Benefit headliner Sheila E. says Pittsburghers are 'so cordial'

When drummer Sheila E. was 15 years old, her father’s band needed a percussionist.

One of the members was ill and not able to perform at the show in San Francisco, Calif.

Sheila E. told her dad she could step in.

“He wasn’t for that, but when my mom told him to let me play, it all changed,” Sheila E. told the Tribune-Review. “She (my mom) told him I knew all the music. It was then I decided I wanted to do this forever.”

Sheila E. will be doing it in Pittsburgh on Thursday for the third annual Women Who Rock benefit concert presented by UPMC Health Plan and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. The show is at 6:30 p.m. at Stage AE on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Rock radio DJ Michele Michaels of 102.5 WDVE will emcee.

The event coincides with Women’s Health Month.

The show features an all-female lineup including Sheila E. as this year’s headliner, and Pittsburgh’s top female musicians including Lyndsey Smith, DJ Jess, the award-winning women’s a cappella Sounds of Pittsburgh Chorus and a performance from this year’s Rising Star Contest winner Melina Bowser, according to event organizers.

Sheila E. will bring her band.

“I love what I do,” she says. “I am so blessed and so excited to be part of Women Who Rock. It’s for a great cause, women’s health. Women need to know if they need help, it’s OK to ask.”

Proceeds benefit Magee-Womens Research Institute. The institute is “making discoveries and advancing knowledge in areas affecting women including reproductive biology, breast cancer genomics and personalized therapies, HIV immunization and prevention, fertility preservation and is a recognized leader in clinical pelvic floor research.”

It’s not Sheila E.’s first time in the ‘Burgh.

She says in previous trips she’s loved the food and the people are “so cordial.” During the planning for this event, she connected with the organizers and got to meet some doctors at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and introduced her good friend who had been going through cancer treatment to the physicians. Her friend passed away, but Sheila E. continues to honor her memory and concerts like this one help, she says.

“If you put 10 people in a room, five of them would have been affected by cancer in some way,” says Sheila E., who lives in Los Angeles. “And music is about healing. It takes you to a place where you remember good times. God has given me a gift and that gift is music. Love is God and God is music. We will have so many different people at the show from all walks of life, but what brings us together is a love of music.’

It was music that connected Sheila E. and the late singer Prince.

“Playing with Prince was a great time,” she says. “I met him before he was famous. Losing him was a huge loss. It is challenging when you lose your best friend, especially when it’s not their time. He was too young.”

The evening includes an interactive beauty bar, auction and happy hour.

Organizers say last year’s Women Who Rock award winner, WTAE’s Kelly Frey, will present this year’s recipient Dr. Sharon Hillier, professor and vice chairwoman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Magee-Womens Research Institute. Hillier is a microbiologist whose work has influenced the intersection of women’s health and HIV prevention.

Tickets are $55-$85.

Details: womenwhorockpgh.com