Apollonia, Vanity, Rosie Gaines, Bria Valente, Wendy and Lisa, Sheena E, Carmen Electra… the list of talented, beautiful women in Prince’s sphere seems endless.
But there was only one Sheila E.
She was his backing drummer, one of his closest friends, and even his fiance at one point, but she was also one of the few Prince collaborators whose talents actually rivaled his own. Before joining him, she’d already toured with legends like Diana Ross, Lionel Richie and Marvin Gaye, and was once described by the Miles Davis as “a bad mother.”
The two virtuosos constantly challenged each other to perform at their best, even as far back as the Purple Rain tour which Sheila opened as a solo act. After sitting in on her rehearsal, Prince dialed up his people immediately to call an emergency rehearsal of his own. “I can’t allow Sheila to be better than me,” he stressed.
Whether to avoid future embarrassment, enrich his own sound, or both, two years later, he’d hired her for his own band, and eventually even proposed to her in the middle of “Purple Rain.”
Love didn’t last for Prince and Sheila, but she went on to lead a “Glamorous Life” anyway, especially with his songwriting prowess on her career-defining song. It was her first solo single and public’s first glimpse at Sheila in her full singing, dancing and drumming glory, and she was rewarded for it with three MTV Award nominations and 2 Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. And to think, when she first recorded it, Sheila was just happy it included a healthy drum solo. (See the comments for more on that.)
When she’s not singing, drumming and shaking something in the video for “The Glamorous Life,” Sheila’s black and white counterpart is apparently a rich spinster with a heart of gold and no one to share it with except for strangers on the street. In real life, Sheila didn’t get married either, but she’s shared a whole lot with a world where she’s known as “The Queen of Percussion,” and hardly a stranger.