I hope you've found this week's Prince posts entertaining. To be honest, it kind of burnt me out as most of these posts are so long. Over the next week my posts will be a bit more sporadic as I'm going to relax and play around with my new turntable, but I'll be around, I'll be answering e-mails and comments, and I will still be writing posts. In particular, there will be some Prick/Lucky Pierre/Kevin McMahon posts that I'm sure fans of his and NIN will find very interesting. I'm also going to be talking about Sean Carlin from Dink and what he is up to and I just got a very kind e-mail from David Williams, so there may be more Jungle Brothers details in the near future. So, don't go anywhere, because there is a lot more to come and I promise, I'm not going anywhere, just taking a few days to relax.
Before I start my little break, I wanted to post one more Prince-related obscurity. Sheila E. was one of Prince's proteges, one of his drummers and sometimes his girlfriend. It's often glazed over how talented she is in favor of her Prince connection, which is really ridiculous when you see her credits. Visit her wikipedia page and prepare to be blown away if you doubt me! That said, Sheila had a rather tumultuous relationship with the purple one and, when it was over, she decided to continue recording as a solo artist for Warner Brothers. Her first Prince-free release was the dance/pop album Sex Cymbal, but apart from the title track, the album wasn't a big seller. It's common knowledge from there that Sheila disappeared as a pop-artist and returned to her Latin percussion roots, becoming a member of Gloria Estefan's band and performing with many others before eventually reappearing as a solo recording artist in the early 2000s, but what a lot of people don't know is that she recorded another album for Warner Brothers after Sex Cymbal.
Not much is known about Fe. People became aware of it when someone sold a Warners internal cassette of the album on ebay a few years ago. A very high quality rip of the album eventually surfaced online and has been quietly shared among fans of Sheila and Prince since. I've read criticisms that the album is far more subdued than her live shows and that some of the material was re-recorded for her early 2000s albums, but I still enjoyed Fe very much. Sheila even went so far as to re-record The Glamorous Life as a full-blown Latin percussion party jam, probably knowing that it would be her big chance at getting the album seen by the mainstream. Unfortunately, it must not have been enough for Warners, as the album was shelved and remains unreleased, but credit must be given to whomever purchased that cassette for transferring it and sharing it with the world, especially after paying the ridiculous fee of $461 in the auction!
I guess the lesson to be learned here is for proteges not to consider themselves has-beens just because their mentors don't need them anymore. Prince has a long and well documented history of being far less than kind to his proteges, attempting to control every move of their careers until they look like copycats of his style. Some people might see that as a savvy business plan on Prince's part, but very few of his artists ever benefitted from their connections to him so I have to believe it's proof of his raging ego. So, props to all of his supposed proteges who have gone on to do well for themselves in whatever fields they have chosen. And massive props to Sheila E. for being Sheila E.! Hell, even Prince asked to re-hire her eventually! Enjoy!
Sheila E. - Fe
01 Fe
02 Regalame
03 Distantes
04 Tu Para Mi
05 Rumera Mulata
06 Guantanamera
07 Soy Feliz
08 Te Nesesito
09 Amado
10 La Vida Glamarosa (The Glamorous Life)
11 Fuerza
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