Sheila E.

Released: February 19, 1987

Songwriter: Sheila E. Prince

Producer: Prince

Come see Koo Koo man
Doing very worst he can
See him spend his lonely dime
Things design the Koo Koo time

Koo Koo
Koo Koo
Koo Koo
Koo Koo

Everybody come see Koo Koo girl
She can't resist the Koo Koo world
2 young 2 know better
2 old 2 refuse
First she had an abortion
Now she's got the blues
(She got the blues)
Yes

Come and dig the Koo Koo war
Rumor has it got started cuz our leaders got bored
New toys with a laser teach children 2 kill
Who knows when they're older
Maybe they will

Nothing gained
Paradise lost
Koo Koo's the trip and death is the cost
It's your world
4 a little while

Peace, mother, brother
Peace of mind
We got 2 love one another all the time
Cuz a kiss on the lips
Is better than a knife in the back

Can U get 2 that
Or is your blue train runnin' on a Koo Koo track?
U're 2 laxed
2 lazy 2 dig all the facts
What it is y'all?
We need a new plan, new plan of attack

Everybody jam
We've got the knack
Let's party, y'all
Let's party, y'all

Cuz a kiss on the lips
Is better than a knife in the back
Now everybody say it

Koo Koo
Koo Koo
Koo Koo

It's your world
(Your world)
4 a little while

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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Sheila E

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Sheila E (1987)

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