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In 100-plus-degree heat, Sheila E. slammed her sticks wildly on cymbals and drum skins while her thin, muscular legs pounded the pedal of her bass drum. She then threw her sticks in the air at the end of her solo to thunderous applause. Despite the sweltering heat during her Saturday afternoon performance last month at Rhythm on the Vine Music & Wine Festival at South Coast Winery in Temecula, California, Sheila looked cool and composed. At one of her first family performances in a while, Sheila was accompanied by her father, legendary Latin jazz percussionist Pete Escovedo, brothers Juan and Peter Michael and the Pete Escovedo Orchestra for a concert benefitting the Shriners Hospitals for Children. The Escovedos - who just completed their first family album, Love's All Around, scheduled for release early next year - are headlining JazzFest West (formerly the Old Pasadena JazzFest) in San Dimas, California, on July 19. "We just started playing together again because of the CD. We're playing the new songs from the record, which we've actually written, to see everyone's reaction. So far it's been extremely positive; everyone really loves the new songs. So we know we're on the right track to get the buzz going with the family," Sheila said from her office in Van Nuys, California.
Born into a musical family who still remain close, Sheila made her concert debut at the age of 5 in the former Sands Ballroom in Oakland, California, when her father (then bandleader of Azteca) invited her onstage to play a solo in front of an audience of 3,000."I thought all girls played drums till I got out of the house and realized that it was a rarity," said the multifaceted drummer, percussionist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, producer and composer."The first time I played a real show with my dad, I knew this is what I wanted to do. That one show that I played when I was 15 changed my life and confirmed that this is what I'm supposed to do. I didn't know it until that moment. Before then I was running track, playing soccer, breaking all the records, wanting to be in the Olympics."
Since then, beginning at age 17, Sheila has recorded and toured extensively with artists such as Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Billy Cobham, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, Natalie Cole, Gloria Estefan, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Nicks, Patti LaBelle, Cyndi Lauper, Tito Puente, Don Was and Babyface, among others. In 1983, Prince changed Sheila Escovedo's name to Sheila E. and helped record her first solo album, The Glamorous Life. The title track received multiple GRAMMY and American Music Award nominations and won MTV's Best Video Award.
At 50, Sheila's career as both a solo artist and support to other top stars is as hot as our current weather patterns."When I was playing with Ringo last year, I actually got heat stroke and we were under a tent. I was playing so hard and it was so hot and humid that the paramedics had to pull me off the stage on the last two songs. I couldn't make it. I couldn't walk to the dressing room. This had never happened to me; that was a really scary moment. So with this kind of heat, even right now, it's like 109 today, I can't even walk outside. It's awful and dangerous. Even at the Temecula Festival, it took a lot for us being outside when it was that hot. And for me using both legs, both arms, singing, directing, I was exhausted. We do have to be careful because we have had some really close calls," said Sheila last month during a record heat wave.
This heat factor is in tune with Sheila's look...hot. In fact, one of her solo records is appropriately titled Sex Cymbal."Back in the day it was just something to play off of words. When everyone was saying "You're a sex symbol,' you think to yourself ÔNo I'm not. I'm really not. This is just who I am.' To me, it's really not so much about being sexy as it is about being passionate about what I do. I really love what I do. It's been such a blessing to be able to play with so many people, perform and work with my family. It's a privilege. I want to give more, do more, keep playing and always try to give 150 percent," said Sheila, who ironically enjoys juggling as a hobby.
As a humanitarian, Sheila gives back to the community through her Elevate Hope Foundation, a 501(c)3 charitable organization (which she co-founded and co-chairs) that assists abused and abandoned children through music therapy. "It really all stems from my dad. My parents would take us to facilities when we were younger. We grew up really poor, but Pops and Moms always said that there was always someone worse off than we were, Ôso let's go give back.' So we would take our percussion instruments in the car and go to a facility and play for the kids and get them involved in playing with us and try to give back like that. When he wasn't being tossed back and forth between his parents and grandparents in Mexico, my dad lived most of his childhood in St. Vincent Home for Boys, an orphanage in San Rafael, California. So he knows how it was for him to be in a place by himself," Sheila said.
Her foundation, which originally had three different beneficiaries, now donates everything they generate to Vista Del Mar Child & Family Services in Los Angeles, California. This facility is dedicated to the well-being and care of children and families in Southern California who suffer the emotional, physical, psychological and social consequences of abuse, neglect and abandonment. This agency's wide spectrum of services includes adoption, foster care, residential treatment, outpatient services, community outreach and the Vista School. "When we give money, the contract designates where it has to specifically go. We want to know it's going to music and arts programs for the kids," said Sheila, who also has designed her own line of percussion instruments.
"When I grew up I just happened to play on my dad's percussion because it was just sitting around the house. Some of the little percussion instruments we have for kids nowadays are more like toys; they're plastic and don't last as long. So I decided to partner with my company, TOCA Kaman Music, to help me design real drums for kids. We have the Sheila E. Player's Series bongos designed for kids starting at age 3, which is when I started banging on the drums, and it moves all the way up to pro level (Custom Series Class E line). We evenhave different colors of drums," said Sheila, who is also founder and president of Heaven Productions Music, a music production company that was hired to direct and arrange music for the ALMA Awards (1998 and 1999), the 1998 WOW Awards, 1998 Gospel Music Association's annual event and the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. Sheila has also co-hosted and/or appeared in many other awards shows, TV programs and movies, and in 2003 she wrote, recorded and taped a montage for the baseball World Series. As a woman musician working in a mostly man's world, all of her cumulative successes were met with some challenges and jealousies along the way.
"There were moments that happened, especially when I first started coming out to Los Angeles. We grew up in the Bay Area, but I was flying to Los Angeles as a professional musician at 17, 18 and 19 years old, doing sessions here with people like George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham and playing with people like that. It was unusual, which I didn't know. Male drummers, percussion players, whoever, with their egos would give me attitude like ÔWho are you? Where'd you come from? You're just here because blah-de-blah.' I was thinking, Ôhow can people be so rude?" she recalled. Eventually the touring musician's life fame took its toll. When that happened, Sheila's spiritual heart opened up to new possibilities...**
Sheila E. is scheduled to perform with the Pete Escovedo Orchestra featuring Juan and Peter Michael Escovedo at JazzFest West (formerly the Old Pasadena JazzFest) on Saturday, July 19 at 8 p.m. JazzFest West will be held at Bonelli Park, 120 Via Verde, in San Dimas, California. For tickets or more information, call (949) 360-7800, or visit www.omegaevents.com.
For more information on Sheila E., visit www.sheilae.com. To make a donation to her foundation, visit www.elevatehope.org.
By Melanie Maxwell
Source: Smooth Jazz News -- July 2008
