Sheila E. had the rhythm in her before she knew it was there.
One of the judges on Fox’s “The Next Great American Band,” premiering Friday, Oct. 19, Sheila E. is the daughter of legendary drummer Pete Escovedo and goddaughter of the late, great Tito Puente.
Sheila E., considered one of the top female drummers, recalls always keeping the beat. Her dad’s congas and bongos were around the house, and she remembers standing on a chair to reach them.
“My mom and dad told me a story a while ago,” she says. “They knew I really loved music, and a Jiffy commercial would come on television. I would crawl and go to the television and pull myself up and try to go on the television.”
She shot to fame with Prince, played with Marvin Gaye and Ringo Starr, and has her own band, C.O.E.D. She knows what a band should be.
“For a lot of entities, it is going to be presentation,” she says of the show’s contestants. “It is going to be musicianship. One played a little bit country, and I asked them to do a little disco. Another band was very bluegrass, but I asked for pop. The only song he knew the lyrics that quickly on the spot was ‘Like a Virgin.’ What if you have to do something pop? Something hip-hop? And then the camaraderie between the band. I’m not looking for the singer or the drummer. It has to be a whole package, the camaraderie. Are you guys able to play together as a band? Do we believe you are a band?”
The pilot was shot outside in Las Vegas under lights that raised the already triple-digit temperature to 140 degrees.
“I can’t imagine what the bands went through,” she says. “I kept saying this is the boot camp — the Sheila E. boot camp.”
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Hometown: Oakland, Calif.
Was star-struck by: Marvin Gaye. “He was amazing,” she says. “I missed enough cues, where I had to catch myself in playing behind him. I forgot you have to play right now because I was so amazed by his greatness.”
First time onstage: In an Oakland nightclub, with her dad, when she was 5.
What she considers crucial in musicians: Versatility. “Everyone can hopefully sing and dance,” she says. “It’s a possibility I won’t like what you like, so we will make an adjustment.”
Her charity: Elevate Hope Foundation, for which she wants to build a center, helps foster children. For more information, log onto elevatehope.org.
