Sheila E
Open Labs Exclusive Artist Interview
- by Carson Barker, Open Labs Staff Writer
You may not know this, but Sheila E. is a virtuoso percussionist. You may remember her name from her 1980s song, "The Glamorous Life," or her involvement with the New Power Generation (Prince's main musical sidekick during the same decade), but outside of the music that she is most known for, Sheila E. can shred on any percussion instrument like Eddie Van Halen on guitar. Bongos, congos, traditional trap set -- you name it, Sheila owns it. Considering that her family ranges from Tito Puente to Alejandro Escovedo, that kind of talent can be expected.
"It was very competitive to say the least," said Sheila of being raised in a family of musicians. "But it was also a lot of fun, because we always wanted to play. There were always people at our house playing, and Pops would have his friends over, like Carlos Santana and Tito Puente. We were always exposed to something."
Listing the musicians in Sheila's family tree is like reading a phone book of music celebrities. Any direction you go, there's someone that you've heard of before. Her father, Pete Escovedo, of whom she lovingly refers to as "Pops," fronted the band the Escovedo Bros Latin Jazz Sextet with his siblings, until Carlos Santana hired Pops and his brother, "Coke" to join the Santana band during the 1970s. Flip the page and you'll find another one of her uncles, Alejandro Escovedo, who co-fronted the indie rock band The True Believers, and is a local legend in his home of Austin, TX. The biggest celebrity in the E. clan is probably the legendary percussionist Tito Puente, who was her father's best friend and her godfather. Aside from those musicians, virtually every member of the Escovedo family plays some sort of instrument. It's like a musicians' dynasty.
That dynasty helped cure and cultivate Sheila's drumming chops, which can be compared to John Bonham, Neil Peart, and even Tito himself. Her reputation lead her to a performance at the Oscars with virtuoso Placido Domingo. Check out the list of youtube videos under Sheila E.'s name and you'll find her jamming alongside Ringo Starr during his Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band for a third time in 2006, and giving Ringo a run for his money with her drum solos. Keep looking through the vids and you'll find her ripping up the congas with her godfather, proving that she is not trapped behind the trap set.
"That was in 1986 I think, that was a lot of fun," said Sheila. "I was actually out on tour and flew back to do that one show, but I was glad we did it."
Being a family member of many different musicians and genres, Sheila's talents have moved outside of percussion. After touring and hanging out with Prince and his keyboardist, Morris Hayes (another Open Labs endorsed artist), Sheila caught a glimpse of Morris' Open Labs NeKo, and was blown away by the instrument.
"I heard about it through Morris, of course," Sheila said. "He showed it to me a long time ago, when we were with Prince at rehearsal. One night while we were playing in Vegas, he showed me all of the stuff that it could do, and what he did with transferring files when we played that night with Prince. I thought that it had to be sequenced, but he said, 'Heck no, this is the band.' I was so impressed with all of the things it did, with the way he had everything mapped out differently with different songs, so I thought, I got to get one of these things."
Sheila dropped her sticks and picked up her NeKo in 2006. Though she still is an avid drummer, she also makes beats using her NeKo's VSTi's and synth sounds. With an all girl group, Sheila performed a European tour in 2007, using her NeKo as the backing musicians.
"The first year that I used it, I took it out on tour with C.O.E.D. and we went to Europe," Sheila said. "We were out there four months of touring, and I used it as one of the main keyboards like Morris did, but also I used it as playing some of our tracks that we installed live. We played our music so that we could play live to track on top of that, and that was the NeKo."
After their initial introduction Sheila's NeKo became a permanent member of her band, whatever project that may be. Capitalizing on its many exclusive features, Sheila's NeKo has been in her studio and on the road with her since the two met.
"I just installed all kinds of new software," Sheila said. "We set it up for me to be able to record, so I don't have actually have to turn on my Pro Tools system at the studio if I don't want to. I can just do it right here in the NeKo. I can drag and drop right onto there and make a CD. I can start transferring the files and start playing on top of that, so it's really a lot easier than I thought. Right now, the sky is the limit with this thing."
Aside from her frequent Prince performance reunions, gigs with Ringo Starr and C.O.E.D., Sheila managed to pull together her entire family for a new CD titled, "Love is all Around."
"We just finished the family CD, and it was the first time ever creating an album together as a family. We sat down and looked at both my mom's and dad's sides of the family, and there were 32 of them. Everyone showed up for the recording except for two. We based it around Alejandro's schedule, and we have a lot of special guests on the CD like Earth Wind and Fire, Gloria Estefan and others. We documented it so it's part of our DVD, and it was the first time that all of those people had been in the same room at the same time, and playing the same song."
Though some might label Sheila's family talent, percussive excellence, and skill with her NeKo hereditary, she believes it's godsent.
"I can't take all the credit," said Sheila, "God has given me an awesome gift to be able to play. Every time I play an instrument, it's just another time to try to be the best that I can."
Equipment Used
Purchased NeKo LX (Gen3)
Artist Links