Sheila E
Sheila’s Story In Her Own Words
I started playing when I was 3 years old and at my first real show I was 5. I got serious about playing at 14. By 15 I became a professional musician. There was one show at the age of 15 that I performed with my dad and it changed my life. I realized this is my gift and I must share it with people the best way I can. It didn’t mean that I would do only huge concerts, it meant I would perform for kids in foster homes, elderly people, kids in juvenile half way homes, people in the park, children who are handicapped, and the list goes on and on. My goal in life is to bless just one person a day. If today that one person is you than I have done my job by telling my short story. Pray and ask God what your purpose in life is and I promise you he will help you. He helped me.
I continue to fight with what society has said I cannot do because I am a woman and I am a minority. I will not give up because I know this is part of God’s plan. You should do what you feel is in your heart. Music is my life and it feeds me everyday. God Bless. Peace & Grace, Sheila E. Visit Sheila’s website here.
Rhonda Smith
Redefining the role of gifted musicians who are also equally gifted vocalists, confessional singer/songwriter and bass player Rhonda Smith, is one of music’s great undiscovered treasures. As a vocalist, the pearly tone songstress is lyrically sophisticated with emotional depth that is both admirable and technically brilliant, and as a musician, she has sparked several genres of music including smooth jazz/funk and electrified funk/rock, which only touch the lip of her creative abilities. Rhonda started playing bass at the tender age of 12, when her older brother brought home a bass and told her not to touch it. This union would prove to fulfill her life long fascination and love for the low end. She plays 4, 5 and 6 stringed fretless and fretted basses, along with piccolo and acoustic.
Find out more about Rhonda here.
Kat Dyson
Guitarist-vocalist, composer and artist Kat Dyson plays with rock and blues in her soul. She was lead guitarist and band member for Prince and The New Power Generation during the Jam of the Year and Emancipation tours as well as his electrifying 2005 NAACP awards performance. Along the way, Kat has performed with renowned artists including Cyndi Lauper, Natalie Cole, Debra Cox, Donny Osmond, George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars, The Winans, Smokey Robinson, Ben E. King, Bo Diddley, Celine Dion, Etta James, Sarah McLachlan, Buddy Guy, BB King, Chaka Khan, T.I., Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder, Ziggy Marley, and countless others.
In addition to releasing her EP “Colour Kommentary”, she continues to compose music for television and film and is collaborating and recording with C.O.E.D., an all female collective featuring Sheila E and Rhonda Smith. Learn more about Kat here.
Benita Lewis
Drummer, composer, producer, recording engineer and educator Benita Lewis was born January 13, 1971 in Los Angeles, CA. After relocating to Michigan with her family in 1980, she began playing drums at the age of 10 at her father’s mid-Michigan church. It was during a time when the sight of female drummers was scarce, yet she had a natural gift and an incredible determination to succeed in a highly male-dominated industry. It was her undying passion and unparalleled effortlessness behind the drums that led her through the doors that pioneers Sheila E. and Terri Lyne Carrington so graciously opened.
Paris Strother
Paris Strother was barely walking and talking when she discovered the piano-her father, Curtis, played gospel keyboards and sang in church. Paris could pick out melodies she heard him play as early as age two, and sometime around age three or four, she started formal lessons. Paris continued her studies under the instructions of various gospel, Suzuki and classical piano teachers until she discovered jazz when she was in eighth grade. From that point on, she knew she had found an art form that she wanted to make into a career. Visit her site here.
