Sheila Escobedo: President, Heaven Productions Co-Chair/Founder, Lil' Angel Bunny Foundation - Entrevista

Latin Beat Magazine, Feb, 2004 by Haydee Vicedo

Ouick Facts

* Sheila Escovedo is also an advocate for the Rose Education Foundation and Breast Cancer Foundation.

* She developed the Sheila E. Players Series percussion line for children, in association with TOCA and Kaman Music.

* Sheila has two brothers, Juan and Peter Michael, and one sister, Zina.

For more information on LABF, please check out their website: www.lilangelbunny.com.

Human beings have the power and ability to experience numerous transformations.

The basic premise of our lives should be to grow and progress; not just physically and mental]y (as most of us will by nature), and not just professionally and materially--which most of us have learned to use in order to measure our success. There are other aspects of development that can take place in order in fully realize our place in the world. Sheila Escovedo is a great example of a woman who epitomizes what being "in progress" signifies.

Many already know the legendary story of the five-year old Sheila, who stole the show many years ago with her debut drum solo al the former Sands Ballroom in Oakland. Two years earlier, she had started playing instruments around the house. The instruments were as familiar as the household furniture, since her father, Pete Escovedo, is a Latin jazz legend. After that fateful performance, Sheila knew that she was meant to become a percussionist. By the age of 20, she had added touring with Herbie Hancock and George Duke to her résumé. It was also around this time that Sheila Escovedo became Sheila E. and scored her own chart-topping hits. Sheila has toured and played with the likes of Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Gloria Esrefan and Prince. Her career highligbts run the gamut from producer and arranger (for the Latin Grammy Awards and the 1996 Summer Olympics) to being television's first female musical director (for Magic Johnson's short-lived "The Magic Hour").

On the business end, Escovedo has many projects on her plate. In 1994 she founded Heaven Productions, a music-production company that has been hired to direct and arrange music for such projects as the ALMA and the WoW Awards. She also recently opened blue 52--a brand new, state of the art studio that has already hosted some great projects. Despite the demands of her commitment to making music and enjoying the success of her business ventures, Escovedo maintains a heavy involvement in one particular project--the Lil' Angel Bunny Foundation (LABF).

LABF is a charitable organization that meets the needs of abused and abandoned children (specifically those going through the foster care system) through music and art therapy. Escovedo, along with business partner Lynn Mabry, starred LABF three years ago after a conversation they had about how music had helped both of them tope with their own experiences of childhood sexual abuse.

"There are so many kids who need our help," Sheila says, "and we're trying to help them get their lives together by building their confidence through music." Escovedo and Mabry's goal, through LABF, is to build the Compassion Care Center, a state-of-the art facility which will provide victims of child abuse with alternative methods of treatment through music and other art forms, education, recreation and counseling. Sheila strongly believes that music was a saving grace for her; a tool that provided her with a positive way in tope with her experience. She is passionate about making music and art accessible to those children who need it the most. "I believe we are here to help people in this lifetime. We have to give something of ourselves to truly live."

Sheila E. has performed with the most famous musicians on the planet. She has heard thousands of people cheer her name. Since the age of five, Sheila has made music her life. Amid the success and accolades, she decided to find another way to find her place in the world--by helping children. The true definition of progress, after all, is to move forward with others in mind.