Sheena Easton was arguably the world’s first reality TV star. Before Nasty Nick, before Shayne Ward, before Kelly Clarkson, came this shy girl from Glasgow, who television viewers got to know via the BBC documentary show The Big Time. It was already on its third series by the time it got round to Sheena Shirley Easton. Created by That’s Life!’s Esther Rantzen, its mission each episode was to follow a member of the public whose star was on the ascendance.
Previous instalments had covered comedians, trapezists, racing car drivers and jockeys, before Easton featured on 2 July 1980. The episode showed her recording the single Modern Girl, which would become her first hit in the UK, where it nestled at No.8. But it was with its follow-up, Morning Train (Nine To Five) that she would taste her first
US No.1. In the UK, it peaked at No.3 and was simply titled 9 To 5. Though the single would be Sheena’s only American chart-topper, the song made her a bona fide star Stateside, kicking off a career that would see her sing a Bond theme (For Your Eyes Only) and later team up with one of the decade’s hottest talents in Prince for the single U Got The Look (UK No.11, US No.2). Despite her titanic fame in the 1980s, however, it’s been a full 24 years since Easton’s last album of new material. Time, we think, for a comeback.
Steve O’Brien