Sheila E. interview
Interview conducted in December 2017
by Mary Andrews
Sheila E. is a master drummer/percussionist with a career that has spanned almost 50 years. Add singer, author, and actress to her accomplishments and you will have an idea of a little of what she has done. And, as revealed in the interview, she wants to do much, much more.
E. is the abbreviated form of her last name Escovedo. At the age of 15, Escavedo decided that music was going to be her passion as she followed in the footsteps of her father who was also a professional percussionist. Her successful career includes eight studio albums. Her first two albums, The Glamorous Life and Romance 1600 were certified gold in the mid-eighties.
She met Prince at a concert she was performing with her father in 1978. She performed with him on tour and in recording sessions throughout the years. Her friendship and musical relationship remained intact until his untimely death in 2016.
The ‘Queen of Percussion’ was inspired as a child by her dad to help people less fortunate to form a foundation with friend, Lynn Mabry, called Elevate Oakland, a nonprofit that uses music and art to serve the needs of youth in Oakland public schools. She walks the walk as she works for humanitarian causes in her ‘spare’ time.
We had a very interesting conversation with the star and here is what we learned.
Mary Andrews: You were on The Late Show last night. It appeared to be a lot of fun.
Sheila E.: It was. I had a day off and I thought I would just hang out and just play. I love to play and who ever says ‘it’s okay,’ I’ll just go and hang out. It was good.
Me: You looked fabulous as ever. There so much to talk about. You have many interviews online. A lot of them pertain to Prince. He passed away about a year and a half ago. At the time you were working on a dance album. You decided to change it to a protest album. What inspired you to do that?
SE: Basically, it had to do with the way the election was happening. I thought that this was worse than any other election we’ve had. It was embarrassing as a country. It was disrespectful to the people. I was offended by how the current administration spoke about people of color, Hispanics, and It made me angry. I try not to ever be angry. I thought it was just horrible the way things were going down. Two years ago, I thought it was important to make an album that made a statement. I decided not to make a dance record and it was more important to make an album that also made a statement. I went back to songs that I grew up listening to because I didn’t have the opportunity to write what I wanted initially which was a record I call politically correct. I went back to listen to older songs and picked those specific songs that just so happen to be by those artists that I had played with. Some of them were still alive and well. I asked them if they would be on this project too. The album is called Iconic: Message 4 America.
ME: There is an amazing lineup of artists. It’s very impressive. (It features Ringo Starr, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Candy Duffer, and Freddie Stone to name a few.)
SE: Thank you.
ME: The “America” video from the album is very impressionable. It made quite a statement.
Going back to Prince, did the two of you remain life-long friends?
SE: We were friends most of our lives. It’s important to me as to why for a very long time that I didn’t want to get romantically involved with him as much as I loved him. Sometimes you don’t remain friends after being romantically involved. We worked together and I didn’t want to . . . I thought it was more important to stay his friend. That didn’t happen, but we were really close. The thing that kept us friends was that we loved each other very, very much and music was our lifeline. We were inspired by each other.
Me: How did you learn of his death?
SE: My uncle called me early that morning, not even hours after he passed because he works at a news station. The pain has lessened ever so slightly.
Me: How many days a year are you touring?
SE: It varies from year to year. This year, we’ve toured most of the year. We have a new record out and people want to hear you. We try to book shows as much as we can. This is the beginning stages of this record. We are hoping 2018 will be even better.
Me: How well has the new record been received so far?
SE: It has been received very well. The shows are a little bit of everything, but we a pushing the new record. Our message for and to America is bringing people together through peace and uniting people as opposed to hatred, division and bullying and disrespect. That is our message that we are absolutely bringing.
Me: What do you think of the #MeToo movement that has started?
SE: I think it’s very important and I’m saddened by the situation. I’m also hopeful and it’s important to encourage women to speak up and speak out about this because I’ve been talking about this for a very long time. When I wrote my book, I also spoke about it. Being a musician, I’ve been the only woman in most situations especially playing percussion and sometimes drums. I’ve been in that situation many, many times.
Me: Are you referring to unwanted advances made in these situations?
SE: Of course, most of my life. Absolutely! I was somewhat protected by some musicians depending upon the situation. I would always try to have someone who would stick up for me and be around. I also took care of myself if that situation would arise, I would deal with it by saying ‘ This is not something that is normal and you cannot disrespect me in this way. I am standing as a woman being strong and this is not acceptable.” And there have been many times I have slapped a man or pushed him. Absolutely! I’ve been offered record deals, hotels with my name on it, my own jet, cars. I don’t care. It’s been ridiculous the things I’ve been offered to me. I’ve always stood my ground. I have never slept with anyone to ever advance my career. If I’m going to sleep with someone, it because I love them or in love with them and it’s a possibility we will be getting married. Other than that, I’m not that other girl or woman.
Me: You’ve been in show business for a long time. You have a lot of fans as seen on social media. They are very active on social media.
SE: We try because there are not a lot of times that we can go out and reach the people where we perform and play for people in that city and that state. I’m not on television all the time as a lot of celebrities. My television these days is social media and whatever I can share with them and they share with me. Now it’s the best way to do it.
Me: What dream do you have that you would like to have come true?
SE: I have a lot of dreams that I would like to come to fruition, a bucket list. Forty-five years I have celebrated this year of being in the business, a very long time. I’m in the music business and I’m still being relevant. It’s not about being popular. It’s really based on the passion that I have and the gift that God has given me to be able to go all over the world and share this and mentor, create and inspire. I want to continue to do that. My bucket list of other things includes expanding my brand, doing some movies, writing screenplays, and directing. There is a lot of that. I want to do more of that than I have ever done before.
Me: Dead or alive, who would you like to meet?
SE: I would have like to have met Dr. Martin Luther King.
Me: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform?
SE: Sammy Davis Jr. for sure.
Me: What is the worse job you’ve ever had?
SE: I don’t know. I’ve never had it.
Me: I understand you live in Southern California. Are you having any issues with the fires that are going on now?
SE: The fires are still ongoing in one place but as of this morning we have the Santa Ana winds blowing and another fire just started again on the other side. The winds will be between 20 and 60 miles per hour in the next day or two. That is not good. Right now, I’m in the middle between the two fires. I’m okay though. They may be 10 or 15 miles away from my house. The smoke and ash are a problem. There was ash and dirt flying into my house. The pool in my backyard was covered with black. We’ve been constantly washing everything trying to clean up all the ash. My brothers helped as well. We all had to get masks. My whole family including my mom and dad had to wear masks because the air is so bad. Some of it has been contained but they lifted the ban for the other fire yesterday but now they had to put it back in place because of the winds this morning.
Me: Who is your biggest musical influence?
SE: My dad and my mom were the most influential. Growing up, they never discouraged me as a girl. They never said don’t touch my drums. They never said I couldn’t play football or basketball with the boys or the girls. Mom is a tomboy and an athlete. My dad, being the musician that he is, he never discouraged us from being whatever we wanted to be. They were adamant about, ‘Do what you want, we are behind you. It’s not in your vocabulary that you can’t do anything.’ We were always competitive and inspired to just go kick butt all the time. And we were to have fun with it. We didn’t have many material things growing up. There were a couple of times we were on welfare. I didn’t like that very much, but that was the situation then. We didn’t have a car all the time, but when we did have a car, my dad would put his percussion instruments in and take us when we were eight, nine, and ten years old and go to foster care facilities where there were kids that either didn’t have a home or were abused or on drugs and try to make them feel better about themselves. We were doing that early on and that inspired me to start my own foundation. We were always giving. That place of always giving and hugging people, helping people has come from my parents.
Me: What is the best advice you have ever gotten?
SE: Be on time which is being 15 minutes early. Don’t be awful to people because things can turn around and come back and you end up having to call on those people again. So, don’t be disrespectful. Always know your craft or anything you are getting ready to do. If there was music that I had to learn or me training in the Olympics running track, whatever it was that I did, if I was prepared, it would allow me to enjoy what I did. I could walk with confidence so I would not be afraid of anything. All of this advice came from my parents.
Me: If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?
SE: I would be an athlete. I love running track. Track and field were my passion. Also, I enjoy playing soccer. I was training to be in the Olympics because I wanted to win a gold medal and I was breaking all the track records in all the competitions that hadn’t been broken in 20 years. Also, I was playing soccer in an undefeated girls’ team at that time. At 15, I realized that I should be playing music. Before that it was all about sports. I love sports.
Me: If you could only listen to three record albums in the next year, what would they be?
SE: It would be my dad’s album, Azteca, Sammy Davis Jr’s album, That’s All: Live at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, and Sly and the Family Stone’s Stand!.
Me: If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?
SE: I think you have covered everything. I would have nothing to add.
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