Sheila E. and the E-Train
City Winery Philadelphia presents Sheila E. and the E-Train live on June 25th at 9:30pm
One of life’s constants for Sheila E. comes down to a simple phrase: follow the beat.
And her impeccable inner rhythm is the pulse behind a trailblazing career that still
knows no bounds.
Family, faith
and music were guiding forces for Sheila E. growing up in the Bay Area. In
addition to percussionist dad Pete, the Oakland,CA native counts former Santana
member/Azteca founder Coke Escovedo and The Dragons front man Mario Escovedo
as uncles. Fellow Latin
star Tito Puente was her godfather. In addition to being weaned
on Latin jazz and Motown, Sheila E. was exposed to a diverse array of Bay Area acts.
Those influences ranged from the rock of Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead to
the R&B/pop of the Po
inter Sisters and the funk of Sly & the Family Stone. “I used to sit
on the corner
outside of the local community center with Twinkies and 7
-
Up listening to
Sly and Larry Graham rehearse,” remembers Sheila E. “The sounds of the Bay Area
molded me.”
So it’s
no surprise that after such a music
-
immersive childhood, the gifted, world
-
class
drummer and percussionist began amassing an impressive string of credits playing not
only with her dad but also with pioneering talents like George Duke, Herbie Hancock,
Marv
in Gaye, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Prince, Ringo Starr, Gloria Estefan, Beyonce
and Jennifer Lopez. Grammy Award
-
nominated singer/songwriter behind the seminal
hits “The Glamorous Life” and “A Love Bizarre.” A fearless multi
-
instrumentalist, equally
profi
cient on guitar and bass, actress, mentor and philanthropist.
Following a Bay Area gig in the late ‘70s, Sheila E. met Prince backstage. Their
Purple
Rain
recording sessions
—
including her vocals on the 1984 classic “Erotic City”
—
morphed into launching her
solo career that same year. Debut album
The Glamorous
Life
spun off the Grammy Award
-
nominated top 10 hit of the same name plus a second
top 40 single “The Belle of St. Mark.”
Between her ‘80s tenure as drummer, songwriter
and musical director for Prince’
s backup band, Sheila E. released two more solo albums
(
Romance 1600
and
Shelia E.)
and scored another classic hit with “A Love Bizarre.”
Sheila E.’s fierce, dynamic verve onstage has made her a major concert draw since the ‘90s. Along
the way, she has
acted in the films “Krush Groove”, “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane”, “Chasing
Papi” and launched various music projects (E
-
Train, C.O.E.D., E Family Band). She added to her
arsenal of credits performing on the 2012 Academy Awards with pop hitmaker Pharre
ll Williams and
composer Hans Zimmer. Sheila E. was also among the roster of stars chosen to perform at the 2013
Kennedy Center Honors whose honorees included artists Herbie Hancock, Billy Joel and Carlos
Santana.
Sheila E.'s producing, arranging, and perf
ormance talents have been showcased throughout the
music and film industry with appearances on, The Academy Awards, The Latin Grammy Awards,
BET Awards, The American Music Awards, The Kennedy Center Honors, The Summer Olympics,
WOW Awards, ALMA's, and The
Image Awards just to name a few. In 2010 Sheila was nominated
for an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Music Direction” in recognition for her leadership as musical
director for President Obama’s
Performance at The White House: Fiesta Latina
and again more
recen
tly in 2020 for “Let’s Go Crazy” Grammy Salute to Prince. Other projects, include
The E Family Now and Forever
,
Pete Escovedo Live at Stern Grove Festival
with her father Pete Escovedo, and
brothers Juan and Peter Michael Escovedo,
Sheila E. Live from Luga
no Switzerland
DVD,
Silk
Road
from the group Heavenese hailing from Japan, a literary biography released by Simon &
Schuster Publishing Titled The Beat of My Own Drum,
ICON
Sheila's 2014 solo album and the
single release Girl Meets Boy in memory of the lat
e, great, Prince.
Her 2017 studio project and tour,
ICONIC, was Sheila's effort to bring awareness to social issues and humanitarianism.
Her 2020
single releases, “No Line” with the legendary Snoop Dogg, “Lemon Cake”
& “Bailar” are Sheila's
continued cont
ribution to the music industry.
