Sheila E. knew Prince like no other, and she’s sharing some memories of her friendship with “The Purple One” as a preview to tonight’s epic all-star GRAMMYs tribute airing tonight, April 21st at 9PM ET on CBS.
She recalls meeting Prince in California back in the late '70s, when he was just a "Baby Prince," as WCBS-FM morning man Scott Shannon put it, and immediately hit it off.
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"We met in the bay area where I was born and raised in Oakland, California, and he came there to do his first record, because he was inspired by Sly Stone and Carlos Santana. He wanted to be in that same environment and studio that they recorded."
But the million dollar question everyone has about Prince is: Was he as electrifying in person, or was he kind of a quieter, calmer person?
Sheila says he was a soft-spoken man most of the time, "unless he was playing basketball," and other sports that got him riled up.
"It was a little bit of both," admits Sheila. "There were times he was quiet like, we all need that alone time. When it came to compete in basketball, or pool, or ping pong, or different things like that, he would get loud!"
The music industry will be paying tribute to the late star and Sheila E. will be a big part of the sure to be epic “Let's Go Crazy: The GRAMMYs Salute To Prince” airing tonight, 4/21 at 9PM ET on CBS - four years to the date of the iconic musician's passing.
Expect to be impressed by special performances from Prince’s catalog by Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Common, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Foo Fighters, John Legend, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Morris Day and The Time, Sheila E., St. Vincent, Mavis Staples, The Revolution, Usher, and many more.
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The night will be hosted by actor Maya Rudolph and was taped for television back in January of 2020.
Artists like Mariah Carey have posted touching tributes to the singer on social media as well.
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