Sheila E. Tearfully Remembers Cleto Escobedo After His Death at 59 (Exclusive)

Sheila E. is paying tribute to a dear friend. 

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at HeartRadio’s Not Alone Awards on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at The Wynn Las Vegas, the musician, 67, remembered Cleto Escobedo III — the leader of Cleto and the Cletones, the house band on Jimmy Kimmel Live! — following his death at the age of 59.

“I lost a really good friend last night,” Sheila E. tells PEOPLE. “He passed away at 1 a.m. … during dinner I was getting text messages and I’m like, oh my God, and I was just praying that maybe he could hold on until I got home on Thursday.”

The singer then got emotional as she opened up about what Escobedo, who died on Tuesday, meant to her. 

Tearing up before composing herself, Sheila E. said, “I’ve known him a really long time … I don’t even know how we met because it was so long. It was in the ‘90s, but you know, I did his first single. I produced his first record and he’s just incredible.”

Sheila E. went on to share how the pair had been trying to find out if they were related to each other before Escobedo’s death because their surnames are so similar (Sheila E.’s full name is Sheila Cecilia Escovedo.)

“Because our names were spelled with one letter different, my grandfather changed our name from B to V, so we think that we were related so we kept trying to research our backgrounds on how we are probably related to each other,” she said. 

“He was the nicest guy. I’m still like, trying to get through,” the Grammy winner added. 

Sheila. E also paid tribute to Escobedo on social media, sharing a heartfelt post on Facebook alongside a photo of him onstage. 

“With a heavy heart we have lost a dear friend Cleto Escobedo,” the songwriter began. “I met Cleto in 1994 and in 1995 I produced a song on his album. We always joked about being related and we did try to find out.”

“He has been a true brother and an amazing musician and artist,” Sheila E. continued. “I’m so heartbroken there are no words. My prayers go out to his wife and kids, Jimmy Kimmel, family and friends. We will be missed. I love u rest well .”

Jimmy Kimmel shared the news of his childhood friend Escobedo’s death in an Instagram post earlier on Tuesday.

“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” Kimmel, 57, wrote. “To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old. The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true. Cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”

Cleto and the Cletones has provided the live music for Jimmy Kimmel Live! since the show’s inception in 2003. Cleto’s dad, Cleto Escobado Sr., is also a member of the band and plays tenor and alto saxophones on Kimmel’s show.

During his show on Tuesday, Kimmel cried throughout his special tribute to his lifelong friend.

“We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way, but this one’s the hardest because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special who was much too young,” Kimmel said through tears during his emotional monologue. 

The host then went on to share a childhood story about Cleto and recalled how his family moved to Las Vegas in 1997 and there was a “boy who lived on my block, he lived across the street in two houses over and he was a little bit older than me, he was a year older than me, his name was Cleto and we all called him Junior because his was dad was Cleto, too.”

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“We became friends, and not just regular friends,” Kimmel continued. “We became like 24/7, ‘Mom please let me sleep over, please,’ kind of friends … One summer I slept over at the Escobedo house 33 nights in a row.”

“Everyone loves Cleto … everyone here at the show,” Kimmel later said. “We are devastated by this. It’s not… It’s just not fair.”