Sheila E: I'm still grieving Prince's death

Sheila E is still grieving Prince's death.

The 63-year-old musician - who toured with the late icon and briefly had a romantic relationship with him in the 1980s - has revealed that grief can strike her "at the drop of a hat", five years after Prince passed away.

She shared: "It's gotten easier to look at things and talk about it. But then at the drop of a hat, just like one song or one verse of something or a picture, and I'm going."

Sheila recalled meeting Prince - who died on April 21, 2016, at the age of 57 - in 1977, and she still has fond memories of the time they spent together over the years.

She said on the 'PEOPLE Every Day' podcast: "We met in 1977.

"It's a lot of time that we spent together either laughing, hanging out, creating, playing, recording, telling stories, going to the movies, whatever it may be, travelling the world, going to Europe, whatever. Just to go have lunch."

Sheila admitted she's always conscious of the anniversary of the 'Purple Rain' hitmaker's death when it's approaching.

She explained: "It's even someone had mentioned a couple of days ago. They're like, 'Wow, it's going to be five [years]. It's coming up.' And I'm thinking, 'Oh, here we go, April' ... That's all I can think about. 'Well, here's April.'

"So it stirs up emotional feelings, good and bad. He was just incredible. What a genius and incredible songwriter; my favourite guitar player of all time."

In the aftermath of Prince's passing, Sheila released a statement saying that her love for the music icon would live "forever".

She said at the time: "The meaning of the word loss has taken on a new meaning this day. Thank God love lives forever."

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