Music

Sheila E. claims that 'We Are The World' producers only invited her in attempt to lure Prince

"Everyone took turns trying to get me to call him back and have him come down," the singer said.

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Updated on January 29, 2024 06:15PM EST

We are the world, but in 1985, Sheila E. was a direct line to Prince.

In a new documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, legendary musician Sheila E. revealed a sad realization she had while recording the iconic "We Are the World." She had only been invited to participate with the hope she would lure Prince to the recording session.

"It was getting late, and I was looking forward to singing one of the verses, but they kept asking, 'Well you think you can get Prince here?'" she remembered in the documentary. "I'm like, wow, this is weird. I just started feeling like I feel like I'm being used to be here because they want Prince to show up and the longer they keep me, maybe Prince will show up."

Sheila E and Prince — Prince and Sheila E.
Ross Marino/Getty

The entire recording session occurred on the night of Jan. 28, 1985, gathering some of pop music's greatest stars, including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, and Bruce Springsteen into one room. But of the many music luminaries on the record, Prince remained a notable absence.

Prior to Sheila E.'s sense that she was being used, both she and co-songwriter of the track, Lionel Richie, reached out to Prince separately. "I called Prince to let him know how it was going," she recalled. "I said, I think maybe you should come, it's pretty cool, everyone's hanging out, we're having a great time."

Richie also remembered that he called up Prince, who then volunteered to come and do a guitar solo, which Richie declined, insisting they needed Prince to sing.

"I already knew he wasn't going to come because there was too many people and he would feel uncomfortable," Sheila E. added. "I told Lionel, I said, 'I'm going to go.' They never intended on having me sing a verse, which was a little bit heartbreaking."

At the time, Prince and Sheila E. were close collaborators, as she had joined him for recording sessions on the 1984 album Purple Rain, as well as served as the opening act for his Purple Rain Tour. Later in the 1980s, the two were briefly engaged.

Indeed, once it became clear that Prince wouldn't be appearing, they decided to assign the solo line in the song intended for him to Huey Lewis.

While speaking about the new Netflix documentary with the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Sheila E. expounded on the sense that she was deceived into participating with the false promise of a solo vocal part. “Lionel and Quincy kept saying, ‘Why don’t you call Prince,'” she said. “Everyone took turns trying to get me to call him back and have him come down…. I just thought, wow, they were all my friends. That’s cold-blooded.”

Additionally, the director of the documentary Bao Nguyen joined the podcast, and he revealed that Richie did not dispute Sheila E.'s account and perception of the events.

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