Sheena Easton

Her earliest-known public performance as a singer was in 1964 at the age of five, when she sang "Early One Morning" for her uncle and aunt and various relatives at the couple's 25th wedding anniversary celebration.

According to Easton's website, despite her mother's heavy workload she was always available for her children: "Sheena always speaks very highly of her mum and the wonderful job she did in bringing up her and her siblings, including teaching them all to read at home before they were even enrolled in school.

Easton was selected as the subject for the programme; EMI executives awarded 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 her audition through to making her first EMI single, "Modern Girl".

In the course of the filming, she met and sang for Dorothy Squires, Dusty Springfield and Lulu, whose manager Marion Massey told her that she saw Easton as a potential TV star with her own series, but not as a pop singer for the 1980s as she lacked "rugged individuality".

[7] However, once the programme aired in August 1980, "Modern Girl" was reissued and the track and its follow up "Nine to Five" both leapt into the top 10, disproving Massey's prediction.

In a revised and extended version of this episode of The Big Time, broadcast in 1981; this special concluded with news of Easton's breaking into the American market.

[8] Easton's first single, the disco-tinged soft-synth-pop tune, "Modern Girl", was released in the UK before The Big Time aired, reaching number 56.

"Modern Girl" was released as the follow-up and peaked at number 18, and before 1981 was over she had a Top 10 hit in both the US and UK with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme "For Your Eyes Only".

[citation needed] Easton was one of the first artists to record "Wind Beneath My Wings" (included on Madness, Money & Music), which later was a hit for Bette Midler.

Her performance in Los Angeles was videotaped and broadcast on HBO and later released on VHS and Laserdisc as Sheena Easton Live at the Palace, Hollywood.

October 1983 saw the release of 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.

[13] In 1984, Easton recorded a Spanish-language single, "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" ("I Like You Just the Way You Are"), a duet with Mexican star Luis Miguel.

She was rewarded with the biggest-selling US album of her career, RIAA certified gold & platinum A Private Heaven (1984), and her sixth Top 10 US single, "Strut".

[12] She was also one of the first artists to have a music video banned because of its lyrics rather than its imagery; some broadcasters refused to air the sexually risqué "Sugar Walls",[14] which had been written for her by Prince (using the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind).

"Sugar Walls" was named by Tipper Gore of the Parents Music Resource Center as one of the "Filthy Fifteen", a list of songs deemed indecent because of their lyrics, alongside Prince's own "Darling Nikki".

Easton's follow-up to A Private Heaven, entitled Do You (1985), was produced by Nile Rodgers and achieved gold status, although it failed to generate any breakout singles of the chart calibre of "Strut" or "Sugar Walls".

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 Top 50 single "So Far, So Good".

She played a singer named Caitlin Davies, whom Sonny Crockett was assigned to protect until her court appearance to render crucial testimony against certain corrupt music industry mavens.

By the spring of 1988, a volume of the Miami Vice soundtrack was released and featured "Follow My Rainbow", which Easton had finished singing on her last appearance just moments before her character was eliminated.

The album received positive reviews and featured collaborations with L.A. Reid and Babyface, Prince, Angela Winbush and Jellybean Benitez.

Easton contributed vocals to the soundtrack of All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 and voiced the character Sasha La Fleur on "Count Me Out" and "I Will Always Be With You".

"[25] Easton continued acting in America, starring in lead Broadway revivals of Man of La Mancha as (Aldonza) opposite Raul Julia in his last stage role (1992), and Grease as Rizzo (1996).

Between 1994 and 1996, she played several characters in Gargoyles the animated series, including Lady Finella, the Banshee, Molly and Robyn Canmore.

In December 1998, Easton toured with the American production "The Colors of Christmas" with artists Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, Peabo Bryson and Jeffrey Osborne.

All of Easton's EMI back catalogue (with another exception of her Spanish-language album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti) was re-released and remastered with bonus tracks, incorporating B-sides and remixes.

In Australia, "Fabulous" was released 24 February 2001 and Easton was asked to perform songs from the album to close out 2001 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras ceremonies.

In November 2016, Easton accepted the role of Dorothy Brock in the revival production of 42nd Street, which premiered on 20 March 2017 in London's West End, Drury Lane.

[28] Easton performed at the 2021 New York State Fair,[29] and on 17 September 2021, RT Industries in the United States, and Cherry Red Records in the United Kingdom, launched a re-issue campaign of her back catalog during her tenure with EMI Records, and issued the three-CD box set The Definitive Singles 1980–1987.

[33] In the summer of 1997, she met producer Tim Delarm while filming an episode of ESPN Canon Photo Safari in Yellowstone National Park and they married in Las Vegas in July 1997;[citation needed] the marriage lasted one year.

Easton was born at Bellshill Maternity Hospital in 1959
Easton in 1981
Easton had become closely associated with musician Prince during the 1980s, performing on tracks such as " Sugar Walls " and " U Got the Look "
Easton performing live in 2009