Sheena Easton

Born Sheena Shirley Orr on April 27, 1959, in Bellshill, Scotland, the singer who would become known as Sheena Easton drew early motivation for a vocal career after watching Barbra Streisand perform in The Way We Were. While enrolled at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama she also performed with the ensemble Something Else. A featured appearance on the BBC documentary series The Big Time: Pop Singer secured her a contract with EMI and propelled both of her 1980 debut singles, “Modern Girl” and “9 to 5,” into the British top ten, making her the first woman to place two releases simultaneously inside that tier. Her debut album, issued in 1981 under the title Sheena Easton, followed quickly. In the United States the same track appeared retitled “Morning Train” so as not to overlap with Dolly Parton’s recent single of the identical name; the song reached the top of the American pop survey while “Modern Girl” later entered the top twenty. After receiving the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Easton was invited to record the theme song for the James Bond feature For Your Eyes Only. In 1983 she joined Kenny Rogers for the hit duet “We’ve Got Tonight” and later that year returned to the upper reaches of the charts with “Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair).” On the 1984 album A Private Affair she deliberately shifted away from her earlier wholesome persona, releasing the bold single “Strut” and then the provocative “Sugar Walls,” which was written and produced by Alexander Nevermind, better known as Prince; two years afterward she supplied backing vocals for his track “U Got the Look.” Following a recurring role as Don Johnson’s spouse on Miami Vice, she scored a number-two hit in 1989 with “The Lover in Me.” Her final appearance on the charts came in 1991 with “What Comes Naturally.” She later took the stage in a revival of the musical Man of La Mancha, spent much of the decade performing in theatrical productions that included a staging of Grease, and joined the annual holiday package The Colors of Christmas.