Sheila E. was supposed to be making a dance record when the events of 2016 convinced her to go in a different direction.
“With the way the election was running, the disrespect toward Latin people and all the things that were being said, I couldn’t put out the dance record I was doing,” she says. “Not in the middle of this turmoil our country’s going through. I needed to put out something that has substance.”
She thought about writing an album weighing in on what was going on, she says. “But I knew I wouldn’t have time to write that record in a matter of months.”
Let the songs make a statement
Instead, she recorded an album called “Iconic: Message 4 America,” which finds her covering such classics as the Beatles’ “Come Together” Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People,” Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman” Marvin Gaye's “Inner City Blues” and Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America,” to name a few.
“I went back to the songs that I grew up with in the ’60s and the ’70s and let those songs make a statement,” she says. “It was the quickest way for me to get out music, get people’s attention and bring people together."
That was a time, she says, "when artists were writing about things that were happening. And it’s crazy because those songs are still relevant to what’s happening now.”
She’s joined on the recordings by the likes of Bootsy Collins, Ringo Starr, George Clinton, Freddie Stone and Candy Dulfer.
We caught up with the star by phone to talk about “Iconic,” life with Prince and more in advance of her appearance Sunday, January 14, at the Tucson Jazz Festival.
Q&A with Sheila E.
Question: There’s an optimism to a lot of the songs on “Iconic.” Is it difficult to stay hopeful given everything that happens on an almost daily basis in the news?
Answer: (Laughs) Oh my God. The thing is, we have to get people involved in voting. I think we all got lazy and that’s why we are in the predicament we’re all in now. A lot of times, especially the youth, they don’t know it’s time to go register now to vote.
The midterms are coming up. And even with all the craziness happening, we need to make sure we are voting for things as opposed to thinking that things are going to change just by yelling outside or killing each other.
There’s just a lot of things wrong with our country right now. It seems like it’s getting worse and I think we’re way better than that and as people. Of course, we’ve said this many times, but the world would be a wonderful place if we all loved each other regardless of what we believed.
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Q: It looks like people did get out and vote in Alabama.
A: Exactly. Is it waking up our country? Absolutely. That was historical.
Q: How have fans reacted to you releasing an album as political as "Iconic"?
A: There’s maybe a handful of people that don’t like when I start talking about the administration and what’s happening and the disrespect and other things I talk about. They want me to get back to just playing music.
But I’ve been fighting most of my life for things that I believe in, what I stand for and who I am as an artist, especially being a woman in this industry.
Yes, I do play jazz percussion. It’s not a male instrument. And I think it’s OK that I speak about things that I’ve wanted to speak about.
I’m always saying, “Hey, let’s love each other. Let’s encourage each other. Let’s help the kids.” But man, this last election, I really got angry. I thought “What is happening?” I just turned 60. I am not gonna sit back and not say anything and just watch things happen. That’s just not me.
Q: Have you thought about returning to the idea of writing songs for another political album?
A: Oh, absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. I have much to say (laughs). Much to say.
Q: You talked about being a woman in the music industry and obviously one of the big news stories of the past year was the #MeToo movement. What’s your take on that? Do you find it inspiring?
A: I’ve been approached most of my life. I’ve been the only woman in many situations, especially in a band with mostly all men, or in meetings. I’ve slapped MANY men for disrespecting me.
I’ve been approached sexually with “If you sleep with me, I’ll get you a record deal. You can have your own company” up to “You can have the biggest hotel in Vegas or your own jet.” Just for having sex. So I know what that is.
It’s not #metoo. It’s been my life.
And I can proudly say I’ve not slept with anyone for anything ever other than love. If I love you, that’s the only reason I would ever be with anyone intimately. And it’s kind of disgusting but I’ve always had to kind of keep my guard up.
This had nothing to do with music, but I was raped at the age of five by a babysitter who lived upstairs from my parents. He was right upstairs in the other apartment. So I’ve had turmoil in my life. But that didn’t stop me from still demanding respect in a way that all women should be respected.
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I don’t want to generalize and say all men are like this because they’re not. There are a lot of really good men out there. And what I’ve said to the good men is “Please take who you are as a man and pass that on to other men so men treat women in a respectful way.”
So yeah, the movement is happening. Women have been coming out and saying things for a very long time but I guess it took someone at the very top to acknowledge what is happening. Now, it’s the domino effect. And it needs to be talked about.
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Q: The rise of Donald Trump, which inspired you to do this record, coincided with the unexpected loss of Prince. I would imagine the grief you were feeling in the wake of his death made what was happening in America even that much harder to deal with for you.
A: Absolutely. The timing was really bad. His unexpected passing and mourning him and then mourning the country at the same time in the midst of all that. You kind of do a double take and ask “What am I doing? Am I doing anything?” I do a lot. I don’t need to talk about the things I do. But we can always do more.
If I say I believe in something, that means I really believe in it. If I say I’m standing for something or I’m hurt by this, my fans know that that’s truth. I try to be transparent. And because I am transparent, it allows me to be who I am honestly and not hide things. I can say how I feel and people respect that.
Q: You wrote a song called “Girl Meets Boys” after Prince died, a beautiful song. Did that help you through that time at all, to write a song about your feelings?
A: Thank you. I don’t know. At the time, I would say it just needed to come out. As musicians and artists, songwriters, we’re able to write about our experiences and put music to it sometimes and hopefully, it will touch someone’s heart.
My guitar player who is also my godson, Michael Gabriel, we were in the studio, it was late at night, and he came up with an idea. He goes “I think I have something.” I said, “Let’s just put it down. Don’t even play it for me. I’ll be back in 15 minutes.” I walked back in the studio and I said, “OK, now give me a little bit of time.”
He left, came back and the song was done very quickly. Because it hit home. If you allow yourself to just be open, that’s what happens. Even in the process of doing it and singing it, I knew I need to get it out soon, right after his passing. I don’t know that it helped as much because I couldn’t get through it.
Most everything that I did, he and I did together. So everything that I do, the songs that I’ve been playing since their inception, I still play in my show. The first concert I played after he passed, I couldn’t even get through soundcheck.
I went to soundcheck thinking, “OK, I’m gonna be fine.” And we started to play the song and I couldn’t even play it. I was like “How am I gonna get through this show if I can’t even do soundcheck?” And the audience understood that. They came and they sang and they helped me to get through it.
The fans and my family really helped me through. Yes, the music does, because that is part of my healing, being able to play and share. But it’s still a process. It’s still very challenging to get through some things that we play. There’s some videos that I can’t even watch yet. Still. It’s like this just happened a month ago.
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Q: That’s really sad.
A: Yeah, it is.
Q: You talked about how so much of your music was done in collaboration with him. What do you think it was that allowed you two to connect artistically the way you did?
A: When I first met him in ’77, I had been touring with everyone. When he played the Bay Area the first time and no one really knew who he was, I walked backstage and introduced myself. And he already knew who I was. He was like, “Oh my God, I’ve been following your career. I love you. You’re an amazing drummer.”
He went on and on and on. We exchanged numbers and I said, “Look, any time you want to come here, we’ll hang out, whatever.” He started coming every week and I started showing him different places around the Bay Area.
Introducing him to my family was hilarious but at the same time, it was eye-opening for him because musically, he had not really heard Latin jazz music.
So for him to see our family play together and clown each other and make each other laugh, and then being around the Bay Area, that movement of so many amazing artists, which is why he wanted to do his first record there, from Sly to Santana and then my dad’s band, the Grateful Dead.
Everyone that had come from the Bay meant something to him. He wanted to be in that environment. So our connection first was music. And like I said, he had been following my career for a long time. Music brought us together, liking and sharing a lot of the same music that we both loved and grew up listening to. And then being very competitive.
This is the upbringing from my mom, being very competitive, being an athlete. It’s why I wanted to be an athlete. And he wanted to be an athlete as well, playing basketball. My mom, she’s a tomboy. If the guys could do it, the girls could do it. That’s how I grew up. It was the competition. It was “I’m gonna keep you on your toes.”
I’m always gonna try to beat you at something. So that drive was very healthy for both of us and we had a blast just being competitive. It was pretty awesome.
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Q: Your father was obviously a famed percussionist. Did your parents encourage you to pursue a life in music? Did they think that was the way to go for you?
A: They let us do whatever. I didn’t want to be a musician, actually. I was training to be in the Olympics at 13, 14 years old. I wanted to win a Gold medal. I was track and field, breaking records that hadn’t been broken in 20 years. So I was doing really well.
And musically, watching my dad play every day, there were jam sessions at the house all the time. There were parties on the weekends. My dad practiced in the house every single day to LPs.
We listened to the radio a lot, but listening to my dad’s records, his collection, and him practicing every single day, as soon as he would get up, I would emulate what he would play. My dad finally realized, “Wow, you really like playing percussion?” I said, “Yeah, it’s fun.” I think he saw a little twinkle in my eye.
I was in the third grade and my dad said “I want you to go and sign up for violin lessons.” I’m like, “Violin?! Who wants to play violin?! That’s not even a cool instrument.” So I ended up taking violin, which was awesome, because I love classical music. Oh my God. So it was music, music, music. Sports, sports, sports.
You grow up and you want to be like your parents. That’s kind of what happened.
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Q: You were in your in your early 20s, maybe even 19, when you joined the George Duke band. What was that experience like for you at such a young age?
A: Oh, it was amazing. George went to my father and talked to him and said, “I’ll take care of your daughter. I know she’s been playing with you. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she’s safe. I’ll keep the dogs away.” That’s what he said, for real. And Pops said, “I believe you.” He loved George as well. Like a brother.
Playing with George was the next best thing to playing with my dad.
Because George allowed me to continue my growth as a musician. He played all genres of music, from Brazilian to funk to fusion to jazz to gospel. We played everything. R&B. Ballads. Different time signatures.
George never said to me, “I want you to play this on this specific song.” He said, “That is not my territory. That is yours. You go do your thing and play whatever you need to play. If we need to change it, cool. I’ll let you know.”
I didn’t read music. My dad and I were self-taught. We never read music. We were also in a band with George and Billy Cobham. And they never said to us, “Because you can’t read, you can’t be in the band.” They said, “Play whatever you feel.” And they allowed us to play and learn. So we played from our heart.
Q: Having toured with George and then you toured on Marvin Gaye’s last tour as well, how did it feel to go from touring with other bands to launching your career with “The Glamorous Life” when you did?
A: Every situation that I got in, from my dad’s band to George to Billy, Herbie Hancock, Con Funk Shun, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, it didn’t matter who I played with, it ended up being “Sheila, can you come to the front and do a solo?” No matter what band I was in, I was always featured. So that part was easy.
The only challenge for me was going out there in the front. My timbales were with me. That was my security blanket, playing drums or playing congas. Sometimes I’d pick up the guitar. The problem I had was when I’d sing a song without playing, I’m used to having sticks in my hands or playing a percussion instrument.
I mean, when we were growing up, I would pretend singing and dancing. We were used to being in front of people all the time but to actually do that in front of 20,000 people and go, “OK, what do I do with my other hand? Do I clench it? Do I hide it? Do I put it up in the air?” I had to think about it.
You don’t think about what you’re gonna do with your other hand because you’re used to having an instrument in it. It was just awkward. And that kind of took a minute, not having my security blanket with me, which would be any percussion instrument in my hand.
Q: What do you think of “The Glamorous Life” and “Romance 1600” when you look back on them now?
A: Oh, they’re awesome. I still play songs off of both those records. “The Glamorous Life.” “A Love Bizarre.” “The Belle of St. Mark.” Those are in my shows now. I did “Oliver’s House” the other day. I love playing those songs.
It’s interesting because those records were done two different ways. The first one was done in a week here in Los Angeles. We only had, like, six songs on that record. But they were 12-minute songs. Which I still do and I end up having to cut my songs down because it won’t fit on a record. The same thing happened with the “Iconic” record.
And then the second album, “Romance 1600,” was done while I was on the “Purple Rain” tour. We would stop and any time I had a day off, it was “Let’s go in the studio.” I had a mini studio on my tour bus so I was able to get ideas down on the back of the bus. So that record was done while I was on tour.
Q: You’ve got Ringo on this album and I know you two have worked together many times? As a percussionist, what's your take on Ringo as a drummer?
A: Oh my God. He’s amazing. When I was first asked to play as a drummer in his All-Starr Band, I thought, well, he’s the drummer. How am I gonna be the drummer of his band? And they explained to me that he puts together bands of people he would like to play with. But the challenging part was how do you emulate Ringo?
Any person you’re gonna emulate, you really have to study. You’re trying to figure out his swing and why does he do what he does when he’s playing. So the first song I started to jam to, I set up my practice kit, and I sat down and every time I got ready to do a fill, he had already started the fill before I started. He was always in front of the fill.
And I’m thinking, “Wait, this doesn’t make sense. Let me try again.” So I’d listen and as I was getting ready to do the fill, again, he had already started his fill. But then I started listening to the lyrics. And sometimes someone would be singing and he’d do a fill as if that was what he would sing, making the drums sing.
I really had to dissect it and I thought, OK, his simplicity is complicated. If you don’t play the fill where he plays it, it doesn’t sound like him. So how do I get to that place where he is?
And I realized instead of me starting my fill with my right hand, going clockwise, he would lead with his left hand to do the first tom fill before his right hand and that’s why he was always in front of me. So I figured it out. He could play left-handed but he chose to play the other way around so he leads with his left hand.
Once I figured that out, I’m like, “Ah, I got it. Now I know how he swings. I had to study all that and I loved it because it gave me another look at how someone else hears things and why it sounds the way it does. And once I got that, when we went into rehearsal, I was ready to play.
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter.com/EdMasley.
Sheila E. at the Tucson Jazz Festival
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday Jan. 14.
Where: Rialto Theater, 318 E. Congress St., Tucson
Admission: $31 - $46.
Details: 520-740-1000, www.tucsonjazzfestival.org
Tucson Jazz Festival schedule
Thursday, Jan. 11: Hypnitic Brass Ensemble at Rialto Theatre. $25 adults/$20 seniors/$15 students.
Friday, Jan. 12: The Hot Sardines at Fox Theatre. $35/$45.
Saturday, Jan. 13: Matt Holman Group at Club Congress. $35-$45.
Sunday, Jan. 14: Sheila E. at the Rialto. $31-$46.
Monday, Jan.15: Downtown Jazz Fiesta with more than 10 bands on four stages in Fifth Avenue/Congress Street area.
Tuesday Jan. 16: Warren Wolf and the UA Studio Jazz Ensemble at University of Arizona Crowder Hall. $35-$45.
Wednesday, Jan. 17: Lew Tabackin Trio at Tucson Scottish Rite Cathedral. $35-$45.
Thursday Jan. 18: Diane Schuur Quartet featuring Ernie Watts/Bill Charlap Trio at Fox Theatre. $35/$45.
Friday, Jan. 19: Mingus Dynasty "Tijuana Moods" and the Tucson Jazz Institute Ensemble Band with Lew Tabackin and Dennis Roland at Fox Theatre. $35/$45.
Saturday, Jan. 20: Spyro Gyra at Rialto Theatre. $36.
Sunday, Jan. 21: Wycliffe Gordon and Jay Leonhardt at Club Congress. $35-$45.
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