Sheena Easton

Sheena Shirley Easton (née Orr; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and actress who rose to prominence in the reality television series The Big Time: Pop Singer (1980). Her record sales worldwide are estimated at 20 million copies, and she became the first and only artist in Billboard history to have a top-five hit on each of the Billboard primary singles charts. Her commercial prominence in the 1980s led to collaborations with Prince, Kenny Rogers, Babyface, L.A. Reid and Nile Rodgers.

Born and raised in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Easton signed a record deal with EMI Records, and her debut single, "Modern Girl", was released in February 1980. It reached number 8 in the United Kingdom and number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Her follow–up single, "9 to 5", was equally successful, peaking at number 3 in the United Kingdom whilst in the United States it reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It achieved commercial success in a number of international territories, and was certified Gold in Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. Her debut album, Take My Time (1981), performed well commercially, and by mid–1981, she had recorded and released "For Your Eyes Only" as the theme song for the James Bond movie of the same name.

She received the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards in February 1982, before her sales experienced a slight decline until her fifth album, A Private Heaven (1984). It marked a significant change in Easton's image towards a "sexy pop singer". The new look secured a return to prominence for Easton, with the albums lead single "Strut" reaching the top 10 in Argentina, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. She released "Sugar Walls", written by Prince under his pseudonym Alexander Nevermind, which was deemed controversial and met with reluctance due to its sexually explicit nature. Easton collaborated with country singer Kenny Rogers in 1982 on the release "We've Got Tonight". Throughout the mid-1980s, Easton's career had steadily declined in the United Kingdom, whilst her commercial dominance in the United States was more apparent.

Easton won the Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Performance at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards for her collaboration with Luis Miguel on the single "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres". Her ninth album, The Lover in Me, was released in 1988 and became her first album to chart in on the UK Albums Charts in five years. The title track reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached number 1 on the Billboard Dance Singles Sales. The New York Times has described Easton as an "80s pop phenomenon", whilst also being regarded across the industry as one of the most defining and recognisable voices of the 1980s. As her career developed, Easton moved to the United States, and in time lost her Scottish accent. She infamously received heckles at the Big Day Out concert in Glasgow in 1990, following an unannounced schedule change.