Sheena Easton ~ Modern Girl 1980 Disco Purrfection Version

The composing team of Dominic Bugatti and Frank Musker first appeared to me on the 1979 LP "Three D" by The Three Degrees which was produced by Giorgio Moroder and contained the original version of "My Simple Heart". A few years later in 1981, Carol Douglas did a supersized disco version of it that charted at #42 disco that was also heard in the movie "54". The songwriting duo had written a song called "I'm A Survivor" that was recorded by Patrick Juvet as "Pas Folle De Moi" with french lyrics for Barclay in 1982. When I got the Sheena Easton debut album in the mail from Columbia House, it was for the Bugatti/Musker concoction called "Modern Girl". I heard it on the radio and in the clubs around Quebec City and it was the first single released by Sheena Easton. She ended with a #1 pop hit with another song from that LP called "Morning Train (Nine To Five)". "Modern Girl" was the first single issued but did not catch on until it was re-released after "Morning Train" hit #1 and then peaked at #18. Sheena was born Sheena Shirley Orr on April 27, 1959 in Bellshill, Scotland. She was the youngest of six children and lost her father when she was 10. Sheena loved Barbra Streisand and inspired her to pursue a vocal career. She studied at the the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 1979 as a teacher of drama and speech. She then married the first of her four husbands, Sandi Easton and it lasted eight months. Sheena decided to keep her married name as her stage name. She had already joined her first band by the time she was 17 and then subsequently accepted the offer of another band that was performing at a local hotel. Sheena had big dreams of a successful recording career and accepted a casting call from the BBC tv reality show called "The Big Time" that was going to cover her search for success. The cameras recorded everything related to her quest to secure a record contract. The BBC arranged the interview with EMI Records UK head of A&R, Brian Shepherd. As she sang for him, the cameras were rolling and an incredulous Shepherd was impressed and decided to take a chance on the fledgling star and signed her. Pairing her with pop producer Christopher Neil, who had successes with several UK artists including Paul Nicholas, who had a major US hit with the Buggati/Musker penned "Heaven On The Seventh Floor" in 1977. "Modern Girl" was released as a single ahead of the BBC broadcast and it tanked at #56 on the UK chart. The show aired in the summer of 1980 just before the release of the "Morning Train (Nine To Five) and this time the UK took notice. The song beat a path to #3 powered by her TV appearance, revitalizing "Modern Girl" with it and this time it peaked at #6 UK. Sheena became a sensation being the first female to have two singles in the top 10 UK since Ruby Murray did the deed in 1956. Her career skyrocketed after that, she did a Royal Command performance for the Queen Mother and beat out Blondie to record the theme for the new James Bond film, "For Your Eyes Only", "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" hit #1 in the US and she won a Grammy as Best New Artist of 1981. Her first five singles went top 30 US, then subsequent offerings failed to reach top 50. She hit back with her duet with Kenny Rogers, a cover of the Bob Seger classic, "We've Got Tonight" and followed that up with "Telefone", "Strut" and then the Prince-penned "Sugar Walls" that peaked at #3 on the R&B Charts and in the process conquered the Pop, Country and the Black Singles Chart. She went one better when she accepted a Grammy in 1985 for "Best Mexican-American Performance" for her duet with Luis Miguel, "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres". That same year she released the Nile Rodgers produced "Do You" that went gold in the US. 1987's "No Sound But A Heart" sank into obscurity but her collaborations with Prince kept her in the pop audiences radar with "The Lover In Me", "The Arms Of Orion" and most famously in "U Got The Look" where Prince was yanked away from her by his hair by another woman near the end of the video.

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