Grammy Award-winning percussionist Sheila E. stopped at the Lehman Center for Performing Arts in the Bronx on September 27 for an evening of dance, funk, and rhythm. The performer, who has collaborated with artists including Prince and George Duke and had chart success with songs like “The Glamorous Life,” performed a string of career-spanning hits and fan favorites that interjected elements of R&B, jazz, and salsa into the music. She was joined by drummer Wes McVicker, keyboardist Bertron Curtis, vocalist Lynn Mabry, longtime bassist and tour manager Raymond McKinley, and guitarist Mychael Gabriel, whom Sheila referred to as her nephew onstage.
The show opened with a performance by Bernadette Cooper and Klymaxx, whom Cooper referred to onstage as the “first all-female funk band.” Cooper and her group kept the audience on their feet, at one point, handing out signed photos to lucky attendees.
The tone was set for an energetic, danceable evening as Sheila E. took to the stage after a brief intermission, only remaining in place when confined to her timbales. Her performance was engaging and cultivated an environment of unity as she frequently shook hands, signed autographs, and even left the stage at times to join the audience in song.
Johnny Knollwood photos
Sheila E.’s repertoire spanned across genres and styles, but was united by the rhythm of the drum that kept attendees moving. She performed solo hits like “A Love Bizarre” and “The Glamorous Life,” and included Prince jams like “Erotic City” and “Baby I’m a Star.”
She acknowledged her roots in Black and Latino music, performing salsa-injected tunes from her latest release, “Bailar,” and at one point “taking it back to New Orleans,” as she described onstage, with a performance of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Throughout the night, Sheila E. sang, played guitar, and ripped up the timbales, showcasing how the diverse nature of her work extends past genres and styles, and into the tools she uses. In her work, she connects the dots between her cultural roots; her fans; and contemporary, engaging, all-around fun music. “I just want to share this moment with you all,” Sheila E. told the crowd as she beckoned to security to leave fans gathering at the front of the stage alone. “We’re family. There’s enough division in the world.” In the style of church gatherings, Sheila E. asked everyone to stand, acknowledge a stranger, and tell them they loved them. The power of Sheila E.’s music and words was so effective that much of the audience listened, embracing how art can truly connect people.
At the night’s conclusion, one lucky fan may have made the biggest connection of the evening, asking Sheila E. to prom “again,” 38 years later, at the same school he attended and now works at. “I’ll be there,” she said, holding up the sign and capping off an evening that left attendees smiling.
You can stay up to date with all of Sheila E.’s work at sheilae.com.
Sheila performing Latin Music, she’s awesome.