Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr; 27 April 1959) is a pop singer and stage and TV/film actress. Easton first came into the public eye as the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time in 1980, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records. In the UK, Easton became the third UK female solo artist ever to top the US Hot 100, following Petula Clark and Lulu. She scored 3 top 40 albums and 8 top 40 singles to date. Easton's 1980 debut singles, "Modern Girl" and " 9 to 5," entered into the UK top ten singles chart, making her the first UK female artist to appear twice in the same top ten. In the United States, Easton is a two-time Grammy Award winner with 5 additional Grammy nominations, one Oscar nomination, sold 7 US Gold albums and 1 US Platinum and has sold over 4 million albums in the US alone, and over 20 million records worldwide. However since the 90's, her music career has gone downhill in terms of sales and she later branched into acting and property development. Since then she has been living in America and been married four times and currently has two children.
Links To Peel[]
Peel with John Walters and Sheena Easton looking down
Peel was a big fan of Sheena Easton's 9 To 5 track, referring to it as "a great pop record" on his show on 17 December 2002. Two copies of the single were later found in his Record Box of his most treasured 45's. The song was also one his picks for the Peelenium 1980.
While touring on his Roadshow in 1981, Peel often played 9 to 5, leaving some people wanting more and others perplexed with his choice. On a show from 10 February 1981, he mentioned:
"I mention all of this Sheena Barmy Army Stuff in the hope that when the John Peel Roadshow goes out and does one of its awful gigs and I put on a Sheena Easton record, and I do fans, everyone goes SHEENA SHEENA like that and they did in Nottingham, which is what they are supposed to do. In Southampton recently they just stood and stared at me as if to say this man is a loony."
On a show from 30 December 1981, to get people's attention as from last year on 30 December 1980, Peel asked his listeners to:
"Don't forget, if you're one of the tens of people who'd like a copy of the Festive Fifty, if you send us a stamped addressed envelope, we'll send you one. Put a stamped addressed envelope in an envelope itself, of course, and write 'Sheena Easton' on it: that's what I invited you to write last year so that I could identify them from the other admiring letters that come from people all over the world, it must be said, into the programme. Write 'Sheena Easton' on your envelope: don't write it on the one that we've got to send back to you. That'd be pointless. And address the same to 'John Peel, BBC Radio One, London W1A 4WW': that would seem to get it. We'll send you a copy of the Festive Fifty, or more accurately, actually, the Festive Sixty. If I have time, I'll give you 51-60 at the end of the programme, if I can catch you."
On his show from 29 July 1982, Peel mentioned:
"I was rather depressed when I did my gig in [Norwich]] at the weekend that there appeared to be no representatives there of any of the regional branches of the Sheena barmy army, so I'm very pleased to hear from the Newport Country branch of the Sheena Barmy Army. A letter from David Battersby reading, 'Dear John. After hearing about the Swansea branch I thought it was about time you heard about the Newport branch...' "
On the Christmas edition of Top Of The Pops in the same year on 25 December 1982 (TOTP), he wore a Sheena Barmy Army sweater to demonstrate his passion for Sheena.
Proof of Peel's sartorial tribute.
Peel appeared alongide the singer on Radio One's Roundtable (a singles review programme), on at least two occasions (23 January 1981 and 15 October 1982).
Peel visited Scotland in 1997 to interview Sean Dickson for the Sounds Of The Suburbs programme and was shown where she was born and brought up. On his show from 04 December 1997 (BFBS), he said:
"I've just come back from a week in... Cleethorpes and Hull and Grimsby, and the second part (of the week) in places around Glasgow, but not actually in Glasgow itself, like Motherwell and Lanark and Hamilton,and at one stage Bellshill... we spent the best part of the day with Sean Dickson, once a Soup Dragon and now of the High Fidelity, and amongst other things he showed us where Sheena Easton spent much of her childhood, and indeed the hospital where she was born. This was an intensely moving moment for all of us."
It is fair to conclude that a large part of the appeal of the singer for Peel was the fact that he found her very attractive; something echoed in his affection for other females including Clare Grogan and Annette Funicello throughout the years.
Peelenium[]
- Peelenium 1980: 9 To 5
Other Shows Played[]
(The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further details if known.)
- 1981
- 12 January 1981: Take My Time (LP - Take My Time) EMI
- 1983
- 27 April 1983: 9 To 5 (7") EMI
- 26 December 1983: 9 To 5 (7") EMI EMI 5066
- 1993
- 07 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): '9 To 5 (7")' (EMI)
- 1999
- 24 June 1999: 9 To 5 (Glastonbury Mix)
- 02 December 1999: '9 To 5 (7")' (EMI) Peelenium 1980 (JP:"Really one of the great pop records of all time, although I'm ashamed to say I didn't play it on these programmes at the time.")
- 2001
- 21 June 2001: '9 To 5 (7")' (EMI)
- 2002
- 17 December 2002: '9 to 5 (7")' (EMI)
- Other
- John Peel's Record Box: '9 To 5 (7")' (EMI)
- John Peel Remembered: 9 To 5 (snippet)
- Best Of Peel & Jensen 80s: '9 To 5 (7")' (EMI)
Top Of The Pops[]
- 12 August 1982 (TOTP): 'Machinery'