Watch CBS News

Sheila E.: Prince proposed during near "trance" on stage

Sheila E. was Prince's drummer, collaborator, long time friend, and at one point, even his fiancée
Prince's ex-fiancée and bandmate on his legacy, proposal 04:38

When musician Shiela E. first became aware of Prince in the late 1970s, she felt an immediate attraction. When she actually met him shortly thereafter, she was surprised to find that not only did he know who she was, but the attraction was mutual.

"Me and my bass player, André Cymone, were fighting about which one of us was going to marry you," she has recounted Prince telling her.

Fast forward to 1987, when Sheila E. was Prince's drummer. She told "CBS This Morning" Friday about another pivotal and electric moment in their relationship:

Stevie Wonder performs "Purple Rain" tribute for Prince 01:47

"There's moments for those who are musicians, we sometimes get into this place of a trance almost. And I was playing 'Purple Rain,' one of my favorite songs. And a lot of times, it would make me cry. And we were so into it, sometimes we'd open our eyes and forget that we were in front of 20 [thousand or] 30,000 people. And at that particular time, as I opened my eyes, I looked at him at the same time he looked at me, and he asked me to marry him at that exact moment," she recounted a day after her former fiancé's death.

Prince died Thursday at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota, a southwest suburb of Minneapolis. The cause of his death is still unknown. Sheila E. said she immediately flew out to Minneapolis after learning of Prince's death because she felt he would want her there.

As fans across the world mourn for the musical "genius," as Sheila E. described him, Prince's former lover reflected not only on his legacy, but also his personal side.

"He was very funny. He had a great sense of humor," Sheila E. said. "And I don't know, we just did a lot of things together. Went to the movies, we played -- loved sports, so we always played basketball, ping-pong, pool. We did a lot of thing that people do, whatever 'normal' might be."

Sheila E., who came from a family of musicians and went on to become a Grammy-nominated singer, said she became friends with Prince "very quickly" after they met at one of her concerts when she was 21 years old.

"We both loved a lot of the same music, the same artist, and we were both very competitive," she recounted.

0422ctmprincesheilamccandless509415640x360.jpg
Sheila E. and Prince

Calling him a "workaholic," Sheila E. said they were able to sit in a room or at a studio "recording for hours on end, even days at time and just have fun."

"The music that he created and what he's done and left in his legacy of music for the fans, it's something that all of us will never ever forget," Sheila E. said. "His music will live on forever."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.