Figuring if the whole sex kitten makeover move could work for Olivia Newton-John, it could work for her too, Easton strutted into late 1984 with the platinum selling album ‘A Private Heaven’ (US#15/OZ#88). The album dispensed with the light pop/ballad formula in favour of a more funk based R&B tone. The brass-driven ‘Strut’ (US#7/OZ#13) worked a treat with record buyers, and benefited from a much played promo video featuring Easton doing her best sultry pout to camera (incidentally Bruce Hornsby, who appears in the video, was the keyboardist in Easton’s band during this period). The song was co-written by one Charlie Dore (‘Pilot Of The Airwaves’ - see earlier post). It was no coincidence that Easton’s revamped, vamped up pop vixen image arrived on the same album as her first collaboration with Prince. Though Prince, who as we all know loves a good pseudonym, went under the song writing/production credit of Alexander Nevermind for the provocative hit single ‘Sugar Walls’ (US#9/OZ#87).
Before the end of 1985, Easton had released the Nile Rodgers’ produced album ‘Do You’, though the soul styled dance set only yielded two minor hits in ‘Do It For Love’ (US#29), and a cover of the Holland-Dozier-Holland penned song ‘Jimmy Mack’ (US#65), a top 10 hit for Martha & The Vandellas in 1967. She also found time to record the Spanish language album ‘Todo Me Recuerda’, and won a second Grammy Award in 1985 for ‘Best Mexican/ American Performance’ (wasn’t she still Scottish?) for the duet ‘Me Gustas Tal Como Eres’ with Luis Miguel. 1986 was a relatively quiet year for Scotland’s, turned America’s, favourite lass, her only chart hit being ‘So Far So Good’ (US#43) from the soundtrack to the Rob Lowe/Demi Moore film ‘About Last Night’.
In 1987 Sheena Easton would make up for a quiet 1986. She made her acting debut in television via her role as Sonny Crockett’s (Don Johnson) wife for five episodes on the hit TV cop drama/farce ‘Miami Vice’. Easton also provided backing vocals for her new ‘creative collaborator’ Prince on the diminutive one’s hit ‘U Got The Look’ (US#2/UK#11/OZ#90), and found time to record another album ‘No Sound But A Heart’, though the album’s U.S. release was postponed (for 12 years), after the lead out single ‘Eternity’ failed to reach any of the U.S. charts. Such a flop could prove fatal to some artist’s careers, and indeed EMI acrimoniously parted ways with Easton soon after, but their were more successful chapters to be written in her career.
In 1989 Sheena Easton signed with MCA, and enlisted the production/writing talents of R&B powerhouses L.A. Reid and Babyface, for her next album ‘The Lover In Me’ (US#44/UK#30). The title track soared to #2 on the U.S. charts in early ‘89, also becoming Easton’s first solo British hit (#15) since 1983. Prince thought his name was ‘Joey Coco’ when he penned/produced the brooding dance number ‘101’ (UK#54), whilst ‘Days Like This’ (UK#43) also added to the album’s favourable reception back in Britain. Before the end of ‘89 Easton had contributed vocals to the Prince hit ‘The Arms Of Orion’ (UK#27/US#36/OZ#88), lifted from the ‘Batman’ soundtrack.
Easton recorded a reasonable facsimile of a Taylor Dayne album for her next effort ‘What Comes Naturally’ (OZ#35/US#90), featuring the hit title track which climbed to #19 in the U.S. in early 1991, soon after bolting to #3 in Australia. I recall seeing Sheena Easton in a promotional appearance on TV’s ‘Hey, Hey It’s Saturday’, and I remember wondering if she was the same Sheena Easton that had worn a green jumpsuit on the morning train a decade before - remarkably she was - though soon after the Scottish lass would become a U.S. citizen (from 1992).
Sheena Easton then took a mighty big leap of faith in her own vocal talent, with the 1993 album ‘No Strings’, featuring Easton doing her take on a line-up of pop standards. From all reviews Easton did a stellar job and did each and every classic due justice, but it didn’t win much support from MCA and consequently missed the charts altogether. She returned to the earlier song mix of up tempo pop offset by teary ballads, on her next album ‘My Cherie’. The title track owed much to the melodic style of ‘9 To 5’, but the single and album both failed to chart, indicating that the music buying public circa 1995 were not willing to return to Sheena Easton circa 1981. The only album to surface during the next five years in the Scottish diva’s name was the oddball compilation mix ‘Body And Soul’ in 1997. She had also continued a sporadic acting career throughout the 90s, appearing in the film ‘Indecent Proposal’, and various television series including ‘Body Bag’ and ‘Highlander’. Easton also performed in the Broadway production of ‘The Man Of La Mancha’, the stage revival of ‘Grease’, and the seasonal concert tour ‘The Colors Of Christmas’ with artists such as Roberta Flack and Melissa Manchester (see future post).
A more self assured Sheena Easton resurfaced for the 2000’s ‘Freedom’, the album’s sound and performer’s image hinting that Easton had found a level of personal freedom in her own career, free of the compromises perhaps made under the influence of other parties gone past. Her most recent album, 2002’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’, saw Easton move to the Universal label. Easton played shows regularly in Las Vegas during 2003/2004. During 2005 she played the Narrator in a stage production of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’. Easton still tours regularly in balance with raising a family.
With global record sales exceeding 20 million, Sheena Easton can rightly lay claim to being one of the most successful solo female vocalists of the last 30 years. She also has the unique honour of being the only artist in the history of the U.S. Billboard charts to have scored a top 3 hit on Adult Contemporary, Dance, Pop, Country and R&B charts, emphasising her versatility and talent as a vocalist.
From unknown girl next door to Prince produced vixen, Sheena Easton’s professional image/style certainly underwent a radical transformation in the decade between her first major hit ‘9 To 5 (Morning Train)’ in 1981, and her last ‘What Comes Naturally’ in 1991. But the events in between, and surrounding, both songs are worth taking a closer look at.
Born Sheen Orr in Bellshill, Scotland, she attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Drama and Art, graduating in June of 1979. Whilst still studying, Sheena Easton (Easton was her married name from 1979) often moonlighted as a singer in local nightclubs and pubs, playing with her first band Something Else at age 17. Easton was a qualified speech and drama teacher but chose instead to pursue singing as a profession, apparently inspired to do so when she saw Barbra Streisand’s performance in the film ‘The Way We Were’. In May 1979 she auditioned for a recording contract with EMI Records, under the watchful camera lens of a BBC-TV documentary crew (who had arranged the audition - with no assurances of success). Easton’s overwhelming talent overcame the reservations of EMI’s head of A&R Brian Shepherd, and she was signed up on the spot. During the following year the same BBC-TV documentary crew recorded the formative process involved in turning Sheena Easton from an unknown club singer to pop superstar. Her story was featured on the documentary ‘The Big Time’ which aired in mid 1980, immediately boosting her profile across Britain.
Her debut single ‘Modern Girl’ was released in February 1980. The upbeat synth-pop number crawled to #56 on the British charts at its first attempt, but Easton’s follow up single would prove a runaway train…I mean hit. ‘9 To 5’ clocked onto the British charts in July 1980, working overtime on its way to #3. During its strong run on the charts (which followed the high ratings airing of ‘The Big Time’ documentary) EMI re-released ‘Modern Girl’, and with the Sheena Easton publicity train under full steam, the song climbed to #8 in the U.K. on its second tilt at the charts, giving the Scottish lass the honour of being the first female performer to score two British top 10 hits simultaneously since Ruby Murray 25 years earlier. That November found 21 year old Sheena Easton performing for the Queen Mother at the Royal Variety Show, and by year’s end Easton had won a swag of awards in Britain. Over the next few months two more singles charted in the U.K., ‘One Man Woman’ (#14) and ‘Take My Time’ (#44), the title track from Easton’s debut album (UK#17/OZ#57). The album was released in the U.S. in early 1981 under the title ‘Sheena Easton’ (just to make it clear who she was) and went on to reach #24 on the Pop Album charts.
Much of its success in the U.S. was down to the lead out single there ‘9 To 5’, re-titled to avoid possible confusion with the Dolly Parton #1 hit of the same name (from the film ‘9 To 5’). The song was released as ‘Morning Train (Nine To Five)’ for the U.S. market, debuting in February ‘81 on the Hot 100, and reaching #1 by May, spending two weeks atop the charts. Just to add to the cost of type-setting at EMI, the song was released as ‘9 To 5 (Morning Train)’ for the Australian market, but that didn’t affect its performance, with the cheery pop love song also spending two weeks at the chart summit. The song also produced one of the best known promo videos of the era, featuring Easton appropriately enough riding a train (as well as a bike), and years later it featured in a couple of hilarious sequences from the sitcom ‘Seinfeld’. ‘Modern Girl’ was then released Stateside (#18) and in Australia (#24) and by mid ‘81, Sheena Easton was rivalling Olivia Newton-John for best known ‘girl next door’ on the charts (actually Newton-John would soon get ‘Physical’ in an attempt to dispense with that image). Easton went on to win the Grammy Award for ‘Best New Artist’ for 1981.
She soon became the first Scotswoman, but not the last (think Shirley Manson of Garbage) to have the honour of singing a theme song for a James Bond film (also appearing briefly in the film’s opening credits. ‘For Your Eyes Only’ (co-produced by Bill Conti) was released in mid 1981 to coincide with the release of the latest Bond feature. The sweeping ballad reached #4 in the U.S., #8 in Britain and #6 in Australia, making it one of the biggest selling Bond theme songs of all time (and garnered two Academy Award nominations). The song featured on Easton’s sophomore album ‘You Could Have Been With Me’ (UK#33/US#47), which was a passable mix of ballads and R&B flavoured pop, also yielding the minor hits ‘Just Another Broken Heart’ (UK#33) and ‘You Could Have Been With Me’ (US#15/UK#54) in late ‘81. The other hit the album produced was ‘When He Shines’ which charted in Britain (#12 - 5/81) and the U.S. (#30 - 4/82) almost a year apart.
Easton’s next album ‘Madness, Money And Music’ (UK#44/US#85/OZ#99) in 1982 was a moodier effort, more ballad and slow R&B based. It featured the minor chart hits ‘Machinery’ (UK#38/ US#57) and ‘I Wouldn’t Beg For Water’ (US#64), in addition to Easton’s take on the ballad ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings’ (recorded seven years before Bette Midler’s #1 version). Early 1983 saw Easton record the hit duet ‘We’ve Got Tonight’ (OZ#11/US#6/UK#28) with country crooner Kenny Rogers (a cover of the Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band song ‘We’ve Got Tonite’ from the 1978 album ‘Stranger In Town’). It featured on Easton’s fourth album in less than three years, ‘Best Kept Secret’ (US#33/UK#99), which was a bit of misnomer given Easton’s profile by that time. The album also yielded the synth-pop hit ‘Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)’ (US#9/OZ#54), but it appeared by this time that Britain had lost interest in Easton, where it would be another six years before she would have another chart hit (in her own right). The follow up single ‘Almost Over You’ (US#25/OZ#68) proved the U.S. wasn’t quite over Easton.
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Figuring if the whole sex kitten makeover move could work for Olivia Newton-John, it could work for her too, Easton strutted into late 1984 with the platinum selling album ‘A Private Heaven’ (US#15/OZ#88). The album dispensed with the light pop/ballad formula in favour of a more funk based R&B tone. The brass-driven ‘Strut’ (US#7/OZ#13) worked a treat with record buyers, and benefited from a much played promo video featuring Easton doing her best sultry pout to camera (incidentally Bruce Hornsby, who appears in the video, was the keyboardist in Easton’s band during this period). The song was co-written by one Charlie Dore (‘Pilot Of The Airwaves’ - see earlier post). It was no coincidence that Easton’s revamped, vamped up pop vixen image arrived on the same album as her first collaboration with Prince. Though Prince, who as we all know loves a good pseudonym, went under the song writing/production credit of Alexander Nevermind for the provocative hit single ‘Sugar Walls’ (US#9/OZ#87).
Holland-Dozier-Holland penned song ‘Jimmy Mack’ (US#65), a top 10 hit for Martha & The Vandellas in 1967. She also found time to record the Spanish language album ‘Todo Me Recuerda’, and won a second Grammy Award in 1985 for ‘Best Mexican/ American Performance’ (wasn’t she still Scottish?) for the duet ‘Me Gustas Tal Como Eres’ with Luis Miguel. 1986 was a relatively quiet year for Scotland’s, turned America’s, favourite lass, her only chart hit being ‘So Far So Good’ (US#43) from the soundtrack to the Rob Lowe/Demi Moore film ‘About Last Night’.
In 1989 Sheena Easton signed with MCA, and enlisted the production/writing talents of R&B powerhouses L.A. Reid and Babyface, for her next album ‘The Lover In Me’ (US#44/UK#30). The title track soared to #2 on the U.S. charts in early ‘89, also becoming Easton’s first solo British hit (#15) since 1983. Prince thought his name was ‘Joey Coco’ when he penned/produced the brooding dance number ‘101’ (UK#54), whilst ‘Days Like This’ (UK#43) also added to the album’s favourable reception back in Britain. Before the end of ‘89 Easton had contributed vocals to the Prince hit ‘The Arms Of Orion’ (UK#27/US#36/OZ#88), lifted from the ‘Batman’ soundtrack.
Sheena Easton then took a mighty big leap of faith in her own vocal talent, with the 1993 album ‘No Strings’, featuring Easton doing her take on a line-up of pop standards. From all reviews Easton did a stellar job and did each and every classic due justice, but it didn’t win much support from MCA and consequently missed the charts altogether. She returned to the earlier song mix of up tempo pop offset by teary ballads, on her next album ‘My Cherie’. The title track owed much to the melodic style of ‘9 To 5’, but the single and album both failed to chart, indicating that the music buying public circa 1995 were not willing to return to Sheena Easton circa 1981. The only album to surface during the next five years in the Scottish diva’s name was the oddball compilation mix ‘Body And Soul’ in 1997. She had also continued a sporadic acting career throughout the 90s, appearing in the film ‘Indecent Proposal’, and various television series including ‘Body Bag’ and ‘Highlander’. Easton also performed in the Broadway production of ‘The Man Of La Mancha’, the stage revival of ‘Grease’, 
and the seasonal concert tour ‘The Colors Of Christmas’ with artists such as Roberta Flack and Melissa Manchester (see future post).
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