Is there one conversation you had together that’s stuck with you?

One time we were in his room, and he turned, looked at me and said – out of the blue – ‘you know, everyone loves you and everyone likes you. Not everyone can say that or experience that.’ And right then, I just felt truly blessed [pauses]. You know, our lives started a long time ago. When I first met him, I was already pretty famous. He’d been following my career for a long time. We really challenged each other.

When you reflect on your relationship – as friends, collaborators, lovers – what did you learn?

The learning experience is really about forgiveness. That’s the only way you’re gonna be able to live your life. And it’s a hard thing. About a year or two after we broke up and hadn’t spoken, I went to Paisley. This is when he was doing Batman. He was having a party and everyone was like, 'how are you gonna go to the party, you guys haven’t talked,’ and I said 'It’s fine.’ I felt like it was fine. I was like, no we’re good. I just felt it. So I walked into the building and I saw him. He looked at me, I looked at him and we fell in love all over again.

It was forgiveness. It was more important to love him as a friend. People do say, you want to marry your best friend – and he was my best friend. But I also loved him enough to let him go, and that was hard. It was very hard, like I said, it was like a divorce. It felt like I lost someone deeply. It was hard for him too, it was horrible. It was a horrible time for him. [Pauses].

We had a great life together, we really did, good and bad, the ups and the downs, there were a lot of downs too. But at one point I told him, 'I’m not here to play your music to get paid because it’s money, money has nothing to do with it, I’m here because I love you. I don’t care about your money.’ So I told him to stop paying me when we were out on tour. That really upset him. That was during the Lovesexy Tour.

And that was when –

That’s when I knew I was gonna leave, that was about '88, '89.

Did the fact that you and Prince were diverging musically have an impact on your personal relationship?

It was both, it was music and it was personal. I want to enjoy what I’m doing. I work really hard and I love playing with people. And 90 percent of playing with an artist or in a band or being a part of a project is the hang. The other 10 percent is when you finally get to go onstage and do what you do. So if the hang isn’t good, then why be there?

I don’t care about the money, I never did. I’d be there because I love the music, I love the hang, and we all get along. But just to be there because it’s a paycheck? I didn’t want to be in that position, so I chose to leave. On the personal side, we started growing apart. And he started seeing other people while I was there playing in the band. That was very hurtful, very hard.

Back when you met, Prince pursued you, right?

Oh yeah, big time [laughs]. He pursued me for a long time.

Was it that you weren’t attracted?

Oh yes I was! Are you kidding? No, oh my God. The first time we saw each other, we looked at each other like… He was beautiful, and he was talented. I had this thing for guitar players, I had just gotten out of another relationship with a guitar player, and I was like 'not another musician.’ I kept saying no [to Prince], but it was hard. After a while it was just like 'okay, well maybe.’ And that was it. He wooed me very well [laughs].

What did he do?

He did so many beautiful things. During the Lionel Richie tour in 1982, he sent me flowers at every place, every single day. Whatever city we were in, there were beautiful arrangements of flowers from [Prince] the entire tour. The entire tour! I couldn’t bring anymore flowers on the bus. There were some I couldn’t even lift! Each arrangement one was different. There was nowhere to put them, so I started giving them away to either shelters or the housekeepers, because I couldn’t take them anymore, there was no room on the bus. It was a lot – and I loved it [laughs]. He knew how to get me. And every arrangement came with a card from him.

Do you still have them?

I kept every single card.

Sheila E. Rolling Stone, June 7, 2017

[Edited 10/11/17 5:22am]

rogifan said:

I’d still love to know what really caused the split in 2011/2012 and if they had patched things up before he passed away. For some reason I just felt good when Sheila was around.

She said that she talked to him about her charity and he asked her to send up her drums for the museum so they were on speaking terms. Remember Prince talked about forgiveness in that Rolling Stone article and he did seem to making amends with a lot of people so maybe whatever it was they decided to squash it.

I still think he did not want to talk or see people like Sheila E or Andre because they really knew him and would have figured out something was going with his health.

rogifan said:

I’d still love to know what really caused the split in 2011/2012 and if they had patched things up before he passed away. For some reason I just felt good when Sheila was around.

me too, i felt he was good when she was around. oh now i am a little heart sick. i wish he would

have seen that he had it all with her. work mate, love mate, friend, and she had a great family and

sheila's mom who would have surly loved him up.

[Edited 10/11/17 8:17am]

she kept every single card.

purplefam99 said:

she kept every single card.

Yes, she has said she has many very pesonal items and I hope they stay that way. He just made poor decisions when it came to women as we have some indication that he went back with Vanity around the Batman era and that obviously went nowhere.

[Edited 10/11/17 8:38am]

purplefam99 said:

she kept every single card.

It is a nice sentiment

but Sheila E was also never able to move into another relationship with a man

Sometimes holding on to intimate items from unrequited love can keep a person(usually women) but sometimes men, stuck in a place.

.

In a lot of interviews she talked about those days, like it was just yesterday. And I get that in life ther are great times that seemed not so long ago for us. But it did take that break with her and Prince during the Welcome 2 Europe tour for the spell to finally disperse enough.

Do you buy those unsubstantiated rumors that she was gay? God, I would hate to think that P was just her beard (or straight male to lesbian equivalent) ? Wouldn't it be weird if P was referring to Sheila when he said his gay friends read the bible with him..LOL.

I mean has she dated anyone else that we know of??

OldFriends4Sale said:

purplefam99 said:

she kept every single card.

It is a nice sentiment

but Sheila E was also never able to move into another relationship with a man

Sometimes holding on to intimate items from unrequited love can keep a person(usually women) but sometimes men, stuck in a place.

.

In a lot of interviews she talked about those days, like it was just yesterday. And I get that in life ther are great times that seemed not so long ago for us. But it did take that break with her and Prince during the Welcome 2 Europe tour for the spell to finally disperse enough.

She was raped as a five year old child she is going to have problems no matter what items she holds on to or she was involved with. What she does show be holding on to those items is class.

purplerabbithole said:

Do you buy those unsubstantiated rumors that she was gay? God, I would hate to think that P was just her beard (or straight male to lesbian equivalent) ? Wouldn't it be weird if P was referring to Sheila when he said his gay friends read the bible with him..LOL.

I mean has she dated anyone else that we know of??

I think it's pretty well-known that she was involved with Carlos Santana before she met Prince. I think that's the other guitarist to whom she refers in the Rolling Stone article in the OP.

[Edited 10/11/17 10:09am]

purplerabbithole said:

Do you buy those unsubstantiated rumors that she was gay? God, I would hate to think that P was just her beard (or straight male to lesbian equivalent) ? Wouldn't it be weird if P was referring to Sheila when he said his gay friends read the bible with him..LOL.

I mean has she dated anyone else that we know of??

I think Sheila E has problems because she was raped as a five year old. My guess is she is bi-sexual she was involved in a bad stiuation with Santana before Prince came along so she obviously does not dislike men but she has certainly not been treated well by a lot of guys in her life.

But we do not know her personal life and perhaps she has been involved in good relationships.

That's a tough one. I don't know if P was equipped emotionally to be a nurturing romantic partner to a lady who has been through what Sheila has. They were better off as friends.

laurarichardson said:

purplerabbithole said:

Do you buy those unsubstantiated rumors that she was gay? God, I would hate to think that P was just her beard (or straight male to lesbian equivalent) ? Wouldn't it be weird if P was referring to Sheila when he said his gay friends read the bible with him..LOL.

I mean has she dated anyone else that we know of??

I think Sheila E has problems because she was raped as a five year old. My guess is she is bi-sexual she was involved in a bad stiuation with Santana before Prince came along so she obviously does not dislike men but she has certainly not been treated well by a lot of guys in her life.

But we do not know her personal life and perhaps she has been involved in good relationships.

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It is a nice sentiment

but Sheila E was also never able to move into another relationship with a man

Sometimes holding on to intimate items from unrequited love can keep a person(usually women) but sometimes men, stuck in a place.

.

In a lot of interviews she talked about those days, like it was just yesterday. And I get that in life ther are great times that seemed not so long ago for us. But it did take that break with her and Prince during the Welcome 2 Europe tour for the spell to finally disperse enough.

She was raped as a five year old child she is going to have problems no matter what items she holds on to or she was involved with. What she does show be holding on to those items is class.

I know she was was raped. But she was in love with Prince for a long time too.

It isn't about class, it is her choice. But where there is unrequited love, people hold onto the 'romantic' stuff.

similiar situation with Vanity.

purplerabbithole said:

That's a tough one. I don't know if P was equipped emotionally to be a nurturing romantic partner to a lady who has been through what Sheila has. They were better off as friends.

laurarichardson said:

I think Sheila E has problems because she was raped as a five year old. My guess is she is bi-sexual she was involved in a bad stiuation with Santana before Prince came along so she obviously does not dislike men but she has certainly not been treated well by a lot of guys in her life.

But we do not know her personal life and perhaps she has been involved in good relationships.

OldFriends4Sale said:

purplefam99 said:

she kept every single card.

It is a nice sentiment

but Sheila E was also never able to move into another relationship with a man

Sometimes holding on to intimate items from unrequited love can keep a person(usually women) but sometimes men, stuck in a place.

.

In a lot of interviews she talked about those days, like it was just yesterday. And I get that in life ther are great times that seemed not so long ago for us. But it did take that break with her and Prince during the Welcome 2 Europe tour for the spell to finally disperse enough.

Says who? We know about the 2 famous men she's dated. Do you presume that those were the only men she ever had a relationship with?

OldFriends4Sale said:

laurarichardson said:

She was raped as a five year old child she is going to have problems no matter what items she holds on to or she was involved with. What she does show be holding on to those items is class.

I know she was was raped. But she was in love with Prince for a long time too.

It isn't about class, it is her choice. But where there is unrequited love, people hold onto the 'romantic' stuff.

How do you know it was unrequited love? According to her he proposed to her and she said he even stopped running around for at least one year when they lived togehter.

I think he cared about her he just wanted to be in that playboy lifestyle.

He was the last person these women needed to be involved with.

purplerabbithole said:

That's a tough one. I don't know if P was equipped emotionally to be a nurturing romantic partner to a lady who has been through what Sheila has. They were better off as friends.

laurarichardson said:

I think Sheila E has problems because she was raped as a five year old. My guess is she is bi-sexual she was involved in a bad stiuation with Santana before Prince came along so she obviously does not dislike men but she has certainly not been treated well by a lot of guys in her life.

But we do not know her personal life and perhaps she has been involved in good relationships.

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I know she was was raped. But she was in love with Prince for a long time too.

It isn't about class, it is her choice. But where there is unrequited love, people hold onto the 'romantic' stuff.

How do you know it was unrequited love? According to her he proposed to her and she said he even stopped running around for at least one year when they lived togehter.

I think he cared about her he just wanted to be in that playboy lifestyle.

It's unrequited because Prince could not/would not give her the love back that she wanted.

.
I never heard anything about 'he stopped running around for at least one year. What year was this?

Was it when he started seeing Anna Fantastic.

He proposed to her on the Lovesexy tour right?

.

Yes I believe he cared about her.

OldFriends4Sale said:

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

laurarichardson said:

How do you know it was unrequited love? According to her he proposed to her and she said he even stopped running around for at least one year when they lived togehter.

I think he cared about her he just wanted to be in that playboy lifestyle.

It's unrequited because Prince could not/would not give her the love back that she wanted.

.
I never heard anything about 'he stopped running around for at least one year. What year was this?

Was it when he started seeing Anna Fantastic.

He proposed to her on the Lovesexy tour right?

.

Yes I believe he cared about her.

I do not belive it was unrequited at all. Sheila E said in her book she was with him every night for a year so she knew for at least that year he was not running around.

I believe he proposed to her on the Sign Of The Times tour. Remember they would have been touring together and that could be the year she is referencing when she said she was with him every nitgh.

Remember they broke up somewhere along that SOTT/ Lovesexy transition. It might have been at the end of the Lovesexy tour. She even mentions going to see him at a Batman wrap party after they broke up.

I think Anna came along after Lovesexy and right before Batman. We also now know from Vanity's brother in law he was seeing Vanity around the Batmen period as well.

He was just a hot ass mess. Did not know how to be satisfied. Below she makes it sound like they got back together after she went to the party. So who the hell knows why.

---

"And it’s a hard thing. About a year or two after we broke up and hadn’t spoken, I went to Paisley. This is when he was doing Batman. He was having a party and everyone was like, 'how are you gonna go to the party, you guys haven’t talked,’ and I said 'It’s fine.’ I felt like it was fine. I was like, no we’re good. I just felt it. So I walked into the building and I saw him. He looked at me, I looked at him and we fell in love all over again."

purplefam99 said:

laurarichardson said:

He was the last person these women needed to be involved with.

I agree LR, in the "epic ever relationship" sense. Any man is gonna have a hard time following that up!!!!!!! And how many of all his women have had successful relationships afterward. A few I'm quessing. She is not alone in choosing to stop with him. No other dude was gonna match up!

Exactly, she has said he was the second love of her life. Her Knight in shining armour.

She is not going to find anybody else that will measure up to him.

OldFriends4Sale said:

laurarichardson said:

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It's unrequited because Prince could not/would not give her the love back that she wanted.

.
I never heard anything about 'he stopped running around for at least one year. What year was this?

Was it when he started seeing Anna Fantastic.

He proposed to her on the Lovesexy tour right?

.

Yes I believe he cared about her.

I do not belive it was unrequited at all. Sheila E said in her book she was with him every night for a year so she knew for at least that year he was not running around.

I believe he proposed to her on the Sign Of The Times tour. Remember they would have been touring together and that could be the year she is referencing when she said she was with him every nitgh.

Remember they broke up somewhere along that SOTT/ Lovesexy transition. It might have been at the end of the Lovesexy tour. She even mentions going to see him at a Batman wrap party after they broke up.

I think Anna came along after Lovesexy and right before Batman. We also now know from Vanity's brother in law he was seeing Vanity around the Batmen period as well.

He was just a hot ass mess. Did not know how to be satisfied. Below she makes it sound like they got back together after she went to the party. So who the hell knows why.

---

"And it’s a hard thing. About a year or two after we broke up and hadn’t spoken, I went to Paisley. This is when he was doing Batman. He was having a party and everyone was like, 'how are you gonna go to the party, you guys haven’t talked,’ and I said 'It’s fine.’ I felt like it was fine. I was like, no we’re good. I just felt it. So I walked into the building and I saw him. He looked at me, I looked at him and we fell in love all over again."

Unrequited love. He couldn't return the love relationship she wanted.
And the music was always first with Prince for a long time.

In some ways joining his band was probably the worst thing for her emotionally.
Cat talked about her jealousy and how she would treat her at times.

Not saying they didn't love each other, but it was too blurry, which is why she was hurt. She knew it couldn't be what she wanted. I think Sheila continued to have that hope of love in her for a long time. But Prince wasn't there.

.

I believe it was while playing the Cross on the Lovesexy tour that he turned around and asked her to marry him. Now if he really wrote the song Pink Cashmere about Anna Fantastic, then he had to have met her prior to June 1988 which is when the song was written. Or he wrote it and then after meeting her gave it to her. She met him at one of the London shows July 25th - August 3rd 1988

.
Anna was born in 1973 which would make her 15 in 1988 which is when she said she met him @ a Wembley(London) show.

.

I could be wrong, maybe he asked her on the SOTT show. But from remembering fromt the story it ws the Lovesexy tour.

.

Yes, I remember reading something from Brenda Bennett a while back about talks of Vanity 6 getting back together around the same time the Time was reforming, but Brenda said Vanity was just not in a good place.

.

Yeah Sheila E was always doe eyed in love with Prince. Those emotions are so strong and I know people who 20-30yrs later are still stopped in a certain place.

.

But Sheila E just recently was able to talk about her life experiences when she wrote her book.
She talked about finally healing and such.

She fell in love all over again, either that is just saying she loved him as a friend or she went back with him again. And he was seeing Robin Power, actress Troy Beyer, if she is talking about the Batman period, but I think that was 1990 that she is talking about. The Nude tour was more a Batman promo than a GB promo. I remember reading about when she came to Paisley Park with a friend and Robin Power & the Uptown Dames were rehearsing and how she was cold to them.

purplefam99 said:

laurarichardson said:

Exactly, she has said he was the second love of her life. Her Knight in shining armour.

She is not going to find anybody else that will measure up to him.

Not even remotely!!!! so to even suggest that she is unsuccessful in love after a relationship of that intensity is just yammering.

But that is also that sad thing that women go through. 20-30+ years of your life you cannot have an Eros relationship with another man. You cannot be fullfilled. Because she never was fullfilled even with Prince. A man will move on in a minute.

.

If she was not involved in the music, she would have had an easilier time and moved on. But the pheromones of that 1984-1988 period for Sheila as great as it was musically was not so great romantically.

.

The continual mixing up of 'Friend' also shows the struggle. Because she is putting herself in the 'friend' zone while wanting to be exclusive with him. Which equals 'Friends with benefits'

purplefam99 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It's unrequited because Prince could not/would not give her the love back that she wanted.

.
I never heard anything about 'he stopped running around for at least one year. What year was this?

Was it when he started seeing Anna Fantastic.

He proposed to her on the Lovesexy tour right?

.

Yes I believe he cared about her.

She says in her book that they were together every day and night for a stretch of Time that was about a year. And that if he was cheating then she didn't know how he did it because they were together non stop. It's in her memoir.

It isn't possible for them to be together day and night.

She wasn't with him during the 1988 Grammy show

She wasn't with him during 'Blue Tuesday' when he was with Cat & Anthony Keids and he met Ingrid Chevaz

She wasn't with him when he was hanging with Anna Fantastic

There is no way Prince would have been with her day and night.

She is talking in a romantically nostalgic way.

Yes the 1987-1988 period was like a whirlwind, but it isn't possible.

He wasn't with her the night he met Cat at his house with Eric & Miles Davis, not to mention Devin

She wasn't with him when he recorded Wally or went out some night clubs with Cat etc

OldFriends4Sale said:

laurarichardson said:

I do not belive it was unrequited at all. Sheila E said in her book she was with him every night for a year so she knew for at least that year he was not running around.

I believe he proposed to her on the Sign Of The Times tour. Remember they would have been touring together and that could be the year she is referencing when she said she was with him every nitgh.

Remember they broke up somewhere along that SOTT/ Lovesexy transition. It might have been at the end of the Lovesexy tour. She even mentions going to see him at a Batman wrap party after they broke up.

I think Anna came along after Lovesexy and right before Batman. We also now know from Vanity's brother in law he was seeing Vanity around the Batmen period as well.

He was just a hot ass mess. Did not know how to be satisfied. Below she makes it sound like they got back together after she went to the party. So who the hell knows why.

---

"And it’s a hard thing. About a year or two after we broke up and hadn’t spoken, I went to Paisley. This is when he was doing Batman. He was having a party and everyone was like, 'how are you gonna go to the party, you guys haven’t talked,’ and I said 'It’s fine.’ I felt like it was fine. I was like, no we’re good. I just felt it. So I walked into the building and I saw him. He looked at me, I looked at him and we fell in love all over again."

Unrequited love. He couldn't return the love relationship she wanted.
And the music was always first with Prince for a long time.

In some ways joining his band was probably the worst thing for her emotionally.
Cat talked about her jealousy and how she would treat her at times.

Not saying they didn't love each other, but it was too blurry, which is why she was hurt. She knew it couldn't be what she wanted. I think Sheila continued to have that hope of love in her for a long time. But Prince wasn't there.

.

I believe it was while playing the Cross on the Lovesexy tour that he turned around and asked her to marry him. Now if he really wrote the song Pink Cashmere about Anna Fantastic, then he had to have met her prior to June 1988 which is when the song was written. Or he wrote it and then after meeting her gave it to her. She met him at one of the London shows July 25th - August 3rd 1988

.
Anna was born in 1973 which would make her 15 in 1988 which is when she said she met him @ a Wembley(London) show.

.

I could be wrong, maybe he asked her on the SOTT show. But from remembering fromt the story it ws the Lovesexy tour.

.

Yes, I remember reading something from Brenda Bennett a while back about talks of Vanity 6 getting back together around the same time the Time was reforming, but Brenda said Vanity was just not in a good place.

.

Yeah Sheila E was always doe eyed in love with Prince. Those emotions are so strong and I know people who 20-30yrs later are still stopped in a certain place.

.

But Sheila E just recently was able to talk about her life experiences when she wrote her book.
She talked about finally healing and such.

She fell in love all over again, either that is just saying she loved him as a friend or she went back with him again. And he was seeing Robin Power, actress Troy Beyer, if she is talking about the Batman period, but I think that was 1990 that she is talking about. The Nude tour was more a Batman promo than a GB promo. I remember reading about when she came to Paisley Park with a friend and Robin Power & the Uptown Dames were rehearsing and how she was cold to them.

I think he returned the love to her the best way he could for a year. She also said that he proposed to her doing Purple Rain not the Cross and I really think this was doing SOTT because she discussed having a good year after that and then they got into about her grandma dying while she was on the Lovesexy Tour which would have been following year he was not able to fly her out to the funeral but I am sure his flirting with CAT and whom ever else he had on standby was also making her upset.

She said they always had taken breaks from each other before because sometime that got tired of each other. They had been off an on since the PR tour.

I could have sworn Anna met him in 86 when she was really under age and he just stayed in touch with her. I do think she came out to see him around the Batman era and he may have just told her he wrote the song Pink Casmere about her at that time but already had it together before hand.

purplefam99 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It is a nice sentiment

but Sheila E was also never able to move into another relationship with a man

Sometimes holding on to intimate items from unrequited love can keep a person(usually women) but sometimes men, stuck in a place.

.

In a lot of interviews she talked about those days, like it was just yesterday. And I get that in life ther are great times that seemed not so long ago for us. But it did take that break with her and Prince during the Welcome 2 Europe tour for the spell to finally disperse enough.

And again I'll quote her "I kept every single card"

awwww so nice

.

And from a man's point of view seeing women who cannot move on or stuck certain romantic pasts. It isn't all that.
.
Think about abused or neglected women, and one of the reasons they cannot leave the man is 'but you didn't know him back them' ' he used to be so attentive and romantic' 'he's still that person, when things get better he'll...' and that is 10 30 50 yrs later

OldFriends4Sale said: