Sheila E. Condemns Festival Organizers After Concertgoer's Body Left in Crowd

Sheila E. learned the truth about Shari Sanders only after she had already left the stage. The legendary drummer had finished her set at the Carson Jazz Festival in Southern California, stepped back into the dressing room around 4:30 p.m., and was then told that Sanders's body had just been removed from the crowd. It was nearly 5 p.m. on a day when temperatures had climbed above 100 degrees, and Sanders had been dead for roughly half an hour while Sheila E. performed.

On social media, Sheila E. described the moment she learned what had happened as devastating. She said no one had informed her during the festival that Sanders, a concertgoer who had been saving seats for her family, had collapsed and died before or during her performance. "This has never happened to me in my entire career," she wrote. "It was devastating. Her name was Shari Sanders."

The day had been chaotic from the start. Sheila E. arrived at 7:30 a.m. and found people already lined up in chairs, waiting to enter. Festival organizers opened the grounds thirty minutes ahead of schedule to let attendees in early, presumably to help them escape the heat. From her dressing room window, Sheila E. watched emergency crews moving urgently through the crowd. She assumed people were dehydrated from the extreme temperatures. Her band never got a sound check. Production was running late. Everything felt disorganized.

When Sanders collapsed, a bystander noticed her slumped over and asked if she was okay. She did not respond. The incident triggered a cascade of activity—people gathered, paramedics were called—but there was a lag. Sheila E. said it took roughly twenty minutes before paramedics arrived. By then, Sanders was gone.

Sheila E. and her band prayed for Sanders before taking the stage. During her performance, Sheila E. stopped after the first song, dedicated the show to Sanders and her family, and observed a moment of silence. She had no idea that Sanders's body was still in the crowd, surrounded by her family, while she played.

In her statement, Sheila E. was direct about what should have happened. "I would have never—never gotten on stage if I would have known that her body was still sitting there with her family surrounding her," she said. She criticized the festival for not stopping the event entirely and for failing to inform performers of the death. She also pointed to what she saw as systemic failures: inadequate hydration stations throughout the venue and a decision to make people sit outside for three hours in extreme heat to attend the festival. "Carson City, you need to do better," she said, noting that organizers had been running the festival for forty years but this outcome was unacceptable.

Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes released a statement expressing the city's condolences to Sanders's family and those affected by the tragedy. She said she had personally reached out to the family. The city did not immediately provide additional details about what led to Sanders's death or what changes might be made to festival safety protocols.