn’t carry that anymore. I just asked the Lord to rebuild me, just to help me. Once I submitted, it was like the peeling of an onion. Every time I said, ‘I did not want to carry this stuff, I’m giving it to you Lord, and it was like peeling an onion.’ Every time I did that it was like carrying the baggage of guilt, the baggage of shame.

Sheila E. overcame being molested as a child to becoming one of the best music producers and entertainers in the industry.

“Part of my testimony is being to share that with people and helped heal me. But God revealed to me, ‘All of these things that you’re carrying…I made you whole. You are whole again. And you don’t have to carry that shame. You’re complete. I created you complete. And you’re special who you are.’ After that, it was like, ‘Oh, my God, I felt like a new person.’”

It was imperative for Escovedo to give herself to God, she said. A lot of hostility towards others had set in her spirit. She looked in the mirror and didn’t like who she had become as a person.

“I was carrying around a lot guilt and shame and was angry at people all the time because at an early age, I was raped by a babysitter,” Escovedo said. “I was angry. I was angry at people. I didn’t want to hold that grudge. I didn’t want to hold that shame or that guilt. I wanted to forgive the person that had done that and I needed to move on. That whole process came to a conclusion like a brick wall. I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I wanted to better.’”

Getting better has been a process for Escovedo. After closing the door on one ugly chapter, Escovedo, who co-founded the Elevate Hope Foundation with friend Lynn Mabry, an organization which reaches out and helps abused and abandoned children with therapy methods of music and arts, found herself calling on God yet again. This time it was a matter of life and death.

The worldliness of being a famous celebrity had worn out its welcome. The material lifestyle of the rich and famous had grown old. Escovedo was missing something in her life. Then her back gave out on her. One of her lungs collapsed. Escovedo felt she was on death’s doorsteps after losing weight and shrinking under 100 pounds.

Weak and sick, Escovedo asked a relative to bring her the Bible one day. She made a confession to God. Her plea was that if He bailed her out of the situation she would never fail to acknowledge Him.

“My back gave out and my lung collapsed almost around the same time,” said Escovedo. “I didn’t think I was going to make it. The medicine they were giving me was really making me sick. I lost a lot of weight and I pretty much thought that I was going to die…I was at my house and my cousin was there. She brought me the Bible.

“I said, ‘I’m going to hold this to my head and I’m just going to keep this by my side and I’m going to sleep with it. I said, ‘Lord, I want to change my ways. I want to be a better person and I know if you get me out of this that I will talk about you for the rest of my life.’ That was part of the process, the beginning of the change.”

That change has been for the better in many ways for Escovedo. Her spiritual awakening has put Escovedo into another realm of success in the music and entertainment industry. Besides being a renowned drummer and percussionist, Escovedo has earned kudos as a top-notch producer, showcasing her musical arrangement skills for the Latin Grammy Awards and the 1996 Olympics among other endeavors. Escovedo is also widely known as perhaps the most successful musician to come from the rich talent stables of pop icon Prince.

But Escovedo is a lot more than someone tracing someone else’s footsteps to greatness. She is her own person. She has her own vision. Part of that revelatory newness is kindling a 14-song CD with her father and brothers, Juan and Peter Michael. With the kind of musical linage running deep in her genes, Escovedo said the family thought it was the right time to come together and do a project. The end result is “Now & Forever,” by The E Family, a project that fuses Latin Jazz, R&B and Hip-Hop.

“It’s Escovedo-style music,” Escovedo said. “We’re from the Bay Area, born and raised. It’s got a little bit of everything. We always kind of call ourselves that big pot of Gumbo; you put every kind of spice you can in there. It does have a little bit of R&B. There’s a song we did with Josh Stone. We’ve got a little bit of Hip Hop. Some of the Neptunes, they’re even signing and rapping on it. They helped co-write some of the songs as well as pop (Pete Escovedo) putting in his tradition of Latin Jazz…It’s a little bit of everything, it really is. That’s just who we are as artists.”

Escovedo and the rest of The E Family will bring their flavor of music this weekend to the 34^th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. That means for the currently unattached Escovedo giving God the glory on stage one more time.

God has given me a gift,” Escovedo said. “Every time I get on stage it’s like my first time performing. I’m excited. It is like, ‘Man, can you believe that this is a gift that God has given me? We pray before we go on stage. We’re excited. We’re pumped up. We’re nervous. I’m still nervous about performing. And it’s just that excitement that we get to do this. That energy comes from just loving so much what we get to do and being able to share it with people.”

http://news4usonline.com/...th-in-god/

** props to j7 ** lovestruck" /> from the Sheila E. Yahoo! Group for the article **

Thank you for posting this. I truly love this woman....... Great read.

jgreco7 said:

Awesome read, thanks for posting. Can't wait to see her here in the Big Apple @ BB Kings this summer! An amazing talent

It's times like these I wish I still lived in NYC Sheilas' fierce drumming is like none I've ever seen. Talk about dedicated, inspirational, she's also all about supernatural strength/endurance

But the best imo is that Sheila also owns a very caring heart and pours it all out to Everyone. Sheila is pure joy & funk. Beautiful, loved and blessed

I love Sheila E, but when famous people start blathering platitudes about 'the lord' and being 'a gift from god' I just want to puke from my eyes.

NouveauDance said:

I love Sheila E, but when famous people start blathering platitudes about 'the lord' and being 'a gift from god' I just want to puke from my eyes.

Why? If she finds comfort in her faith and believes that it helps her, what exactly is the problem? How is she hurting you?

NouveauDance said:

I love Sheila E, but when famous people start blathering platitudes about 'the lord' and being 'a gift from god' I just want to puke from my eyes.

In fact I've been put off by many a Sheila E boot simply by the incessant preachy religious babble

HoweverI was more interested how little she spoke about Prince. Whatever way you cut it Sheila has benefited enormously from her Prince association over the years. Yeah, I know she's mega talented. Just sayin'

I was kind of hoping to hear something about Prince too. But I guess they are friends and aren't speaking too much about each other or about whatever came between them. Sheila focuses now on what helped her in her life, because she wants to help others who've been hurt. I never heard any preachy babble whenever I saw Sheila play, it's been awhile since I saw her live and I haven't heard the boots. I don't really know if it'd affect the music for me but i'd like to think that I could separate the two if I wanted to.

Something really helped her through a real tough experience and she found comfort and release with her faith. IMO she wants to share and ELEVATE HOPE with others who've been hurt and she has her largest audience when she's playing so chooses to share the news there

When Prince was kind of preachy, I think it was because of basically the same thing. His faith helped him and he wanted his fans to find the help he did if they needed or wanted it. Everyone has a right to their own opinion and I sure hope and pray that they'll play together again one day. IMO I'd be in the company of The Very Best seeing either one, any time any day according to what I've see them both do together on stage.

I love her and love the fact that she is openly celebrating her Christianity.

I am glad she was able to find something in her life to help her heal and move on.

It is so good to see that she is at peace and happy and enjoying her life! Good stuff, and I am glad she mentions her family, because without those roots she would have never developed the skill she has to do that work with Prince in the 1st place. Prince is good with music and opening doors for people, but Prince is lousy at being a teacher. Folks in his circle gotta come ready with skills. Prince will clean you up, dress you up... and even give you a new name, but you gotta already come with killer skill! Prince and Sheila made magic together. I loved seeing them share a stage. :rock:

Prince is briefly mentioned but I like that she speaks about God not to judge others but to show how God helped heal her. I think this article focuses more on her spiritual walk in life. I am sure she appreciates the key role Prince played in her career.

I like and appreciate that about her and I wish her much continued success. Thank you for sharing this PurpleLove7.

Genesia and Paintedlady just nailed it.

PurpleLove7 said:

[Edited 7/12/12 10:31am]

Genesia said:

NouveauDance said:

I love Sheila E, but when famous people start blathering platitudes about 'the lord' and being 'a gift from god' I just want to puke from my eyes.

Why? If she finds comfort in her faith and believes that it helps her, what exactly is the problem? How is she hurting you?

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

NouveauDance said:

Genesia said:

Why? If she finds comfort in her faith and believes that it helps her, what exactly is the problem? How is she hurting you?

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

Thing is that when something makes u feel better, whether it's God, haschish, yoga, playing guitar or aspirin, u just wanna tell the world that u've found some dope that helps u solve ur problems, that's understandable and respactable. That + the fact tha the christian religion in the USA is by tradition a preaching religion.

This being said I didn't know about the rape thing and I feel really sorry for her, rape is an awful shit and way too common (why isn't that guy in jail and how many others did he rape?). Sheila Escovedo always seemed to be the nicest person, she looks so sweet and kind. I wish her the best things in life.

databank said:

NouveauDance said:

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

Thing is that when something makes u feel better, whether it's God, haschish, yoga, playing guitar or aspirin, u just wanna tell the world that u've found some dope that helps u solve ur problems, that's understandable and respactable. That + the fact tha the christian religion in the USA is by tradition a preaching religion.

This being said I didn't know about the rape thing and I feel really sorry for her, rape is an awful shit and way too common (why isn't that guy in jail and how many others did he rape?). Sheila Escovedo always seemed to be the nicest person, she looks so sweet and kind. I wish her the best things in life.

I believe in an interview she said it was an older family member that was molesting her for a good stretch of years. He could be dead now

NouveauDance said:

Genesia said:

Why? If she finds comfort in her faith and believes that it helps her, what exactly is the problem? How is she hurting you?

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

As long as she plays Erotic City and pulls up more of those classics I'm cool with it just like the 1984-1988 Prince lol

she even pulled out or imitated 1 of her Romance 1600 outfits 2011 love it!!!

[Edited 7/16/12 9:00am]

Sheila could've gotten the same results from praying to a pinecone.

Love her! I finally got her 3rd album on CD last year.

NouveauDance said:

Genesia said:

Why? If she finds comfort in her faith and believes that it helps her, what exactly is the problem? How is she hurting you?

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

But a person's sexual orientation isn't (hence the need for every gay person to shout theirs from the rooftop)?

Sorry...just can't keep up with all the rules about what aspects of their lives people should claim - and which they should shut up about.

God bless her. Least she ain't shoving her religion down folks' throats...

NouveauDance said:

Genesia said:

Why? If she finds comfort in her faith and believes that it helps her, what exactly is the problem? How is she hurting you?

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

So you are disapointed with a person you do not know from Adam. Her comments have no meaning to you but someone else reading the article might reach out and find help for their problems and they just might do it by reaching out to a supreme being.

I bet if she said she smoked a bunch of weed and it made her problems go away you we be okay with that.

NouveauDance said:

Genesia said:

Why? If she finds comfort in her faith and believes that it helps her, what exactly is the problem? How is she hurting you?

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

I don't think Sheila is doing a bunch of preaching tho

but I must disagree my friend, 'Faith' or religion etc has never been just 'personal' and private

It wasn't for Martin Luther King or Harriet Tubman either

throught history it's been very public and open, faith/religion has always been tied to specific ethnic groups ie Zeus Hera Apollo etc have always been connected to the Greeks and lived openly and expressed in art sports poems stories etc, it's why we still have some of the architecture of ancient times to 'marvel' at. Can't study visit read about ancient Egyptian culture without openly knowing about their 'faith'. American culture has been the same. Latin-America it's very obvious in very visible ways the Catholic belief is most the denomination of those countries

I

It's nice to know that back on the Lovesexy Tour when Prince was screaming 'Do you believe?' and everyone was answering 'Yes!" that the majority were just lying hypocrites.

HonestMan13 said:

It's nice to know that back on the Lovesexy Tour when Prince was screaming 'Do you believe?' and everyone was answering 'Yes!" that the majority were just lying hypocrites.

Maybe some posters here didn't go to the concert tour. Ugh why was I only four then.

HonestMan13 said:

It's nice to know that back on the Lovesexy Tour when Prince was screaming 'Do you believe?' and everyone was answering 'Yes!" that the majority were just lying hypocrites.

What nonsense! You're way off mark - like 'everyone' was answering 'yes' - maybe plenty of people chose not to respond at all.....'lying hypocrits? Really......

If you're gonna try and discredit opposing views at least base your response on fact

80spfantwp said:

HonestMan13 said:

It's nice to know that back on the Lovesexy Tour when Prince was screaming 'Do you believe?' and everyone was answering 'Yes!" that the majority were just lying hypocrites.

What nonsense! You're way off mark - like 'everyone' was answering 'yes' - maybe plenty of people chose not to respond at all.....'lying hypocrits? Really......

If you're gonna try and discredit opposing views at least base your response on fact

From attending a Lovesexy show and from watching the video I didn't hear a large chunk of the audience screaming 'No' and I didn't note a large amount of silence when he asked. If religion wasn't such a turn off then then why is it a sore spot now? Sorry I didn't conduct a seat by seat poll afterwards.

Genesia said:

NouveauDance said:

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

But a person's sexual orientation isn't (hence the need for every gay person to shout theirs from the rooftop)?

Sorry...just can't keep up with all the rules about what aspects of their lives people should claim - and which they should shut up about.

Good point.

NouveauDance said:

I love Sheila E, but when famous people start blathering platitudes about 'the lord' and being 'a gift from god' I just want to puke from my eyes.

I agree with this.Alot of artists always say this ("my talent is a gift from God") and I just think it's such a cliche' thing to say.

I guess this is sorta connected but those of you who've heard her performing Erotic City, are they singing 'everything'? What do you think?

I love what she's been doing since 2011 playing songs like Pop Life America Koo Koo the Belle of St Mark Olivers House Erotic City

Genesia said:

NouveauDance said:

It's not hurting me, it's just disappointing I guess. They have nothing new to say, it's the same non-meaning bullshit phrases.

Faith is personal, keep it that way.

But a person's sexual orientation isn't (hence the need for every gay person to shout theirs from the rooftop)?

Sorry...just can't keep up with all the rules about what aspects of their lives people should claim - and which they should shut up about.

We've accepted that it's cool to sing or discuss one's sexual exploits and fantasies but they can't flip it and talk about religion. Whether we accept the artists life journey or not but we should chide them for their choices and beliefs

HonestMan13 said:

Genesia said:

But a person's sexual orientation isn't (hence the need for every gay person to shout theirs from the rooftop)?

Sorry...just can't keep up with all the rules about what aspects of their lives people should claim - and which they should shut up about.

We've accepted that it's cool to sing or discuss one's sexual exploits and fantasies but they can't flip it and talk about religion. Whether we accept the artists life journey or not but we should chide them for their choices and beliefs

As nasty as some people get in their anti-religious fervor, they better hope there isn't a God.