Sheena Easton: Take My Time, CD

RE-PRESS: CD ORIGINALLY RELEASED IN 2009 .

• Sheena Easton was born on April 27th 1959 in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland and from the age of five wanted to be a pop singer. In 1979 her dream of becoming a pop singer would become a reality when one of Sheena’s tutors asked her to audition for Esther Rantzen who, at the time, was the producer of ’The Big Time’. EMI were contacted by the show and agreed to hold an audition for Sheena in London. She performed three songs in front of three EMI executives and Sheena gave the audition her all, belting out ‘You Light Up My Life’, ‘I’ve Got The Music In Me’ and ‘Feelings’. All three executives were suitably impressed and Sheena was signed for one year and moved from her bedsit in Glasgow to London.

• The next step was to find songs to launch Sheena into the pop arena. To do this EMI recruited the help of Chris Neil a well-known record producer whose previous successes included Dollar among many others. After an image revamp and advice from her idol Dusty Springfield, who thought Sheena was ‘wonderful’, Sheena then recorded her first single ‘Modern Girl’. EMI sent the recorded track to radio stations around the UK. It was welcomed by many stations, including Radio 1, where the track received very favourable responses from Simon Bates and David ‘Kid’ Jensen, who both thought the song would be a hit.

• When ’The Big Time’ was first aired on TV Sheena’s episode was watched by 20 million viewers where her distinctive vocal and striking good looks won the hearts of the British public. The mass exposure helped ‘Modern Girl’ and the follow-up single ‘9 To 5 (Morning Train)’ become smash hits and both singles catapulted into the top ten simultaneously.

• Huge chart success was topped off in February 1981 at the ‘Rock & Pop Awards’ with an award for ‘Best Female British Female Singer’ as voted by the British Public. By this time Sheena Easton was an international phenomenon scoring hits all over the world, most notably the US where ‘Morning Train (9 To 5)’ became an instant smash, hitting the top of the charts for two weeks in early ‘81.

• Sheena’s debut album ‘Take My Time’ was released in the UK in January 1981 and remained in the charts for 20 weeks. It was also a big success in the US, where it was retitled ’Sheena Easton’, quickly turning Gold shortly after release. The original album comprised of twelve predominantly pop songs with strong melodies, that cross over with ease to different genres of music, giving the album a diverse feel with mass appeal.

• Here are those 12 tracks with four bonus tracks which were originally b-sides to four 45s.