Sheila E. spent many years with Prince both professionally and privately as a mate and eventual fiancee of the Renaissance musician.

Learning of his death yesterday (April 21) had her giving a statement to PEOPLE, which was brief, but also moving.

"The meaning of the word loss has taken on a new meaning this day," she told the magazine. "Thank God love lives forever."

Prince passed away Thursday at his home in Paisley Park, Minnesota. He was hospitalized last Friday (April 15) after his private plane made an emergency landing in Illinois. He had been fighting the flu, however things seemed to be looking upward as he threw a party at his estate just a day after returning home from the hospital. He was 57 years old.

Prince and Sheila E. began working together in the 1980s when she lent her drumming skills to his band. She revealed a lot about their relationship in her memoir The Beat of My Own Drum including the fact that she was engaged to the singer at one point.

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(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NCLR)