Sheila E.

Released: June 4, 1984

Songwriter: Prince Sheila E.

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
The belle of St. Mark was a frail but a passionate creature
Ebony hair and eyes a deep blue-green
The belle of St. Mark wore clothes that belonged to his father
Even though he was only seventeen

[Chorus]
I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark
It tears me apart whenever I hear him cry

I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark
And if he doesn't love me
I think I'll probably die

[Verse 2]
You can tell from expressions that he makes public
That he suffers from a badly broken heart
He smiles as he feeds the afternoon pigeons
But he cries as he walks the night streets of St. Mark

I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark
It tears me apart whenever I hear him cry

I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark
And if he doesn't love me
I think I'll probably die

[Verse 3]
The belle of St. Mark
He don't talk to strangers
He's so mysterious
His erotic persuasion provokes me like no other man
The fire I have for him is undoubtedly serious

[Bridge]
I need to make him see that he needs love to forget
And if anyone can help him
I can
I can help
I can help you

[Verse 3]
His Paris hair
It blows in the warm Parisian air
That blows whenever his Paris hair is there
The woman that hurt him surely must have trouble sleeping
Cause the belle of St. Mark is a beauty extraordinaire

[Chorus]
Oh, I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark
It tears me apart whenever I hear him cry

I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark
And if he doesn't love me
I think I'll probably die

Ooh, I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark
It tears me apart whenever I hear him cry

Ooh, I'm in love
I'm in love
I'm in love with the belle of St. Mark

And if he doesn't love me
I think I'll probably die
And if he doesn't love me
I think I'll probably die
And if he don't, I'll die

Sheila E., born Sheila Escovedo on December 12, 1957, is a singer, songwriter, and percussionist from Oakland, California. Her honorific title is “The Queen of Percussion”.

The daughter of a Mexican jazz percussionist and Creole/African-American factory worker, Sheila comes from a family of musical royalty – father Pete Escovedo and uncle Coke were members of the Santana band for a time. Her other uncles are Alejandro, who has had a sustained alt-punk career; Javier, who led the early punk pioneer band The Zeros; and Mario, who fronted the 90s group The Dragons and MEX, aka Mario Escovedo Xperience. Sheila’s brothers Juan and Peter Michael are also percussionists, with Peter working on The Wayne Brady Show. Sheila is the goddaughter of Tito Puente, a Latin Jazz pioneer and Spanish Harlem legend.

“Before I had language, I had rhythm,” she wrote in The Beat Of My Own Drum, a 2014 memoir. “I learned it before I learned my mother tongue.” At the age of 20, Sheila became a member of George Duke’s R&B jazz band, and worked with him from 1976 to 1980, during Duke’s early Epic/CBS years. By the age of 26, she had already worked or toured with Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross, and family friend Lionel Richie.

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