Happy 35th Anniversary to Sheila E.’s debut album The Glamorous Life, originally released June 4, 1984.

Some music is just joyous. Bursting from your speakers with an infectious jubilance, you can’t help but let it carry you away. This was how I felt the first time I heard “The Glamorous Life,” the titular track from Sheila E.’s debut album.

From that stuttering bass drum and flittering sax lick, “The Glamorous Life” drew me in. And by the time Sheila rained down her first timbale roll, I was hooked. As a young kid learning drums, I was instantly attracted to the scattering percussive groove that skipped effortless across the track.

“Who is this?” I thought, “and who is playing percussion?”

The answer to both was Sheila E., a young, yet seasoned session musician who had played with George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Marvin Gaye and reportedly played the infectious bottle clank rhythm on Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”

And this was funky.