Sheila E. first met Prince back in 1978, and a couple of years later, she was working with him on one of his most popular albums – Purple Rain.

Sheila E. On Prince

Sheila E. spoke to uInterview about Prince a few years ago, while she was promoting the TV show Gone Country, and when the music icon was still making music. Recalling the making of Purple Rain, what Sheila E. remembered best was the hard work that went into not only making the album but making sure it was heard.

“The hard work that I had done prior to going out on the Purple Rain tour. I was in Europe and we did, probably, a month and a half of press, non-stop,” Sheila E. told uInterview in an exclusive interview. “And played every television show, did as much as we could. [We] then came back to the States and that was when the single was released, and then went back out on tour for about a year.”

“But it takes that much work. It takes hard work if you want to do something like that. You have to put everything that you have into it, and just keep going,” Sheila continued, adding, “We had a great time, but I didn’t know that it would become what it is.”

In the weeks since Prince’s death, the Purple Rain album and its title track have become the standby for tributes to the late musician. From Broadway and Bruce Springsteen to the cover of the New Yorker, it’s Purple Rain for which Prince is best being remembered.

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