Sheila E., music legend/ex-fiancée of Prince, recently experienced heartbreak when she was denied entry into his iconic Paisley Park home on June 7, 2024, which would have been Prince’s 66th birthday. In an emotional Instagram video, Sheila E. expressed her disappointment at not being able to pay her respects to her mentor, who was also her former love whom she shared a tight bond with until his last day.

The “The Glamorous Life” singer/percussionist, had assumed she would be welcome at Paisley Park (just as Prince had always welcomed her) if she showed up unannounced to record a video. However, she was turned away at the gates, preventing her from entering the studio where she and Prince had once collaborated and shared beautiful moments together.

Recalling her intended visit in an Instagram video (below), Sheila E. captioned her post with this:

“Wow!! Watch the video (shame on u paisley park. Horrible. @officialpaisleypark #prince
Happy birthday Prince.”

In her video message, here’s what she shared about what went down when she showed up to Paisley Park:

“I went in to celebrate him, and I wanted to go into the studio and do a live video, take a picture, and they said, ‘No.’… My heart’s broken. I can’t even walk into Paisley. That’s kind of messed up… Not a nice way to celebrate his birthday.”

Seeking resolution and feeling that her history with Prince should hold value, Sheila E. now hopes that the museum will return her old drum kit, which Prince personally requested to display at Paisley Park. She even overheard a tour guide mentioning, “My idol, Sheila E., even has her drums set up in the studio!”

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A post shared by Sheila E. (@sheilaedrummer)

The post Prince’s Ex Sheila E Painfully Speaks Out After Being Denied Into His Paisley Park Home appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Sheila E. and Prince had a very extensive, lengthy history together. She was his drummer and his fiancée at one point in time. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sheila E. explained how Prince finally talked her into being his lady, and what she and her “best friend,” Prince eventually did to hurt each other. It’s pretty interesting to learn about this side of the late, great musical genius. Check out excerpts of Sheila E.’s interview below.
Rolling Stone: Back when you met, Prince pursued you, right?

Sheila E.: Oh yeah, big time [laughs]. He pursued me for a long time.

RS: Was it that you weren’t attracted?

SE: Oh, yes I was! Are you kidding? No, oh my God. The first time we saw each other, we looked at each other like – [laughs]. He was beautiful, and he was talented. I had this thing for guitar players. But I had just gotten out of another relationship with a guitar player and I was like, “Not another musician.” I kept saying no [to Prince], but it was hard. After a while it was just like, “OK, well maybe.” And that was it. He wooed me very well [laughs].

RS: What did he do?

SE: He did so many beautiful things. During the Lionel Richie tour in 1982, he sent me flowers at every place, every single day. Whatever city we were in, there were beautiful arrangements of flowers from [Prince] the entire tour. The entire tour. I couldn’t bring anymore flowers on the bus. There were some I couldn’t even lift. Each arrangement was different. There was nowhere to put them, so I started giving them away to either shelters or the housekeepers, because there was no room on the bus. It was a lot – and I loved it [laughs]. He knew how to get me. And every arrangement came with a card from him.

RS: Do you still have them?

SE: I kept every single card.

What Sheila E. Says Hurt Prince The Most

Sheila E. says that after she and Prince had broken up, they were still touring together, but their emotions for each other remained incredibly deep — with her comparing it to a divorce — so she opted to leave the tour -and Prince’s life – instead, which “really upset” him.

RS: When you reflect on your relationship – as friends, collaborators, lovers – what did you learn?

SE: The learning experience is really about forgiveness. That’s the only way you’re gonna be able to live your life. And it’s a hard thing. About a year or two after we broke up and hadn’t spoken, I went to Paisley. This is when he was doing Batman. He was having a party and everyone was like, “How are you gonna go to the party, you guys haven’t talked,” and I said, “It’s fine.” I felt like it was fine. I was like, “No, we’re good.” I just felt it. So I walked into the building and I saw him. He looked at me, I looked at him and we fell in love all over again.

It was forgiveness. It was more important to love him as a friend. People do say, you want to marry your best friend – and he was my best friend. But I also loved him enough to let him go, and that was hard. It was very hard, like I said, it was like a divorce. It felt like I lost someone deeply. It was hard for him too, it was horrible. It was a horrible time for him [pauses].

We had a great life together, we really did, good and bad, the ups and the downs, there were a lot of downs. But at one point I told him, “I’m not here to play your music to get paid because it’s money, money has nothing to do with it, I’m here because I love you. I don’t care about your money.” So I told him to stop paying me when we were out on tour. That really upset him. That was during the LoveSexy Tour.

Sheila E. continued…

SE: That’s when I knew I was gonna leave, that was about ’88, ’89. […] I don’t care about the money, I never did. I’d be there because I love the music, I love the hang, and we all get along. But just to be there because it’s a paycheck? I didn’t want to be in that position, so I chose to leave. On the personal side, we started growing apart. And he started seeing other people while I was there playing in the band. That was very hurtful, very hard.

Sheila E. Remade Song In Prince’s Honor

The following year after Prince’s passing in 2016, Sheila E.released her album, “Iconic,” which included a passionate cover version of Prince’s 1985 song, “America,” in Prince’s honor. Check it out below.

The post Sheila E. Tells How Her Ex-Fiancé Prince Finally ‘Got Her’ And How She Broke His Heart appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Sheila E. and Prince had a very extensive, lengthy history together. She was his drummer and his fiancée at one point in time. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sheila E. explained how Prince finally talked her into being his lady, and what she and her “best friend,” Prince eventually did to hurt each other. It’s pretty interesting to learn about this side of the late, great musical genius. Check out excerpts of Sheila E.’s interview below.
Rolling Stone: Back when you met, Prince pursued you, right?

Sheila E.: Oh yeah, big time [laughs]. He pursued me for a long time.

RS: Was it that you weren’t attracted?

SE: Oh, yes I was! Are you kidding? No, oh my God. The first time we saw each other, we looked at each other like – [laughs]. He was beautiful, and he was talented. I had this thing for guitar players. But I had just gotten out of another relationship with a guitar player and I was like, “Not another musician.” I kept saying no [to Prince], but it was hard. After a while it was just like, “OK, well maybe.” And that was it. He wooed me very well [laughs].

RS: What did he do?

SE: He did so many beautiful things. During the Lionel Richie tour in 1982, he sent me flowers at every place, every single day. Whatever city we were in, there were beautiful arrangements of flowers from [Prince] the entire tour. The entire tour. I couldn’t bring anymore flowers on the bus. There were some I couldn’t even lift. Each arrangement was different. There was nowhere to put them, so I started giving them away to either shelters or the housekeepers, because there was no room on the bus. It was a lot – and I loved it [laughs]. He knew how to get me. And every arrangement came with a card from him.

RS: Do you still have them?

SE: I kept every single card.

What Sheila E. Says Hurt Prince The Most

Sheila E. says that after she and Prince had broken up, they were still touring together, but their emotions for each other remained incredibly deep — with her comparing it to a divorce — so she opted to leave the tour -and Prince’s life – instead, which “really upset” him.

RS: When you reflect on your relationship – as friends, collaborators, lovers – what did you learn?

SE: The learning experience is really about forgiveness. That’s the only way you’re gonna be able to live your life. And it’s a hard thing. About a year or two after we broke up and hadn’t spoken, I went to Paisley. This is when he was doing Batman. He was having a party and everyone was like, “How are you gonna go to the party, you guys haven’t talked,” and I said, “It’s fine.” I felt like it was fine. I was like, “No, we’re good.” I just felt it. So I walked into the building and I saw him. He looked at me, I looked at him and we fell in love all over again.

It was forgiveness. It was more important to love him as a friend. People do say, you want to marry your best friend – and he was my best friend. But I also loved him enough to let him go, and that was hard. It was very hard, like I said, it was like a divorce. It felt like I lost someone deeply. It was hard for him too, it was horrible. It was a horrible time for him [pauses].

We had a great life together, we really did, good and bad, the ups and the downs, there were a lot of downs. But at one point I told him, “I’m not here to play your music to get paid because it’s money, money has nothing to do with it, I’m here because I love you. I don’t care about your money.” So I told him to stop paying me when we were out on tour. That really upset him. That was during the LoveSexy Tour.

Sheila E. continued…

SE: That’s when I knew I was gonna leave, that was about ’88, ’89. […] I don’t care about the money, I never did. I’d be there because I love the music, I love the hang, and we all get along. But just to be there because it’s a paycheck? I didn’t want to be in that position, so I chose to leave. On the personal side, we started growing apart. And he started seeing other people while I was there playing in the band. That was very hurtful, very hard.

Sheila E. Remade Song In Prince’s Honor

The following year after Prince’s passing in 2016, Sheila E.released her album, “Iconic,” which included a passionate cover version of Prince’s 1985 song, “America,” in Prince’s honor. Check it out below.

The post Sheila E. Tells How Her Ex-Fiancé Prince Finally ‘Got Her’ And How She Broke His Heart appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

To Lionel Richie’s ex-wife, Brenda Richie, he may not have been ‘Husband of the year’ (we can’t forget about the infamous 80’s fiasco when Brenda allegedly kicked that hotel room door in and turned into Mike Tyson on Lionel and his then-mistress-turned-wife-turned-ex-wife, Diana Alexander), but Lionel sure does earn the ‘Father of the year’ title. In recent years, Sheila E. and Lionel Richie spoke out about the adoption of Sheila’s biological niece, Nicole Richie.

Lionel and Sheila E. told their stories from two conflicting sides of the coin, and here is what they revealed…

In the Huffington Post video above, Lionel Richie spoke with his daughter, Nicole Richie, about why he and Brenda (pictured below) decided to adopt her when she was about 2 years old after meeting her at a Prince concert (this starts at the 3:19 mark of the video). One of the most touching things Lionel spoke on was the “abandonment issues” Nicole displayed as a toddler, that according to him was the result of her being “handed around to every member in the family” and not having a stable home at that time:

Lionel recalls what he told then-toddler Nicole: “I said to you I’m never ever going to leave you’ and you had this lil’ look on your face and I said ‘No, no listen, I’m NEVER going to leave you,'” something Nicole said she clearly remembers.

Lionel Richie continued: “It was very important that you understood that no matter when I went away- if it was two months, or one month, or two weeks…I’m coming right back. And as soon as you realized I think over time that ‘Okay he’s not leaving me, he’s just going to work,’ then I think you felt safer.” Nicole affirmed his assessment that she did finally feel safe, at home, and at peace with her new parents.

As beautiful and honorable as that was for Lionel and Brenda to love Nicole unconditionally and give her stability, it didn’t make the transition any less painful for Sheila E. and her family…although they were extremely grateful.

SEE WHAT SHEILA E. REVEALED THOUGH>>>

The post Lionel Richie, Sheila E. Tell Opposing Views On His Adoption Of Her Niece Nicole Richie appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

A few years ago, 80’s R&B singer, Sheila E. released her memoir, The Beat Of My Own Drum, which forced her to have to revisit many memories from her past. Unfortunately some of those memories were as painful today, as they were when they first happened.

Two of those painful memories were of the person who r*ped her when she was only 5 years old; and the relatives and neighbors who molested her repeatedly when she was a child.

Sheila E. explained that it wasn’t until she became an adult and started to delve deep into her Christian religion, that she realized the depth of the sexual assaults she’d endured as a child:

God started revealing so many things to me. He showed me why I was the way I was. Our pastor told us that we had to do some studying and everyone had to take a turn teaching Bible study, which forced us to really dig deep. It was at that particular time that God showed me so many things. It was overwhelming. I had put so many things in the back of my head and didn’t realize why I was doing certain things. I finally figured out that I was r*ped at five by a babysitter [which she later revealed was her aunt’s brother who lived upstairs from Sheila and her family when she was a child] and molested by cousins and neighbors next door.

Sheila E. continued:

I remember one time, being at the neighbors’ house, and the little boy put glue in a bag and had me sniff glue. Then they’d just, you know, mess with me. I had thrown all that away; I just hid everything in the back of my mind.

Another thing, I never wanted a telephone in my bedroom – and any kind of alarm clock had to be really silent – low volume and barely enough to wake me up. The Lord showed me that I didn’t want anything to wake me up because that was always the time, when my parents left and I was sleeping, that the guys would come and wake me up and do whatever they needed to do. And I just laid there.

Remembering all that blew me away, because I didn’t even know why, when something woke me up like a phone, it would really startle me.

Years later, she apologized to those she’d hurt as well:

Also, after I accepted Christ, I started calling people and I said, ‘You know what? I’m sorry that I did this or that. I’m really sorry.’ And he had me continue to call and I’m still apologizing, 10 years later. I wanted to be a good person. It’s not that I did anything bad because I wanted to – it was like I was forced to in a way.

[Sources: AccessHollywood; CrossRythms]

Many celebrities have achieved a high level of greatness, have also experienced a high level of pain in their lives. Entertainers like Sheila E., Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, etc., have all endured it. It kind of makes one wonder if that type of extreme pain is almost a prerequisite for greatness. Maybe it’s similar to oppressed people who’ve endured some of the worst types of pain and injustices, becoming a group of people whom are resilient, as a result of surviving their oppression.

We salute Sheila E. for being courageous enough to share such a painful experience with the world.

The post Sheila E. Revealed Being Ab*sed By Multiple People…Her Details Are Heartbreaking appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

To most fans, Sheila E. and Prince were a match made in heaven. They had all the makings of a perfect relationship: an unbreakable bond of love and friendship, unmatched talent, striking looks, fame, and fortune. Basically, if everything would have worked out right, they would have been like the new Ashford & Simpson…just raunchier. But there’s so much that happened behind closed doors and many fans may not know all that actually happened.

How Prince Proposed

Although many fans know Sheila E. and Prince dated for quite some time, most people have no clue how serious the relationship really was because they kept the most intimate details under wraps for decades. At one point, Sheila and Prince had decided to take things to the next level. In her memoir, The Beat of My Own Drum (released in September 2014), Sheila detailed his proposal and how she’d gladly accepted.

Back then, there were rumors about the quiet engagement, but it wasn’t confirmed until Sheila admitted it. The two musical lovebirds were really engaged! She recently shared details about how the Purple One popped the question live onstage, reports New York Daily News:

“He blew me a kiss, turned to the audience, and took the most amazing guitar solo ever,” she wrote. “For the rest of that year my relationship with Prince was a dream … We were with each other all day and all night, so if he was fooling around on me, he would have had to be quick about it.”

Sheila E. Let Success Go To Her Head

As the relationship evolved, things gradually began to go downhill. While on tour with Prince, Sheila’s life changed dramatically and tour life came with many unconventional perks that ultimately transformed the budding star into a diva. “I became mean, demanding, and angry. I stopped asking and started telling … I was becoming a nightmare,” she said. 

The Jealousy & Other Women

But, despite her heightened level of success, it didn’t stop tons of women from flocking to her man. Sheila admitted she had a hard time dealing with the daunting reality. “I tried to ignore the sadness I felt about not being the only woman in his life, but I learned to deal with it early on,” she wrote.

Sheila E. Explains How Prince Broke Her Heart When He Did This

Like any other relationship, Prince and Sheila E. faced numerous ups and downs over the years. But as time passed, they began to grow apart due to creative differences and the many other females he entertained on the regular. Then, she said Prince ultimately did something that changed everything. Despite their romantic relationship, Prince reportedly had no reservations about reminding Sheila who the boss was. In fact, there was one incident where Sheila finally had enough.

In her memoir, she revealed Prince refused to let her fly to her grandmother’s funeral, citing tour obligations. “He was my boss, he reminded me. He signed the paychecks,” she wrote. Shortly after, Sheila and Prince finally went their separate ways.

The Love They Still Had For Each Other Was Evident Up Until Prince’s Death

Despite the breakup many years ago, Sheila E. and Prince’s friendship was able to withstand the test of time. Shortly after Prince’s untimely death, the Sheila spoke out. “The meaning of the word loss has taken on new meaning this day,” she told Us Weekly in a statement. “Thank God, love lives Forever.”

The post Sheila E. Loved Ex-Fiancé Prince, But Revealed The Incident That Destroyed Their Engagement appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

To Lionel Richie’s ex-wife, Brenda Richie, he may not have been ‘Husband of the year’ (we can’t forget about the infamous 80’s fiasco when Brenda allegedly kicked that hotel room door in and turned into Mike Tyson on Lionel and his then-mistress-turned-wife-turned-ex-wife, Diana Alexander), but Lionel sure does earn the ‘Father of the year’ title. In recent years, Sheila E. and Lionel Richie spoke out about the adoption of Sheila’s biological niece, Nicole Richie.

Lionel and Sheila E. told their stories from two conflicting sides of the coin, and here is what they revealed…

In the Huffington Post video above, Lionel Richie spoke with his daughter, Nicole Richie, about why he and Brenda (pictured below) decided to adopt her when she was about 2 years old after meeting her at a Prince concert (this starts at the 3:19 mark of the video). One of the most touching things Lionel spoke on was the “abandonment issues” Nicole displayed as a toddler, that according to him was the result of her being “handed around to every member in the family” and not having a stable home at that time:

Lionel recalls what he told then-toddler Nicole: “I said to you I’m never ever going to leave you’ and you had this lil’ look on your face and I said ‘No, no listen, I’m NEVER going to leave you,'” something Nicole said she clearly remembers.

Lionel Richie continued: “It was very important that you understood that no matter when I went away- if it was two months, or one month, or two weeks…I’m coming right back. And as soon as you realized I think over time that ‘Okay he’s not leaving me, he’s just going to work,’ then I think you felt safer.” Nicole affirmed his assessment that she did finally feel safe, at home, and at peace with her new parents.

As beautiful and honorable as that was for Lionel and Brenda to love Nicole unconditionally and give her stability, it didn’t make the transition any less painful for Sheila E. and her family…although they were extremely grateful.

SEE WHAT SHEILA E. REVEALED THOUGH>>>

The post Lionel Richie & Sheila E. Tell Opposing Views On His Adoption Of Her Niece, Nicole Richie appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

To Lionel Richie’s ex-wife, Brenda Richie, he may not have been ‘Husband of the year’ (we can’t forget about the infamous 80’s fiasco when Brenda allegedly kicked that hotel room door in and turned into Mike Tyson on Lionel and his then-mistress-turned-wife-turned-ex-wife, Diana Alexander), but Lionel sure does earn the ‘Father of the year’ title. In recent years, Sheila E. and Lionel Richie spoke out about the adoption of Sheila’s biological niece, Nicole Richie.

Lionel and Sheila E. told their stories from two conflicting sides of the coin, and here is what they revealed…