Sheila E. - The Belle Of St. Mark / Too Sexy (1984) - single

Sheila Escovedo (born December 12, 1957), known by her stage name Sheila E., is an American singer, drummer, and percussionist whose notable collaborators include Prince, Billy Cobham, Lionel Richie, George Duke, Ringo Starr, Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Hans Zimmer and Kanye West.
The song "The Belle of St. Mark" peaked at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached the top ten in the Netherlands and New Zealand.
The song's lyrics tell of an androgynous "frail but passionate creature", referred to as "he" throughout, but called the feminine "Belle". (Androgyny was a prevalent theme in the music of Sheila E.'s mentor, Prince, and common in pop music of the period.) The song implies the Belle is French (viz. the lyrics, "His Paris hair, it blows in the warm Parisian air / That blows whenever his Paris hair is there") but St. Mark is commonly known as a location in Venice, Italy.

A - The Belle Of St. Mark  (3:38)
Written-By – Sheila E. / Directed By – Sheila E., The Starr Company
B - Too Sexy  (5:03)
Written-By – Benjamin Rietveld, Michael Weaver, Stephan Birnbaum / Producer, Arranged By – Sheila E.

Genre:  Funk, Pop
Label:  Warner Bros. Records
Catalog#  929180-7

(P) 1984