I've been curious about this for years, and I've never seen a definitive answer. While it's commonly known that Prince wrote almost all of Sheila E.'s first two albums, both Noon Rendezvous and A Love Bizarre stand out because of the copyright credits given on the albums. Fopr example, everything on Glamorous Life is credited to Girlsongs, which is Prince, except for Noon Rendezvous, which goes to Girlsongs and Chocheat Music--which is Sheila E. And the Library of Congress records for the song bear this out: "Noon rendez-vous. By Jamie Starr, pseud. & Sheila E., pseud. of Sheila Escovedo."

A Love Bizarre is similar.

I've long thought that Sheila of course added her own personal stamp to Prince's original songs (The Glamorous Life would have sounded very different if it had just remained an Apollonia 6 song), but she didn't have a hand in their original creations. But is that different in the case of Noon Rendezvous and A Love Bizarre, and would it be accurate to call them true collaborations?

I don't know if a definitive answer can ever be reached unless Sheila says something. As Susan Rogers mentioned in Per Nilsen's "Dance Music Sex Romance", Prince would give credit for songs that were Prince-only compositions, like credit to Jesse Johnson for Shortberry Strawcake (which Jesse OK'd, but had nothing to do with) and then didn't give Jesse credit for the The Belle Of St Mark, for which JJ claims was based on a tape he gave to Prince. The Family LP had this same weird, seemingly random credit tossed onto songs.

It's well documented that Prince played everything on the first two Sheila E LPs except an odd instrument here or there and Sheila's percussion. Sheila's vox were also just replaced over Ps scratch vocals.

So really, if Sheila could fill in the gaps and make some of the mystery into fact, it would be really cool. An org interview could be extremely fun.

Prince composed everything on both albums except for "Merci For The Speed Of a Mad Clown In Summer" which he had nothing to do with. Sheila only added percussions and vocals to the mix.

Prince gave-up his copyright to Sheila, as a gift, on the whole "Romance 1600" album, except for 'A love Bizarre", so legally she "owns" these songs.
[Edited 2/15/10 0:30am]

i would pay $ 100,- for just the download of Prince's version of Noon Rendezvous
were he ever to put it up on his site.

i love that song sooooo much

IstenSzek said:

The live version is so much better than the studio version too.

NouveauDance said:

the live version is pure magic

:swoon:

Maybe he'll release the whole Romance 1600 project with his versions as a bonus... in 2020... when he gets the rights back from WB...