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The spirited song “Bemba Colorá” off Sheila E.’s 2024 album “Bailar” is like a nonstop musical party – and as it turns out, the song offered lots to celebrate, winning a Grammy Award for Best Global Music Performance.
Now, Sheila E. will bring that energy to the local stage at a party thrown by EPACENTER. The bash, an after-party for the nonprofit arts center’s annual fundraising gala, will also feature Oakland aerial dance company BANDALOOP.
The event, called EPACENTER Illuminated: The Afterglow, takes place May 30.
Born and raised in Oakland, Sheila E. has had a wide-ranging career encompassing pop, rock, R&B, Latin jazz and most recently, salsa. Early in her career, she worked with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. She released her first solo album, “The Glamorous Life” in 1984, produced and co-written by Prince, with whom she would collaborate throughout the mid-1980s.
Known as the “Queen of Percussion,” Sheila E. is also part of a Bay Area musical dynasty, founded by her father, percussionist Pete Escovedo. The Latin jazz drumming legend performed at EPACENTER earlier in May, kicking off a new concert series that also includes Sheila E.’s appearance. Other dates in the series will be multiple Grammy winner Tony Linsday on June 6 and Con Funk Shun on July 26.
Sheila E. received a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, and in 2023, she became the first solo female percussionist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Growing up in a musical environment, she said that she didn’t realize how rare it was at the time for women to become drummers, which proved challenging when she began pursuing solo work.
BANDALOOP dancer Jose Abad hangs from a wall at EPACENTER. Click to see more photos from the troupe’s rehearsal with EPACENTER’s youth dance team. (Photo by Seeger Gray)
She has released 10 albums that draw on a variety of genres, but salsa is comparatively new for her. The salsa-focused album “Bailar” was about five years in the making.
“Growing up a Latin jazz artist, and signing as an R&B artist, crossing over to pop, it was just something I always wanted to do,” she said, noting she heard lots of salsa at home because of her dad.
“Playing Latin jazz is totally different than salsa. I knew it was going to be very challenging to do, which it was.”.
She worked with percussionist, arranger and producer Tony Succar to bring the album to fruition.
The song “Bemba Colorá” was originally recorded by legendary Cuban-American “Queen of Salsa” Celia Cruz. Sheila E.’s version featured guest performances by singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan and singer and musician Mimy Succar.
“I grew up listening to that song, and to be able to represent Celia Cruz in that way and have Gloria Estefan and Mimy Succar singing was a joy. I’d say 90% of the record was done in Miami, purposely to be able to use so many different musicians from all cultures, from all over the world to play, putting that all together and also bring the element that I have of Bay Area funk into that song. It just made it different. And I know Celia would have loved it,” she said.
In addition to performing with her family and godfather, drummer Tito Puente, her Bay Area roots gave her a strong musical footing, Sheila E. said.
“It’s the foundation of who I am. It’s just been amazing. I always brag about Oakland. The Bay Area is the best place I could have been born, as far as music, because growing up, there were so many different genres,” she said, listing artists that range from the Grateful Dead, the Pointer Sisters and Sly and the Family Stone to Carlos Santana, with whom both she and her father have performed.
That variety is also reflected in a discography that spans everything from synth-pop to soul.
“(My sound) changes every single time. I’m glad that it does. As a musician and as an artist, you have to change. I get excited that there’s new technology that I could possibly use on my records, and then you alter those sounds and make it your own. There are different instruments or different rhythms, or you’re inspired by other artists that you’re listening to, you’re going to other countries, you’re hearing music that you’ve never heard before. I continue to grow and I continue to evolve,” she said.
A place like EPACENTER, which began as a youth arts center, reflects Sheila E.’s own work with arts education. She co-founded an organization that initially focused on bringing music and art to youth in the foster care system in Los Angeles.
“Through music and the arts, (the youth) can express themselves. This gives them a voice. It gives them tools. It gives them confidence,” she said.
The program led to a partnership with another nonprofit that became Elevate Oakland, which brings arts and music education to over 3,000 students at about 30 Oakland schools, where arts education often receives “inadequate funding,” according to the organization’s website.
As for what audiences can expect to hear at EPACENTER, Sheila E. wouldn’t spoil the set list, but did hint that there will be a mix of new music and old favorites.
“It’s going to be amazing. I’m not bragging about me. I’m bragging about the experience itself,” she said of the after-party overall.
“We’re going to dance, we’re going to sing, we’re going to bring love. A lot of times I bring audience members up on stage. You just never know what’s going to happen.”
Sheila E. and BANDALOOP perform at EPACENTER Illuminated: The Afterglow on May 30, 7:30 p.m., at EPACENTER, 1950 Bay Road, East Palo Alto. General admission tickets are $150/admission is $25 for East Palo Alto residents. epacenter.org/sunset-concerts.
