BY NEDRA RHONE
It has been almost a year since Sheila Escovedo released her revealing memoir, “The Beat of My Own Drum” (Atria, $26). But it was a project the 50-something percussionist began working on 20 years ago.
“I started the writing in my early 30s, but it wasn’t the right time,” Escovedo said by phone from Los Angeles. Back then, life was still unfolding, so she kept writing, living and waiting. Two years ago, Sheila E., as she is known to fans, was ready to reveal what she had gone through as a young girl and woman and the importance of her family and spirituality.
“It seems like it was yesterday,” Escovedo said of the book’s release. “People are still finding out about it.”
On Saturday, Escovedo will co-headline the Kiss 104.1 20th Annual Flashback Festival along with Chaka Khan, Slick Rick and the S.O.S. Band at Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood, but before the 6 p.m. show, she'll sign copies of her memoir at a local Barnes & Noble.
When the book hit shelves, she was amused that there was more talk about the details of her engagement to Prince than her near-engagement to Carlos Santana (since he was, like, married at the time). But the celebrity chatter eventually died down, and with time, making the rounds for book signings has afforded Escovedo the opportunity to reach people in a different and perhaps more meaningful way.
Though she had revealed allegations of childhood abuse years before, in the book, Escovedo details the incidents that began when she was raped by a babysitter at age 5. She also describes experiencing other episodes of sexual molestation in subsequent years.
Over the past year, some fans have shared stories of their own abuse for the first time with Escovedo at her book signings, she said. She invites them to open the door.
“Sometimes there are kids there and sometimes people are coming up and crying and sharing their stories and saying they don’t know what to do. I don’t have the answer, but I say if you don’t tell someone, the guilt, the shame and nastiness is toxic and it creates disease. You can’t live that way,” she said.
Escovedo knows how fear can change a person and make you do things you never thought you would do. For her, that included episodes of diva-like behavior during the height of her career and pushing herself to extremes.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Music always provided her with an escape. From the age of 15, when she left school and joined a band, she discovered how passion can lift you from the depths of despair. At the time, she still thought she would become an athlete or an astronaut, but the moment she realized she had a gift for drumming, she went full-force.
“Everything was about music. Because I had soaked in so many years of watching all of these great artists and musicians and my dad (percussionist Pete Escovedo). I grew faster musically, and when it came time for me to play, I was free.”
She was young, but she felt protected. Naturally, she would grow up and have her share of struggles, often in love. First, there was Santana, 10 years her senior and married, though she didn’t know until too late — she was already in love with him. When she finally ended it, so did Santana by asking her father, who played in his band, to leave as well.
Next up was Prince. They met in 1978 and held jam sessions in her bedroom before a five-year friendship/seduction ensued. By the time she joined him on his “Purple Rain” Tour, they were an item. Prince even proposed (mouthing the words onstage and she said yes), but it wasn’t to be.
Escovedo was undergoing a transformation of her own, and by the early '90s, she was exhausted. Falling down, physically and emotionally, helped her rediscover her faith in God and open up about her childhood abusers. Her own healing prompted her to help others through her foundation, Elevate Hope, which offers music therapy to victims of child abuse.
The woman once dubbed the “Queen of Percussion” acknowledges that her decadeslong career hasn’t always been about her ability. Sometimes, in music and life, it’s just about how you perform.
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