Millions of Prince fans, me included, have always loved the seemingly symbiotic relationship between all of his protegees. The legacy of the Minneapolis-born musical icon is kept alive today by those who were closest to him, namely artists he mentored over his decades-long career. Among the most well-known of Prince’s mentees are the still-stunning singer and actress, Patricia “Apollonia” Kotero, and the gorgeous percussionist and singer Sheila E.
Apollonia and Sheila E became close friends during the pop radio glory days when Sheila’s hit song The Glamorous Life and Prince’s Purple Rain film and Soundtrack electrified the world. Of course, Apollonia was catapulted to fame in her own right, having landed the role of Prince’s love interest in the film, and lead singer of the girl group, Apollonia 6.
Well, now it seems whatever friendship there was at one time between Apollonia and Sheila E; it is now OVER!
This week Apollonia shocked her fans when she took to her Facebook page and severely dragged Sheila E with a post that began with the sentence, “You are so desperate to be relevant!” That was the opening of Apollonia’s reaction to a recent article at Billboard.com featuring Sheila’s new single Lemon Cake.
In the interview, Shiela goes on and on about how Prince inspired the song Lemon Cake because, according to her, he loved lemon cake, and he’d eat it all the time, even in the studio. I admit it seemed like she was heavily substantiating the song’s existence by aligning with Prince’s legacy, but at the same time, they were close friends, so anything is possible.
Well, for Apollonia, it was the last straw, after what she describes as years of Sheila E unscrupulously exploiting Prince’s legacy to bolster her own career.
Honey, Miss Apollonia went for the jugular in her Facebook post,
“You are so desperate to be RELEVANT as the brilliant Linda Perry said. Prince refused to acknowledge you for 5 years before his death because of your lies. Your charity funds went where? Where are the music schools $$?? I was there helping you raise funds. I had your best interest at heart but later found out, the money went into your dirty pocket$. I was crestfallen. Prince scolded me! He knew better. You can’t continue to fool our Prince fans any longer. Because I AM here to tell you, it’s over. “
Woooo and the purple tea spillage continued as Apollonia hurled a reference to a swipe Prince allegedly made about Sheila E’s alleged homosexuality,
“Prince outed you. Prince called you HeSHe.”
In the comment section, one of Apollonia’s follower’s named Marc ‘Moose’ Moder seemed to corroborate the alleged sexuality reference, writing,
“I’m glad you are finally saying something. It made me sick when she played up some imaginary romance between her and Prince when we all know the truth about her and Lynn for the past 30+ years.”
I must say, weaponizing someone’s sexuality, no matter what it may be, is not cool. Sheila’s sexuality does not seem relevant to Apollonia’s genuine gripes, including the accusation that Sheila pocketed donations intended for building music schools. Apollonia claims that she and Prince had both donated to Sheila’s music school project, but to date, no schools have been built.
Woooo child and the purple shade commenced,
“I helped you raise $$$ My wealthy friends asked me: Where are the music schools?$!? None exist! FKN tragic because I believed you. Prince was so angry because of all your continuous lies. Your bio filled with lies. He sent you legal letters as you were slandering him. I have copies and will include them in my memoirs.”
According to Apollonia, her upcoming memoir is going to expose more about the rift between Sheila and Prince that resulted in them not speaking and breaking all ties for five years, leading up to Prince’s death, continuing,
“You can copy his attire, try your best, but you will NEVER be Prince. So get over yourself sad self and face the truth. He did not want anything to do with you for 5 years. You erased all that history by being your desperate egotistical self. Egotistical empty sad desperate for money. Money will not get you to Heaven.”
As a diehard fan of all things-Prince, including the music of his protegees, Apollonia’s post shook me. I had no idea there was such trouble in purple paradise, and if this is just a peek inside, I’m sure that memoir is going to be a real doozy.
One thing for sure that comes through in the now-viral Facebook post is that Apollonia truly loved Prince and is a fierce protector of his legacy. As far as the public knew, Shiela E was equally as protective of Prince as she too was as a part of that legacy and often referred to as “the female Prince.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suh-y7_KJZc
I guess the public will have to decide if they are #TeamSheilE or #TeamApollonia. Personally, if I find out these explosive allegations against Sheila E are true … honey, she’s CHOPPED!
