Sheila E.’s new autobiography, The Beat of My Own Drum, has revealed a number of surprising details about her life.
However, the most shocking details were ones she actually didn’t expect to be important.
Surprisingly the famed singer-drummer was engaged to both Carlos Santana and Prince. During a recent interview with Billboard, she opened up about her previous relationships and engagements discussed in her memoir.
“Pretty much, I was engaged to Carlos Santana. That was huge and no one knew about that,” The 56-year-old singer reportedly dated Santana when she was 18. But, here’s the kicker! He was married at the time! “I thought people would be talking about that, and it’s more about, `She was engaged to Prince!’ Really?”
She admitted that she and Santana shared a ““a wonderful romance.” She revealed the Mexican-American singer, who was 36 at the time, was her first love.
The Glamorous Life singer also delved into some of the issues discussed in her new autobiography.
The memoir, which was published and released through Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books, talks about everything from Sheila’s troubled childhood to her success as a legendary musician.
For those who don’t know, the Grammy Award-nominated singer was raped at the age of five. She revealed she actually began writing her memoir at the age of 30, but revisiting her past was always a “devastating” and daunting process.
Although she initially felt she could recount her experiences without difficulty, she quickly learned that wasn’t the case.
“The beginning stages of it, because I had been talking about it for so long, it wasn’t hard, but when I really had to dig in and really get in detail about it, when I read it back, that’s when it hit me, like, `Wow. OK,’” she said.
“I really have to go in deep to explain really what happened, and to explain it in a way that I think that I remember it at five years old, not how I remember it now.”
The Beat of My Own Drum was released on Sept. 2, 2014.
