Profile of Sheena Easton on Famous Like Me

Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr 27 April 1959) is a pop singer born in Bellshill, Scotland. Sheena became famous for being the focus of the United Kingdom television programme The Big Time, a late-1970s reality TV series which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and got her a deal with EMI Records.

Her best-known early musical work is probably the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme "For Your Eyes Only", and "Morning Train" (which was originally called "9 to 5" in its British release but was renamed for its North American issue to avoid confusion with the Dolly Parton song "9 to 5"). "Morning Train" was her only #1 hit in the U.S. and topped both the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in Billboard magazine. In the mid-1980s, she began collaborating with Prince and made an Olivia Newton-John-like transformation into a sexy dance-pop siren and was successful with the songs "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" (1983), "Strut" (1984), and her 1987 duet with Prince, "U Got The Look".

Her move toward a sexier image with "Strut" received mixed reactions from her strongest fans, and 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". Despite this controversy, the album A Private Heaven (which included "Strut" and "Sugar Walls") became her biggest seller. "Sugar Walls" also made the top three on the R&B singles chart. Around this time she also recorded a Grammy-winning Spanish-language album, Todo Me Recuerda a Ti ("Everything Reminds Me of You") and had a country music hit with "We've Got Tonight", a duet with Kenny Rogers (a remake of a 1978 Bob Seger song that reached the top 10 on the country, pop and AC charts). Success in the pop, adult contemporary, R&B, country and Latin fields confirmed Sheena as one of the most versatile vocalists of the 1980s.

Easton's follow-up to A Private Heaven, entitled Do You, received poor reviews and disappointing sales. Release of a further follow-up album, 1987's No Sound But a Heart was delayed due to a contractural problem that resulted in Easton changing record companies from EMI America to MCA. When the album was finally released (a year after the lead single, "Eternity", was issued), it sank without a trace and is considered the rarest of Easton's domestic album releases.

In November of 1987 Sheena made her first dramatic acting appearance on the television programme 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. By the spring of 1988 the latest installment of the Miami Vice soundtrack was released, and featured the song "Follow My Rainbow", which Sheena sang on her tragic last appearance, moments before her character was shot to death. The song also appeared on her next album The Lover In Me, a gold-selling disc released the following autumn that put Easton back on the charts.

The title song from "The Lover In Me," reached #2 on the Hot 100 and became her biggest hit since "Morning Train".

In 1991, What Comes Naturally became the last of Sheena's albums to chart in the U.S.; the title song was also her last top 40 single, reaching #19, and some of her recent albums have only been available in the Far East or Europe (except for the critically acclaimed No Strings and My Cherie). She recently enjoyed some success with an album entitled Fabulous and has also become a minor gay icon.

Sheena 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 and the Banshee. In 1999, she voice-acted a half-demon character, Annah-of-the-Shadows, in the computer game Planescape: Torment. Since 2000 Sheena has appeared in a Broadway-style show in Las Vegas. She lives there with her two adopted children.

After being boo-ed and bottled offstage at a Glasgow music festival in the late 80's, Easton never again played on stage in the UK.

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. Upon returning from the summer holiday break a number of years later, the teacher was dismayed to find that the furniture had all been replaced and the signature strewn desk had gone.

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". Sheena boarded the train at Burnley Station, and screamed. The passengers paused in awe, then went on singing.

On October 31, 2004, Sheena was inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana Resort & Casino along with fellow Las Vegas legends Debbie Reynolds, Ben Vereen, Patti Page, Jack Jones and Tempest Storm.

In January 2005 Sheena appeared in the television series Young Blades.

Albums

• Sheena Easton (1981)
• 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)
• No Strings (1993)
• My Cherie (1995)
• Freedom (1997)
• Home (1999)
• Fabulous (2001)

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