Sheena Easton. Photo courtesy Susan Holder Music.
You probably know Grammy Award-winning artist Sheena Easton by her hit “Strut,” or maybe from “Sugar Walls,” written by collaborator Prince:
Of course, there’s a lot about the 80s icon that you might not know.
Easton is the only artist — ever — to have a Top 5 hit on each of Billboard’s primary singles charts. They are “Morning Train (Nine to Five)” on Pop and Adult Contemporary; “We’ve Got Tonight” with Kenny Rogers on Country and Adult Contemporary; and “Sugar Walls” on R&B and Dance.
One of the most successful British female recording artists of the 80s, Easton also released an album recorded entirely in Spanish with 1984’s “Todo Me Recuerda a Ti,” a critically acclaimed album of jazz standards with 1993’s “No Strings” and an album of classic disco covers, 2000’s “Fabulous.”
The Scottish-born singer is an accomplished actor on both Broadway and the West End as well, having starred in productions of “Man of La Mancha,” “Grease,” and “42nd Street.” Having headlined shows there for two decades and counting, Easton was also inducted into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame in 2004.
On June 25, she’ll perform at Cocktail’s main stage in the Grand Central District for St Pete Pride‘s “Pride in Grand Central” street fair. It’s a key part of the month-long celebration, detailed below:
Easton spoke with Watermark ahead of her stop at Florida’s largest Pride about her celebrated career, working with Prince and performing for LGBTQ+ fans at Pride.
WATERMARK: You play Florida rather frequently: How do you prepare for a Pride performance like this one, compared to a performance at The Villages or EPCOT?
Sheena Easton: You know, honestly, I don’t do anything differently. Unless I’m doing a special content show, if it’s with a symphony and a theme, like a spy theme. But when I’m doing a Sheena Easton show, I do a Sheena Easton show! The tone and the content and the vibe of the show, it’s the same. I think I’ve been able to perform for all of these years without putting out new material and without having to have a hit because my core audience knows they’re gonna see me; they’re gonna get me just being me.
We’re hoping you’ll do some material from your fabulous “Fabulous” album! It isn’t very well known in the U.S. because it never got a proper release here.
Not at all … It was done specifically for Europe by some British record producers. We didn’t promote it anywhere else, really. I flew over to London to shoot the promotional videos for it. It was very much for that part of the world. We did a live show at G.A.Y., which is, you probably know, a great club over there in London … when I perform tracks from that on stage, it doesn’t get a huge recognition from a lot of people, except for my gay followers. They know it, they went out and bought it, they ordered it, you know?
It’s not widely recognized, but neither is “No Strings,” which is an album that I did do in the States. That’s one that not a lot of people bought either, so, I’ve got a few of those. (Laughs.) That you can put that into that column!
Let’s call them hidden gems!
Not everything was a runaway smash, let’s just say that!
That was also around the time that you performed at Sydney Mardi Gras.
Yeah, oh God, that was awesome! That was huge! I was the closer, and I closed at 10 in the morning or something, because the event went on all night long. It was crazy!
What are some of your other memories from that event? It’s one of the largest Pride events in the world.
Just the overwhelming sense of the scope of it and the size of it, and the pride of the community. The sense of togetherness; they had so many events! I know a lot of Prides do that. It gives great support and people really work in the community to keep that support and that awareness alive.
St Pete Pride is like that. It has events going on all month long and is the largest in Florida, where some people say performers shouldn’t go since there have been anti-LGBTQ+ laws passed. Have you gotten any pushback?
It’s like when I was invited to go perform many, many years ago in South Africa at a huge resort and casino there, for a vast amount of money. I completely turned it down and said, “No, because they were not anti-apartheid yet.” They were still segregated. They assured me there would be people of color allowed into the audience, but, of course, they would be segregated. So that was something easy to say absolutely no to, because that would be supporting that political regime.
I think it’s different going to a Pride event in Florida, because it’s like working from within to make the change. If artists show up to Pride events, doesn’t that say you support the gay community? It should. Hopefully it should.
I’ve always had such a cross-section of people coming to see my shows, Pride or not, no matter where I am. I’ve always had a strong gay following, a strong “older people” following … I’ve always had a broad section of people in the audience and I’ve always made a point of “We get together to celebrate the music.”
I’ve done many Pride events. I just recently did a huge LGBTQ+ cruise, back in February. I think that anyone who bothers to take a second to find out who I am knows I’m a strong supporter of LGBTQ+, and I’ve never made a secret of that. And if people don’t like that, then that’s their problem.
What was your experience like on that cruise?
Well, I’ll tell you one thing: this was one of the most fun things that we ever did. In fact, the band and I have talked about the fact that we hope we get to come back and do this particular cruise again. Because it was so well run, and so well organized. And we just had a blast doing it.
And I have to say, people were really nice! You know, any cruise that you do, any cruise you perform on, you think, “Oh my God, if I go up to the restaurant, I’m not going to be able to eat, because I’m gonna be taking too many pictures with people to literally eat anything.” People were cool! They would let me be, and then they’d come up at the end, and go, “Miss E., I see you’re finished; can I have a picture?”
How did “Sugar Walls” come to be and what was it like working with Prince?
Prince sent it to me; he had seen me on “The Tonight Show” and was inspired to write something for me. My sound engineer, who was also doing some work for Prince, came into the studio we were recording in and said, “Hey, Prince sent this tape over for you, it’s a song he wrote for you, and if you like it, he wants to know if you wanna come in and put vocals on it.” I went into the studio and recorded it with him, and we became friends during that process.
We had a very similar sense of humor — that was one of the things that drew me to him. He had this incredible mystique and charisma and mystery about him and all of that great rock star stuff that he presented to the world. But when you got him one on one, he was hysterical. He would tease me like crazy, and make fun of me, which I love — I love getting roasted by my friends. We ended up doing quite a few projects together.
Any time he performed it was magic, and it felt that way in the studio too. Of all the producers I’ve ever worked with, he was the most “free.” He was the one who didn’t stick to the plan. Most producers map out what they want the song to sound like, they have a real “thing” that they wanna do. But he was always open to accidents happening. Something would happen, and he’d go, “Oh, that sounds pretty cool. Let’s try more of that.”
When we did “U Got The Look,” I was coming in at the wrong time, like an answer; that’s not how it was originally planned. And he went, “I like that, let’s keep that up.” That’s a small example of it.
When we would do a song and I would go off on a tangent with the melody, if he liked it he’d say, “I’m keeping that cause I like it better.” And if he didn’t like it, he’d go, “Well that was not good, girl, what’cha doing?”
He was very open. He taught me a lot about that, a lot about not being afraid to just let things happen.
Because it’s an art.
It is an art. But a lot of people are afraid, a lot of people have a formula. They’re like, this is what’s working right now, this is my quote “sound.” And they don’t wanna change it. He was not like that at all. He created his own sound as it came to him.
The lyrics to “Sugar Walls” weren’t “on brand” for anyone back then.
Well, the album I was recording at the time had “Strut” on there. Now, “Strut” is not as, I guess, racy as “Sugar Walls.” But it’s a strong female song; it’s about strutting your stuff, and telling a guy, “Hey, this ain’t cool; this is all you want from me? Get off.”
I wasn’t just doing cute little Mary Poppins kind of stuff at the time. I was definitely at a point in my life where I felt I was growing up and I was more secure in my femininity and my strength as a woman. I loved the vibe of “Sugar Walls,” I loved the sound of it, I loved everything about it.
To me, it’s still a double-entendre song. It’s like any other decent lyric: you can read into it whatever you want to read into it!
Exactly. It could be about a gingerbread house, for all we know.
And I believe that’s what it is about: what do you think it’s about? Gingerbread houses are very sweet and very spicy.
Turning to your theater experience, are there any shows out there you’re a big fan of and think, “If I was going to do that again, that’s a show I would be in?”
I don’t know if there’s a particular show that I go, “Oh, I’d like to be in that.” Because, often, when I see shows and I go, “Oh, this was wonderful,” I remind myself what it means to be in a Broadway or a West End production. Every time that I’ve done it, I’ve hesitated before I’ve said yes, because it takes over your life. It is your life. There is nothing else in your world but that for the time that you’re in it.
When I did “42nd Street” in London, it was awesome, because it was a perfect part for me. I mean, playing Dorothy Brock, c’mon, at my age? What a perfect part. And it was a great experience for a year.
I see shows now and I go, “That music is gorgeous, I’d love to sing that.” And I remind myself, “Hey, you can always just do the great songs from it in a symphony production now and then; you don’t have to do eight a week.”
Like, Dolly is a great part — it’s age-appropriate for me. It would be a great show to do… but do I wanna do eight a week? Mama Rose; there’s certain great parts… but I would really have to think long and hard about committing to having that take over my life at this point.
Sheena Easton will perform June 25 on Cocktail’s Cock’d N Loaded mainstage, located at 2355 Central Avenue. in St. Petersburg. For more information about the venue and its St Pete Pride 2023 entertainment, click here.
Read Watermark’s in-depth coverage about St Pete Pride 2023 here.
