Sheena Easton
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| Sheena Easton | |
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 Easton at the "Eat to the Beat" concert
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| Background information | |
| Born | April 27, 1959 |
| Origin | Bellshill, Scotland |
| Genre(s) | Pop Rock, Dance-Pop, Urban R&B, Soft Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Performer, Actress Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 1980–Present |
| Label(s) | EMI-EMI-America (1980-1987) MCA Records (1988-1995) MCA/Universal Victor (1997-1999) Fuel Records (2007) |
Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr on April 27, 1959) is a Scottish pop singer and theatre and television actress. Sheena became famous for being the focus of an episode of the United Kingdom television programme The Big Time, a 1980 reality TV series created by Esther Rantzen which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and got her a deal with EMI.
Easton is the only UK female artist to have two singles ("9 to 5"—known as "Morning Train" in the US and "Modern Girl") in the UK top 10 at the same time since 1959.
Easton has sold over 4 million albums in the US alone, and 20 million records worldwide with 16 albums in her whole career and has 14 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Sheena Easton is the only artist in the history of the US Billboard charts to have a top 3 hit on each of the Billboards key charts. AC, Dance, Pop, Country, and R&B.
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[edit] Early life
Easton was born Sheena Shirley Orr on April 27, 1959, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Easton was the youngest of six children of a steel mill laborer, Alex Orr, and his wife Annie. Her siblings included brothers Robert and Alex and sisters Marilyn, Annessa and Morag. Her earliest known public performance as a singer was at the age of five, when in 1964 she sang "Early One Morning" for her uncle and aunt and various relatives at the couple's 25th wedding anniversary celebration.
In 1969, Easton's father died. Her mother had to support the family. Easton's web site states that despite her heavy workload she was always available for her children: "Sheena always speaks very highly of her mum and the wonderful job she did in raising her and her siblings, including teaching each of them all to read at home before they were even enrolled in school."
She had not seriously considered a singing career until a viewing the movie The Way We Were, with Barbra Streisand. Streisand's singing over the opening credits "overtook" the young Scottish girl and convinced her that what she wanted most was to be a singer and to have the same effect on others. Her top grades in school earned her a scholarship to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and she trained there from 1975 to 1979 as a speech and drama teacher by day, while singing with a band called 'Something Else' by night at local clubs. She chose to study teaching rather than performing, because it was a course of study that would let her perfect her craft as a singer.
In 1979, she married Sandi Easton, the first of four husbands. They divorced after eight months, but Sheena decided to keep the surname Easton. That year, one of her Academy tutors coaxed her into auditioning for Esther Rantzen, producer of the BBC programme The Big Time. Rantzen was planning a documentary film to chronicle a relative unknown's rise to pop-music stardom. Easton was selected and her talent persuaded reluctant EMI executives to award her a contract, and Christopher Neil was assigned as her recording producer. Deke Arlon became her first manager, and Easton spent much of 1980 being followed by camera crews, who filmed her throughout the process of making her first EMI single, "Modern Girl".
Her second marriage, in 1984, was to Rob Light, a talent agent, but ended after 18 months. Easton earned U.S. citizenship in 1992 and adopted her first child, Jake in 1994. Two years later, she adopted again, this time a baby girl named Skylar. In the summer of 1997, she met producer Tim Delarm, while filming an episode of ESPN Canon Photo Safari in Yellowstone National Park and later married Delarm in Las Vegas July of 1997. The marriage lasted one year. In 2001, she became engaged to John Minoli, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon and married him on November 9, 2002. They divorced in 2003 and Easton has been a single mother to her two children since and currently resides in Las Vegas.
Shrewd investments in Florida property have meant that she has appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List.
[edit] 1980s
Her first single, the disco-tinged soft-synth-pop tune "Modern Girl", was released in the UK before the show aired and reached a disappointing #56. At the end of the show, Sheena was still unsure of her future as a singer, but the question was soon resolved when, after the show aired, her second single, "9 to 5", soared up the UK Singles Chart to #3 in 1980. "Modern Girl" re-entered the chart subsequently and climbed into the top 10, and Easton, who just a few months earlier had been a virtual unknown, now found herself with two songs in the top 10 simultaneously. Sheena was voted Best British Female Singer by the "Daily Mirror Pop & Rock Awards" in 1980, "Best Newcomer" 1980 by Capital Radio, and "Best Female Singer" 1980 by the "TV Times Readers Awards". In the UK Sheena Easton has earned eight top 40 hits and three top 40 albums to date.
"9 to 5" was Easton's first single release in the United States, although it was renamed "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" for its release in the U.S. and Canada to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton's hit movie title song "9 to 5". "Morning Train" became Easton's first #1 hit in the U.S. and topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in Billboard magazine. "Modern Girl" was released as the follow-up and peaked at #18, and before 1981 was over Sheena had a top 10 hit in both the U.S. and UK with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme For Your Eyes Only. The song was nominated for the "Best Female Vocal Performance" in 1981 and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 1982. Easton's U.S. success culminated in her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1981.
Easton's first three U.S. albums, Sheena Easton, You Could Have Been With Me, and Madness, Money and Music, were all in the same Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary pop vein (although she made a grab for the new wave audience with "Machinery", from the latter album), but by the end of 1982, with British synthesizer bands taking over the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, she saw her sales slumping.
In 1983 she came back strongly in America with the album Best Kept Secret and its first single, the synthesized dance-pop tune "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" became her fourth top 10 hit. The single "Telefone" was Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1983. That year she also had a top-10 hit in the USA with "We've Got Tonight", a duet with Kenny Rogers a cover of the Bob Seger song also earning a #1 single on the country chart (also reaching the top 30 in the British best-sellers). The follow-up to "Telefone", "Almost Over You", was a #1 AC chart hit and Top 30 pop hit, and later became a hit on the country charts for Lila McCann in 1998.
In 1984, she began collaborating with Prince and made a transformation into a sexy dance-pop siren. She was rewarded with the biggest-selling U.S. album of her career, RIAA certified platinum A Private Heaven, and her fifth top 10 single, the sassy "Strut". Sheena was again Grammy nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1984. She was also one of the first artists to have a music video banned because of its lyrics rather than its imagery, when some broadcasters refused to play the sexually risqué "Sugar Walls", which had been written for her by Prince (using the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind). "Sugar Walls" was also named by Tipper Gore of the Parents' Music Resource Council as one of the Filthy Fifteen, a list of songs deemed indecent because of their lyrics, alongside Prince's own "Darling Nikki". "Sugar Walls" also hit #3 on the R&B singles chart. Bruce Hornsby played in Easton's band in 1983 and 1984, appearing in at least one of her videos.
Around this time she also recorded a Grammy-winning Spanish-language single, "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" ("I Love You Just the Way You Are"), a duet with Luis Miguel and earned her second Grammy for "Best Mexican-American Performance". Success in the Pop, Adult Contemporary, R&B, Country and Latin fields earned Easton a reputation as one of the most versatile vocalists of the 1980s.
Easton's follow-up to A Private Heaven, entitled Do You, was produced by Nile Rogers and yielded disappointing sales (despite going gold and yielding the top 30 single "Do It For Love"). By the end of 1985 Sheena also contributed vocals to "It's Christmas All Over The World" for the holiday release "Santa Claus" The Movie. Release of a follow-up album, 1987's No Sound But a Heart,[1] was hampered in the United States after an initial single release, Eternity, flopped, failing to reach the the pop, R&B or adult contemporary charts.[2] The album's release moved from February to June;[1]then in August the release was further held up as Easton's attorneys asked that the album be delayed after EMI Records was absorbed into EMI/Manhattan.[3] Songs from the album were covered by other artists: Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris featured "Wanna Give My Love" and "What If We Fall In Love" on a 1987 duet album named for the latter song; Celine Dion recorded "The Last to Know" on 1990's Unison; Patti LaBelle covered "Still In Love" on 1989's Be Yourself; and Pia Zadora recorded "Floating Hearts" on 1989's Pia Z. No Sound But a Heart eventually did get released in the United States in 1999, with four bonus tracks, including Easton's contributions to the soundtrack of the 1986 film About Last Night..., "Natural Love" and the minor hit single "So Far, So Good".
Easton was not totally absent from the charts in 1987, however; She sang on Prince's #2 hit, U Got the Look, and also appeared in the video. Prince and Sheena were Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group" in 1987. (The two would later team again for "The Arms of Orion", featured on Prince's soundtrack to the movie Batman 1989, but it wasn't as big a hit, reaching #36 in the US and #27 in the UK. They also wrote a song for Patti LaBelle's album that year titled "Love '89". In addition they co-wrote "La La La, He He Hee" which Prince recorded.
In November 1987 Easton made her first dramatic acting appearance on the television program Miami Vice, playing a singer named Caitlin Davies, whom Sonny Crockett was assigned to protect until she made a court appearance. Sonny and Caitlin were married by the end of the episode, the first of five for Easton until her character was killed off. Easton gearnered good reviews and the episodes she was featured on earned the show higher ratings. By the spring of 1988 the latest installment of the Miami Vice soundtrack was released, and featured the song "Follow My Rainbow", which Easton sang on her last appearance, moments before her character was killed.
The song also appeared on her next album The Lover In Me, a gold-selling disc debut released the following autumn on her new label MCA Records that put Easton back on the charts. This album features Urban R&B and Dance-pop, and a more sexier image. The title song from "The Lover In Me" reached (US#2) on the Billboard Hot 100 (UK#15) and became her biggest pop hit since "Morning Train". It also became a (#5) hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart. It was followed on the R&B chart by "Days Like This" (#35)(UK #43), which missed the Billboard Hot 100. A third single was released "101" (UK #54) and missed the Billboard top 100 but did make it to (#2) on the Billboard Dance chart. A final single "No Deposit, No Return" was released and failed to chart. The CD received positive reviews and introduced Easton to an R&B audience as it featured collaborations with LA & Babyface, Prince, Angela Winbush, and Jellybean Benitez.
[edit] The 1990s
In 1991, What Comes Naturally US#90 became the last of Easton's albums to chart in the United States; the title song was also her last Top 40 single to date, reaching #19. It also became her first hit in Australia since the 1980s, peaking at number 4. Another two singles "You Can Swing It" and "To Anyone" followed but failed to chart. Some of her recent albums have only been available in the Far East or Europe except for the critically acclaimed No Strings an album of Jazz/Standards and My Cherie, also released as a single.
In the late 90's Sheena retained a record contract with MCA Japan and released 2 discs of new material. "Freedom" in 1997 a return to her trademark pop including a remake of her debut single "Modern Girl", other singles released Love Me With Freedom, and When You Speak My Name. In 1999 Universal/Victor released the self produced acoustical set of "Home". The disc singles released again in Japan were "Carry A Dream" from the animated motion picture "Marco" and "My Treasure Is You."
EMI Records group North America released a greatest hits package called The World of Sheena Easton The Singles Collection that is her most popular and only disc that features her singles in chronological order and chart history. The package includes information on her early MCA singles but the singles are not featured on the disc.
On an appearance on Up All Night with Rick Dees, she jokingly confessed her wish to be pregnant with news anchor Peter Jennings' baby. Jennings recounted the incident in an interview with Larry King and said he was flattered and amused by the proposal.
Easton becomes a Mother of an adoptive boy (Jake) and girl (Skylar) between 1995 and 1996.
Easton continued acting in America, starring in Broadway revivals of Man Of La Mancha (1992) and Grease (1996). Between 1994 and 1996, she played several characters in Gargoyles the animated series, including Lady Finella, the Banshee, Molly and Robyn Canmore. In 1999, she voice-acted a part-demon character, Annah-of-the-Shadows, in the computer game Planescape: Torment. She lives in Las Vegas with her two children and often performs in the city's casinos. She voiced the character Fiona Canmore for a scripted, but unfinished episode of the canceled Team Atlantis.
In June 1998, her former secondary school Bellshill Academy celebrated its centenary. Easton signed a tribute to the school for its special occasion which is still on display in the main building. She was a pupil there from 1971-1977.
A popular story at the school was that there used to be a school desk that Easton had graffiti'd her then name "Sheena Orr" which was of some source of pride to the teacher whose classroom it belonged to. A number of years later, upon returning from the summer holiday break, the teacher was dismayed to find that the furniture had all been replaced and the signature strewn desk had gone.
In December of 1998, Sheena toured with "The Colors of Christmas" with artists like Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, Peabo Bryson, and Jeffery Osborne. Windham Hill Records produced by Robbie Buchanan "The Colors of Christmas" disc of holiday music. Sheena contributed two tracks, a duet "The Place Where We Belong" with Jeffery Osborne, and "The Lords Prayer".
1999-2000 saw New York based "One Way Records" attained the right to release all of Sheena Easton EMI-America catalog. For the first time in the US "No Sound But A Heart" was released. All Sheena's EMI back catalogue was re-released with bonus tracks, incorporating both b-sides and remixes. However, there was one notable exception to the re-release schedule, Sheena's much sought after Spanish language album "Todo Me Recuerda A Ti".
[edit] 2000 Recent Times
In 2000 Sheena Easton co-stared with David Cassidy in At The Copa, a show in Las Vegas at The Rio Hotel for one year. She signed a record contract with Universal International UK in 2000 and attempted a comeback in 2001 with Fabulous, an album of classic disco covers produced by Ian Masterson and Terry Ronald of Trouser Enthusiasts fame. The first single and video "Giving Up, Giving In" made UK#54. A second single and video was a cover of Donna Summer's hit "Love Is In Control" and released by promotion only, but was withdrawn. In Japan the first single was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and the album included a cover of Teena Marie's "I Need Your Lovin" as a bonus track. The album was largely ignored mainstream but faired well on the European dance charts and in dance clubs of London, Japan, Spain, Australia, Estonia and Argentina[citation needed]. There is no US release to date. Remixes of the singles were produced by Joey Negro, Sleaze Sisters, Sharp Boys, Rob Searle, DJ Soma Grow and Almighty.
Sheena also goes back to Australia in 2001 for Sydney's G&L Mardi Gra and closes the shows with songs from "Fabulous."
In 2001 and 2002 Easton began a successful run headlining at The Las Vegas Hilton. Her show was called For Your Eyes Only. Her run earned her a place on the British Top 10 Income Earners for her 7 million dollar Vegas deal[citation needed].
Easton contributed vocals to "If Your Happy" a cover for a Japanese disc called Cover Morning Musume-Hello Project in 2003. She also began to host Vegas Live a talk show with Clint Holmes. In 2004 a change was made and the show hosts were Sheena Easton and Brian McKnight.
In April and May 2004, Easton visited Australia and featured in a kooky TV commercial for Connex in Melbourne. A number of unrealistically happy passengers in an unrealistically underpatronised morning train were singing "9 to 5". Easton boarded the train at Burnley Station, and screamed. The passengers paused in awe, then went on singing.
On October 31, 2004, she was inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana Resort & Casino along with fellow Las Vegas icons Debbie Reynolds, Ben Vereen, Patti Page, Jack Jones and Tempest Storm.
In January 2005, Easton appeared in the television series Young Blades.
June 2005 Easton's song "Sugar Walls" made #40 on VH1's 40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirty Songs Ever.
In July 2005, she played the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh, NC. The show co-starred Ray Walker as Joseph, Merwin Foard as the Pharaoh, David F.M. Vaughn as Reuben, Demond Green as Judah, and Darryl Winslow as Simeon.
Easton's cover of Donna Summer's "Love is in Control" was included on Koch Records disc Love to Love You Baby: A Tribute to Donna Summer in the fall of 2005.
"Modern Girl" was covered by UK's own Camera Obscura for the Q Magazine disc called Q Covered The Eighties.
In 2006 Cherry Red records Ltd. (UK) re-released The Lover In Me with bonus tracks.
In February 2007 Fuel Records (Varase Sarabande) re-released Freedom (Limited Edition) officially in the United States.
Itunes 2007 made available to download Easton's 1995 disc My Cherie and 1993 disc No Strings from her MCA records catalog.
January 2008 Easton returns to Santiago, Chile for a one time concert. She had last visited Chile some 24 years ago when she was promoting her album Todo Me Recuerda A Ti her Spanish language album.
Easton currently tours throughout the year at various venues throughout the world. Her concerts are usually scheduled for weekends as she states her kids are her priority right now. Easton has performed at Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City in March 2008.
Easton was the third British solo female artist to reach #1 on the Hot 100 US singles chart. The first is Petula Clark, then Lulu, she was followed by Bonnie Tyler and then Kim Wilde and most recently by Leona Lewis. Petula, Sheena, and Leona are the only 3 British solo female artist to have #1 debut on the US Billboard Hot 100.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Take My Time (1981)
- Sheena Easton (1981) retitled edition of Take My Time
- You Could Have Been With Me (1981)
- Madness, Money & Music (1982)
- Best Kept Secret (1983)
- Todo Me Recuerda a Ti (1984) - Spanish language release
- A Private Heaven (1984)
- Do You (1985)
- No Sound But a Heart (1987)
- The Lover In Me (1988)
- What Comes Naturally (1991)
- The World of Sheena Easton "The Singles Collection" (1993)
- No Strings (1993)
- My Cherie (1995)
- Greatest Hits (Japan only release) (1995)
- Freedom (1997)
- Home (1999)
- Best Ballads (Japan only release) (2000)
- Fabulous (2001)
- Classic Masters (2002)
[edit] Other album/soundtrack/film/song performances
- "For Your Eyes Only" - from the film of the same name (1981)
- "It's Christmas All Over the World" - from Santa Claus The Movie (1985)
- "So Far, So Good" and "Natural Love" - from About Last Night... (1986)
- "U Got the Look" - duet with Prince on his album Sign O' The Times (1987)
- "We've Got Tonight" - from Shades of Love: Make Mine Chartreuse (1987)
- "The Arms of Orion" - duet with Prince on his Batman soundtrack album (1989)
- "Voices That Care" - charity production by David Foster, cd-single (1991)
- "A Dream Worth Keeping" - from the animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
- "The Nearness of You" - from Indecent Proposal (1993)
- "Is There Anyone" duet with Julian Lennon - from "David Copperfield" (1993)
- "Now and Forever" duet with Barry Manilow - from "The Pebble and the Penguin" (1995)
- "Sentimental Journey- from "Swing Alive! at the Hollywood Palladium" (1996)
- "Are There Angels?" - from Shiloh (1996)
- "Count Me Out," "I Will Always Be With You," - from All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996)
- "The Place Where We Belong" duet with Jeffery Osborne and "The Lord's Prayer"- from "The Colors Of Christmas" (1998)
- "Carry a Dream" - from Marco: Haha wo Tazunete Sanzen Ri (Japanese, 1999, feature-length remake of 1976 Nippon Animation anime TV series)
- "Morning Train (9 To 5)" - from EuroTrip (2004)
- "If You're Happy- from "Cover-Morning Musume-Hello Project" (2005)
- "Love Is In Control" -from "Love to Love you Baby! A Tribute to Donna Summer (2005)
- "What You Are" -from Lost Odyssey, An original RPG exlusive to the Xbox 360 (2007)
- "Eclipse of time" -from Lost Odyssey, An original RPG exclusive to the Xbox 360 (2007)
[edit] Filmography
- Miami Vice (1987) - Caitlin Davies (five episodes)
- All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996), All Dogs Go to Heaven (1996 - TV series), An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998) - voice of Sasha LeFleur
- Body Bags (1993) - Megan (in segment titled "Hair")
- Highlander: The Series (1993) - Annie Devlin (in episode titled "An Eye for an Eye")
- The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993) - Crystal Hawks (one episode)
- Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1993) - voice of Agnes
- TekWar (TV series) (1994) - War Bride
- Real Ghosts (1995) - Janet (nightclub owner)
- Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken (1995) - Robyn Canmore, Banshee, Molly, Finella
- The Outer Limits (1996) - Melissa McCammon in episode titled "Falling Star"
- Road Rovers (1996) - Groomer, Persia
- Duckman (1997) - Betty (one episode)
- Chicken Soup for the Soul (1999) - Vicky in episode titled "Sand Castles"
- Disney's The Legend of Tarzan (2001) - voice role (one episode)
- Vegas Live! With Clint Holmes and Sheena Easton (2003)
- Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004) - voice of Professior Fiona Pembrooke
- Young Blades (2005) - Queen Anne
[edit] Broadway
- Man of La Mancha- Aldonza- 1991-1992-reprise role in 1998 (Broadway show)
- Grease- 1996- Betty Rizzo(Broadway show)
[edit] See also
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
- List of British Females who reached number one on the Hot 100 (United States)
[edit] External links and references
THIS IS A VALID LINK AS SOME OF THE INFORMATION IN THE MAIN ARTICLE HAS BEEN LIFTED FROM THIS WEBSITE AND THE LINK SERVES THOSE WHO WANT TO INVESTIGATE THE ARTIST FURTHER AS IT IS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE SOURCE OF INFORMATION ONLINE ABOUT Ms EASTON. Inclusion of this link does not contravene Wikipedia guidance as to external link inclusion: "Wikipedia articles should include links to Web pages outside Wikipedia if they are relevant. Such pages could contain further research that is accurate and on-topic; information that could not be added to the article"
- ^ a b Beck, Marilyn. "New director selected for 'No Man's Land.' Daily News (Los Angeles). Dec. 22, 1986.
- ^ Sheena Easton chart positions. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
- ^ Van Matre, Lynn. "Friday." Chicago Tribune. Aug. 21, 1987.
| Preceded by Shirley Bassey Moonraker, 1979 |
James Bond title artist For Your Eyes Only, 1981 |
Succeeded by Rita Coolidge Octopussy (All Time High), 1983 |
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