Sheila E.: 1957—: Percussionist, Singer, Composer, Producer

Sheila E.'s fourth album, Sex Cymbal, was released in 1991, but failed to reach the charts. She did a lot of session work during this time, and performed at the 1993 Academy Awards with Plácido Domingo. In 1994, she started her own five-piece band, called E-Train. According to critic Fernando Gonzalez of Down Beat, the group's first record, Writes Of Passage, released in 1998, "offers some impeccable funk with tight-in-the-pocket grooves, a nod to Brazilian music, a touch of gospel, a mid-tempo ballad, and even a 'smooth jazz' radio-ready ballad." The E-Train album Heaven followed in 2001. She also went out on tour with former Beatle Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band. She and brother Peter Michael appeared on their father's 2000 release, E-Music.

In 1997 Sheila E. became the first female band director in television history as leader of the house band for the short-lived television talk show, The Magic Hour, hosted by former basketball star Magic Johnson. In 1999 she opened a recording studio in her Woodland Hills, California home. She has parlayed her celebrity into children's charities, including the Li'l Angel Bunny Foundation for abused or abandoned children. She has also designed a line of percussion instruments for children.