Legendary drummer, bandleader and fiercely proud Bay Area native Sheila E. was the hardest of hardcore divas in the 1980s. It broke her down. Now she uses music to build people up.

Back in the 1980s when she ran with Prince and his crew, the timbale expert enforced 12-hour rehearsals for her band and gave commands, not suggestions. She had hits ("Glamorous Life," "Love Bizarre") and built a lasting work ethic into countless musicians, like Raphael Saadiq who joined her cohort when he was 14. She also became a cold, unfeeling person. She details the transformation in her book The Beat of My Own Drum.

Now that's all behind her and she's found the love of music again. You can hear it in her album Icon from 2014 and see it in her music therapy foundation Elevated Hope. We caught up with her while she was coaching a bunch of young players in Seattle at the Moore Theatre, teaching them to find their own voices.

We did not talk to her about Prince. We did talk about her dad, Latin jazz heavyweight Pete Escovedo; her godfather, Tito Puente; Krush Groove, the classic hip-hop movie she co-starred in with Run-DMC; and the fact that it took her leaving her family cocoon of supportive musicians to learn about the sexist notion that women shouldn't play the drums.

We asked Sheila to sign our records, and she wrote on them her own way...backward Sexism

I didn't know there was a gender attached to playing drums or percussion because that's not how I was raised. I wasn't told, You can't play those drums or touch those drums-until I got outside of the home and started traveling and working with other artists.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Did I get the props that I deserved? It's not that it's the props. I'm not looking for people to say I'm good, or great. Or I'm a good drummer. Or "she's good for a girl" or whatever. I don't look for the props. It's how I feel about myself that's important. That's the hard thing. We end up going to this place where we depend on social media, we depend on other people to validate us. That shouldn't be the case. And so it's not validation. All I want people to understand is me being a person and a woman is a gift, and to respect me. I want respect. And the deserve is I deserve respect.

Seriously, it was weird how fluidly and quickly she was able to write in reverse Change

When I became Sheila E. in the '80s, I had a record deal and I figured this is going to be my time to shine. And I went for it. When I see some of the youth acting out, I get it, I've been there. I was at a place where I was saying, let me see how naked I can get.

Hip-Hop

I loved hip-hop. From Krush Groove and before. It's an artform. You have to be gifted to write hip-hop. And you have to live it. It's like Latin jazz. I'm a Latin jazz artist. That's the foundation of who I am. Hip-hop is a culture, it's who you are. I just don't like the curse words and degrading women. But that's not just hip-hop. That's everywhere.

Raphael Saadiq

I remember when Raphael Saadiq auditioned to be in my band in 1984. It changed his life. We were in Oakland. All my musicians come from Oakland, because I'm from Oakland and I love the Bay. His non-stage name is Ray Wiggins, and he had a couple musicians with him and one of the guys in the band came straight out of church. And I remember saying, let's play something by Sly Stone. And the keyboard player said, What's Sly Stone? I'm like, What? You're from the Bay Area! So they auditioned, worked really hard, and made it. Ray still thanks me for teaching him what it meant to be in a band and run rehearsals. When I eventually had to let my band go, which was hard for me, I took three members and the other three formed Tony Toni Toné. So it was a blessing in a way.

Fifteen

At 15, that's when I became a professional musician. That's when I was playing with Billy Cobham, George Duke, Herbie Hancock. When I look at kids now who are 15, I realize how young that really is. It's insane. But these artists allowed me to express myself and find out who I was and who I could be in their band. Like my dad: 18-piece band, signed to CBS with Clive Davis. Huge. So to start in that band, and then go to Billy Cobham, to George Duke to Herbie, it just kept escalating.

Tito Puente

Earlier on, the music that influenced me from Tito was from when I was five years old until ten. All his early LPs. My dad played LPs all day every day. I was listening and learning, playing along with the solos. That's the soundtrack to my youth.

Latin Jazz

Start with my dad, Pete Escovedo. And Tito Puente, Ray Baretto, Mongo Santamaria. Those are the classics. But for me it all comes back to my dad.

-Andrew Matson