THROWBACK THURSDAY: SHEILA E.

Without a doubt one of the most talented people in the music business and definitely Prince's most accomplished and respected protégé, Sheila Escovedo, known the us as Sheila E., forged her own unique place in pop music over the last few decades. The daughter of renowned percussionist Pete Escovedo, Sheila played along side her father growing up and eventually played professionally for the likes of George Duke, Lionel Richie, Herbie Hancock, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross. Of course, her life completely changed when Prince met her in 1978 when she was playing a gig with her father and prophesied that she would one day join his band. Sheila was eventually asked to join Prince in the studio during the Purple Rain sessions to record backing vocals for B-side classic Erotic City, and the rest is history. Prince produced her debut album, Sheila E. in The Glamorous Life, with it's massive title track and top 40 hit The Belle of St. Mark. Sheila opened for his Purple Rain tour to promote the album, and even had a brief affair with The Purple One. She was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards for her debut. Her second album, also written and produced with Prince, Romance 1600, yielded another hit with the Prince duet A Love Bizarre (#11). Her third and last album of the 80s, Sheila E., was a step in a new direction with a more Latin flavored and had a sound very similar to Prince's Lovesexy album. Though she failed to garner a major chart hit from the set, aside from Hold Me hitting #3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Chart, Sheila E., the album, was well received by critics and fans alike. Sheila continued to record music and began acting in films such as Krush Groove, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and Prince's concert film Sign 'O' The Times. Sheila eventually joined Prince's new band, The New Power Generation, and recorded during his Sign 'O' The Times, Lovesexy and The Black Album period, coming back to tour with him every few years thereafter. She went on to record a few more albums in the 90s and play with artist like Phil Collins, Cyndi Lauper and even Beyoncé. Her last solo album, Icon, was released in 2013. She remains a renowned percussionist and sought after performer. Here are just a few of Sheila E.'s greatest for you to enjoy. Notice the man-on-man love in the last video, 1991's Sex Cymbal. Sheila loves the gays!! Be glamorous.

THE #1 SONG 50 YEARS AGO TODAY WAS....

....Stop! In The Name of Love by The Supremes. Before she became Ms. Ross, Diana was just a skinny young girl who lead The Supremes to massive chart success. Stop! In The Name of Love was the girl group's fourth consecutive #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and they would go on to have eight more after that, making them one of the most successful girl groups -- or any kind of group -- of all time. Classic girl group harmonies and moves highlight the clip below and you can tell that Diana and the girls are comfortable in front of the camera. Stop! hit #1 on March 27, 1965 and stayed for two weeks. So here is the #1 song from before pretty much anyone reading this blog was even born, Stop! In The Name of Love by The Supremes.

BEST SELLING GIRL GROUPS OF ALL TIME

The list of best selling girl groups, worldwide, might surprise some. Might not surprise others. Whether it does or not, I'm giving it to you with color commentary. While I was surprised at how many albums Bananarama had sold (BTW, I WORSHIP BANANARAMA), I was also surprised to NOT see The Go-Go's or The Bangles on this list. Or even Expose. They were pretty big back in the day. I guess this tells us who stood the test of time, sales-wise. With only three albums and eight years active, the leader of the pack worldwide by a LONG shot is....Spice Girls! The British fab five have sold over 75 million albums since 1996 and their first two albums are the top selling albums by a girl group with Spice selling 28 million and Spiceworld selling 20 million worldwide. Not too shabby, ladies. Now, in the US the top selling girl group belongs to Destiny's Child and the top selling album by a girl group is TLC's album CrazySexyCool. Spice Girls albums hold the 3rd and 6th position in the US. Still, worldwide the Spice Girls have it over the runner-up by 25 million albums. See the list below and enjoy some videos!
BEST SELLING GIRL GROUPS WORLDWIDE: (# indicates albums sold)
1. Spice Girls - 75 million


2. Destiny's Child - 50 million

3. TLC - 45 million

4. Bananarama - 40 million


5. Speed (Japan) - 20 million

6. The Supremes - 20 million

7. En Vogue - 20 million albums


8. Morning Musume (Japan) - 16 million

9. Salt -N- Pepa - 15 million


10. SWV - 15 million

11. Pussycat Dolls - 15 million

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIANA ROSS!!

CORRECTION: This actually happened yesterday. Ha. Oh, well. The legendary, notoriously difficult Diana Ross turns 67 today!! Ms. Ross (as she makes her minions call her) has been making music and degrading peons since she started with The Supremes, one of the most successful girl groups of all time, in 1961. After their amazingly popular run, Ross struck out on her own in 1970, going on to sell over 100 million records. Ross had huge success with singles like Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand), Do You Know Where You're Going To (Theme from Mahogany), Love Hangover, I'm Coming Out (which became a gay anthem) and Upside Down. She garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role Lady Sings the Blues, starred in the movie adaptation of The Wiz and won a Tony Award for her show An Evening with Diana Ross. Her song Endless Love with Lionel Richie stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 9 weeks, becoming the second biggest single of 1981 (behind Olivia Newton John's Physical). With a total of 18 #1 hits, Ross is one of the most successful women in the music business. Enjoy some of my fave Ross songs below and walk around acting like an entitled bitch all day in her honor. You know you want to.