Easton may refer to:

Locations[link]

Easton meaning 'eastern settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Easton include:

Given name[link]

• Easton Corbin, American country music singer

Surname[link]

• Adam Easton, English Roman Catholic cardinal
• Amos Easton (1905-1968), better known as Bumble Bee Slim, American blues musician
• Bruck Easton, Canadian lawyer
• Clint Easton, English professional footballer
• David Easton, political scientist
• Dossie Easton, American family therapist
• Elliot Easton, guitarist for The Cars
• Jack Easton (GC), Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, winner of the George Cross
• Mark Easton, BBC News Home Editor
• Matthew George Easton, Scottish Presbyterian preacher and writer
• Michael Easton, American television actor
• Michael Easton, an Australian composer
• Nicholas Easton, colonial governor of Rhode Island
• Peter Easton, pirate
• Robert Easton (actor), American actor who provided voices for Stingray, a TV series
• Robert Easton (bass), British singer
• Roger L. Easton, inventor of GPS
• Sam Easton, actor
• Sheena Easton, pop singer
• Tim Easton, American guitarist
• William Easton, Scottish footballer
• William Bigelow Easton, a mathematician, discovered Easton's theorem

Other[link]

• Easton (company), manufacturer of sports equipment
• Easton Corbin (album), an album by Easton Corbin

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Easton Corbin
Easton Corbin being interviewed.
Background information
Born	(1982-04-12) April 12, 1982 (age 30)[1]
Origin	Trenton, Florida, USA[2]
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer-Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	2009-present
Labels	Mercury Nashville
Associated acts	Carson Chamberlain Rory Lee Feek
Website	www.eastoncorbin.com

Easton Corbin (born April 12, 1982) is an American country music singer. He signed to Mercury Records Nashville in 2009 and released his self-titled debut album in March 2010, featuring the two Number One hits "A Little More Country Than That" and "Roll With It", as well as the top 15 hit "I Can't Love You Back".

Biography[link]

Easton Corbin is a native of Gilchrist County, Florida. He lived on his grandparents' farm following his parents' divorce, and was introduced to country music-themed television programs such as Hee Haw. After taking guitar lessons from session musician Pee Wee Melton at age fourteen, Corbin joined a band, which won an opening slot at a music festival, followed by opening slots for Janie Fricke and Mel McDaniel.

Corbin later attended the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and earned an agribusiness degree, before marrying his wife, Briann, on September 2, 2006. He and Briann then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, on October 14, 2006,^[3] where he worked at an Ace Hardware store and performed at writers' nights. A distant cousin, who is a professor of entertainment management, recommended Corbin to contacts in Nashville, Tennessee.^[4]

Music career[link]

[edit] 2009-2011: Easton Corbin

Joe Fisher, senior director of A&R at Universal Music Group Nashville, signed Corbin to the Mercury Nashville label in 2009.^[4] He released his debut single, "A Little More Country Than That", in July of that same year.^[4] Rory Lee Feek of Joey + Rory wrote the song with Don Poythress and Wynn Varble.^[4] The label released a four-song digital extended play entitled A Little More Country Than That on August 18, 2009,^[3] shortly before the single entered Top 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Corbin's self-titled debut album was released in March 2010, under the production of Carson Chamberlain.^[2] The album had first-week sales of 43,000 copies, making for the highest first-week sales on the Mercury Nashville label in seven years.^[5]

"A Little More Country Than That" peaked at Number One on the country charts dated for the week ending April 3, 2010,^[6][7][8] making Corbin the first solo male country artist to send a debut single to Number One since Dierks Bentley's "What Was I Thinkin'" in 2003.^[9][10] "Roll with It" was released as the album's second single, which also hit Number One in October 2010. The album's third and final single, "I Can't Love You Back," released to radio on November 8, 2010, and reached a peak of number 14 on the Hot Country Songs chart in early 2011.

To promote Easton Corbin, he went on tour as an opening act for Brad Paisley's H20 World Tour, which began in May 2010.^[9]

[edit] 2012-present: All Over the Road

Easton Corbin released his fourth single, "Lovin' You Is Fun," on February 13, 2012. It serves as the lead-off single to his forthcoming second studio album, All Over the Road, which will be released in 2012.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

• ^A Current single.

Music videos[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers^[1] (born August 21, 1938) is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. Though he has been most successful with country audiences, he has charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres and topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone.

Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, are featured in the About.com poll of "The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever".^[2] He was voted the "Favorite Singer of All-Time" in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People.^[3] He has received numerous such awards as the AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003.^[4]

Later success includes the 2006 album release, Water & Bridges, an across the board hit, that peaked at #5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting high in the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, "I Can't Unlove You," was also a chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, the following year he completed a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland, telling BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright his favorite hit was "The Gambler". He has also acted in a variety of movies and television shows, most notably the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler and the MacShayne series as well as his appearance on The Muppet Show.^[5][6]

Personal life[link]

Rogers was born in Houston, Texas, in 1938, the fourth of seven children born to Lucille (née Hester; d. 1991), a nurse, and Edward Floyd Rogers (d. 1975), a carpenter.^[7] Rogers graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in Houston.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

His career began in the mid 1950s when he recorded with a doo-wop group called The Scholars, who had some success with a single called "Poor Little Doggie." Rogers was not the lead singer of the group and after two more singles they disbanded when their leader went solo.

Now on his own, Kenneth Rogers (as he was billed then) followed the breakup with his own single, a minor solo hit called "That Crazy Feeling" (1958). After sales slowed down, Rogers joined a jazz group called The Bobby Doyle Trio, who got a lot of work in clubs thanks to a reasonable fan following and also recorded for Columbia Records. The group disbanded in 1965, and a 1966 jazzy rock single Rogers recorded for Mercury Records, called "Here's That Rainy Day" failed. Rogers also worked as a producer, writer and session musician for other performers; including country artists Mickey Gilley and Eddy Arnold. In 1966 he joined The New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player.

Feeling that the Minstrels were not offering the success they wanted, Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams, and Thelma Camacho left the group. They formed The First Edition in 1967 (later renamed "Kenny Rogers and The First Edition"). They chalked up a string of hits on both the pop and country charts, including "Something's Burning", "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town", "Reuben James" and "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." In his First Edition days, Rogers had something of a hippie image, sporting long brown hair, an earring, and pink sunglasses.

When the group split in 1976, Rogers launched his solo career. Rogers soon developed a more middle of the road sound, with a somewhat rough but tuneful voiced style that sold to both pop and country audiences; to date, he has charted more than 60 top 40 hit singles (including upwards of 25 #1's) and 50 of his albums have charted. His music has also been featured in top selling movie soundtracks, such as Convoy, Urban Cowboy and The Big Lebowski.^[8][9]

Solo career[link]

Rogers in 1981.

After leaving The First Edition in 1976, after almost a decade with the group, Rogers signed a solo deal with United Artists. Butler and Rogers began a partnership that would last four years.

Rogers first outing for his new label was Love Lifted Me. The album charted and two singles "Love Lifted Me" and "While the Feeling's Good" were minor hits. The song "Runaway Girl" was featured in the motion picture Trackdown. Later in 1976, Rogers issued his second album, the self-titled Kenny Rogers, whose first single "Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got)", was another solo hit.

The single "Lucille" (1977) was a major hit, reaching number one on the pop charts in 12 countries, selling over five million copies, and firmly establishing Rogers' post-First Edition career. On the strength of "Lucille", the album Kenny Rogers reached #1 in the Billboard Country Album Chart. More success was to follow, including the multi-million selling album The Gambler and another international Number 1 single, "Coward of the County", taken from the equally successful album, Kenny. In 1980, the Rogers/Butler partnership came to an end, though they would occasionally reunite: in 1987 on the album I Prefer the Moonlight and again in 1993 on the album If Only My Heart Had a Voice.

In the late 1970s, Rogers teamed up with close friend and country singer Dottie West for a series of albums and duets. Together the duo had three hit albums, selling out stadiums and arenas while on tour. Their hits together "Every Time Two Fools Collide", "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight" and "What Are We Doin' in Love" became Country standards. Of West, Rogers stated in a 1995 TNN interview "She, more than anybody else I ever worked with, sang with such emotion that you actually believed what she sang." Rogers was with West when she died after sustaining injuries in a 1991 car accident. In 1995 he starred opposite Michele Lee in the CBS biopic Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story.^{[citation needed]}

In 1980, his duet with Kim Carnes "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" became a major hit. Later in 1980 came his partnership with Lionel Richie who wrote and produced Rogers' #1 hit "Lady". Richie went on to write and produce Rogers' 1981 album Share Your Love, a chart topper and commercial favorite featuring hits such as "I Don't Need You" (Pop #3), "Through the Years" (Pop #13), and "Share Your Love with Me" (Pop #14). His first Christmas album was also released that same year. In 1982, Rogers released the album Love Will Turn You Around. The Love Will Turn You Around (song) reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the country and AC charts. due to its exposure as the theme song of Rogers' 1982 film Six Pack. Shortly after he started working with producer David Foster in 1983 recording the smash Bob Seger cover "We've Got Tonight", a duet with Sheena Easton.

He went on to work with the Bee Gees to record and produce his 1983 hit album Eyes That See in the Dark, featuring the title track and yet another #1 hit "Islands in the Stream", a duet with Dolly Parton. The Gibbs originally wrote the song for Marvin Gaye in an R&B style, only later to change it for the Kenny Rogers album.^[10] The partnership with Bee Gees only lasted one album, which was not a surprise considering that Rogers' original intentions were to work with Barry Gibb in only one song but Barry insisted on them doing the entire album.

"Islands in the Stream", Rogers' duet with Dolly Parton, was the first single to be released from Eyes That See in the Dark in the United States, and it quickly went to #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 (it would prove to be the last country single to reach #1 on that chart until "Amazed" by Lonestar did so in 2000), as well as topping Billboard's country and adult contemporary singles charts; it was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping two million copies in the United States. Rogers would reunite with Parton in 1984 for a holiday album and TV special, Once Upon a Christmas, as well as a 1985 duet "Real Love", which also topped the U.S. country singles chart.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the "Islands in the Stream"s success, however, RCA insisted on releasing Eyes' title track as the first UK single, and the song stalled at a disappointing #61 there, although it did stay in the top 100 for several weeks (when it was eventually released in the United States, it was more successful, charting high on the Adult Contemporary chart and making the country top 30). "Islands in the Stream" was issued as a followup single in Britain and sold well, making #7. The album itself reached #1 on the country charts on both sides of the Atlantic and enjoyed multi-million sales. "Buried Treasure," "This Woman" and "Evening Star"/"Midsummer Nights" were also all successful singles from the album.

Shortly after came the album What About Me?, a hit whose title track, a trio performance with James Ingram and Kim Carnes, was nominated for a Grammy award; the single "Crazy" (not to be confused with the Willie Nelson-penned Patsy Cline hit) topped the country charts. David Foster was to work again with Rogers in his 1985 album The Heart of the Matter, although this time Foster was playing backing music rather than producing, a role given to George Martin. This album was another success, going to #1, with the title track making to the top ten category in the singles charts.

The next few years saw Rogers scoring several top country hits on a regular basis, including "Twenty Years Ago," "Morning Desire," "Tomb of the Unknown Love", among others. On January 28, 1985 Rogers was one of the 45 artists who recorded the worldwide charity song "We Are the World" to support hunger victims in Africa. The following year he played at Giants Stadium.^{[citation needed]}

In January 1987, Rogers co-hosted the American Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In 1988 Rogers won a grammy "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" with Ronnie Milsap — "Make No Mistake, She's Mine". In the 1990s Rogers continued to chart with singles such as "Crazy In Love", "If You Want To Find Love" and "The Greatest". His second Christmas album entitled "Christmas in America" was released in 1989 for Reprise Records. From 1991-94, Rogers hosted The Real West on A&E, and on The History Channel since 1995 (Reruns only on The History Channel). He visited Miller's during this time period. From 1992-95, Rogers co-owned and headlined Branson, Missouri's 4,000 seat Grand Palace Theatre. In 1994, Rogers released his "dream" album titled Timepiece on Atlantic Records. It consisted of 1930s/40s jazz standards; it was the type of music he performed in his early days with The Bobby Doyle Three in Houston.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996 he released an album Vote For Love where the public requested their favorite love songs and Rogers performed the songs (several of his own hits were in there). The album was the first for the TV shopping channel QVC's record label, onQ Music. The album, sold exclusively by QVC, was a huge success and was later issued in stores under a variety of different titles. It reached #1 in the UK country charts under the title Love Songs (a title also used for various compilations) and also crossed over into the mainstream charts.

In 1999 Rogers scored with the single "The Greatest", a song about life from a child's point of view (looked at through a baseball game). The song reached the top 40 of Billboard's Country singles chart and was a Country Music Television Number One video. It was on Rogers' album She Rides Wild Horses the following year (itself a top 10 success). In 1999, Rogers also produced a song, "We've Got It All", specifically for the series finale of the ABC show Home Improvement. Not on any album, the recording sells for a high sum at auction.^{[citation needed]}

Beyond the 1990s[link]

Kenny Rogers in 2004

In the 21st century, Rogers was back at #1 for the first time in more than a decade with the 2000 single "Buy Me a Rose". In doing so, he broke a 26-year-old record held by Hank Snow (who, in April 1974, was 59 years and 11 months old when he scored with "Hello Love"). Rogers held the record until 2003, when then 70-year-old Willie Nelson became the oldest artist to have a No. 1 on the country charts with his duet with Toby Keith, "Beer for My Horses".

Although Rogers did not record new albums for a couple of years, he continued to have success in many countries with more greatest hits packages. In 2004 42 Ultimate Hits, which was the first hits collection to span his days with the First Edition to the present, reached Number 6 on the American country charts and went gold. It also featured two new songs, "My World Is Over" with Whitney Duncan and "We Are the Same". "My World Is Over" was released as a single and was a minor hit. In 2005 The Very Best of Kenny Rogers, a double album, sold well in Europe. It was the first new solo Kenny Rogers hits album to reach the United Kingdom for over a decade, despite many compilations there that were not true hits packages.

Rogers also signed with Capitol Records and had more success with the TV advertised release 21 Number Ones in January 2006. Although this CD did contain 21 chart-toppers as the title claims (recorded between 1976 and the present day), this was not a complete collection of Rogers' #1 singles, omitting such singles as "Crazy in Love" and "What About Me?"

Much of his success was during the period from 1976 to 1983, when he was signed to United Artists and later Liberty. It is very rare for an artist of Rogers' age to be signed to a major label. Capitol followed 21 Number Ones with Rogers' new studio album, Water And Bridges, in March 2006 on the Capitol Nashville Records label. The first single from the album was "I Can't Unlove You" which peaked at # 1 7 on the country charts, after spending over 6 months on the hit list, more than 50 years after he formed his first group and 38 years after his first major hit as leader of The First Edition; the song remains in recurrent airplay on some radio stations today. "I Can't Unlove You" was followed up with the second single from the album, "The Last Ten Years (Superman)", in September 2006. The third single, "Calling Me," which features Don Henley, became popular in early 2007, and was nominated for a Grammy Award at the 2007 Grammy Awards. Also in 2007, the 1977 "Kenny Rogers" album was re-issued as a double play CD, also featuring the 1979 "Kenny" album and this once again put Rogers' name into the sales charts worldwide. The following year, another compilation album ("A Love Song Collection") also charted. He currently lives in Atlanta.

As of 2011 Rogers has recorded 65 albums and sold over 190 million records.^[11][12]

On August 26, 2008, Rogers released "50 Years"^[13] exclusively at Cracker Barrel stores. The album includes some of Rogers' greatest hits, plus 3 new songs. The release is designed to celebrate Rogers' 50th year in the music business. However, it should be noted Rogers has been in the music business for more than 50 years including his releases with The Scholars, who recorded for a local label in Houston. 1958 was the year he signed his first recording deal with a major label. In 2007 the England national rugby union team team adopted Rogers song "The Gambler" as their unofficial 2007 Rugby World Cup anthem,^[14] after hearing prop Matt Stevens playing it in the team hotel. Before the Semi-final against France and the Final against South Africa, Rogers sent video messages of support to the team in light of them choosing his song. He offered to come to England and party with the team if they won the World Cup.

In 2008 Rogers toured with his Christmas Show. He split the show up, making the first half his "best of" and the second half his Christmas songs. One such show was at Mohegan Sun Casino^[15] in Uncasville, Connecticut.

In 2009 he toured the United Kingdom. In 2009, Rogers embarked on his 50th Anniversary Tour. The tour went around the United States, Britain and Ireland.

On April 10, 2010, a TV special was taped, Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years. Dolly Parton and Lionel Richie were among those set to perform with Kenny during a show celebrating his contribution to country, blues and pop music, It took place at the MGM Grand in Foxwoods. This special is set debut on March 8, 2011 on Great American Country.^{[dated info]}

Outside music[link]

Rogers also had success as an actor. His 1982 movie Six Pack, in which he played a race-car driver, took more than $20 million at the United States box office, while made-for-TV movies such as The Gambler, Christmas in America, and Coward of the County (based on hit songs of his) topped ratings lists.

As an entrepreneur, he collaborated with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown, Jr. in 1991 to start up the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters. The chicken and ribs chain, which is similar to Boston Market, was famously featured in an episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld called "The Chicken Roaster". On the November 27, 1997, broadcast of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Rogers could not pick his chicken out in a taste test, claiming he preferred "greasy burgers."^{[citation needed]}

Rogers and his restaurant were subjects of comedy from MADtv, especially the impersonation done by Will Sasso; the sketch of the faux-Rogers hosting Jackass became popular on the Internet.

Rogers put his name to the Gambler Chassis Co., a Sprint car racing manufacturer started by C. K. Spurlock in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The company used the name from Rogers hit song The Gambler. During the 1980s/90s, Gambler was one of the fastest and widely used Sprintcars with such drivers as Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell and Doug Wolfgang driving the cars to victory in the World of Outlaws and the famous Knoxville Nationals. Gambler sprintcars were also successful in Australia with drivers such as Garry Rush and Steve Brazier using Gamblers to win multiple Australian Sprintcar Championships.

Rogers appeared in a 2004 episode of Reno 911 as himself being subjected to incompetent security provided by starstruck sheriff's deputies to comical effect.

Marriages[link]

• Wanda Miller, June 1, 1997 – present; 2 children
• Marianne Gordon, October 1, 1977 – 1993, divorced; 1 child
• Margo Anderson, October 1964 – 1976, divorced; 1 child
• Jean Rogers, October 1960 – 1963, divorced
• Janice Gordon, May 15, 1958 – April 1960, divorced; 1 child^[16]

Discography[link]

Awards/Honors[link]

Record labels[link]

The following is a list of record labels to which Rogers signed:

• Cue (1957, with the band The Scholars and also as a solo singer)
• Carlton (1958, solo deal)
• KenLee (one single, label owned by Rogers and his brother Lelan)
• Columbia (1960s, with jazz combo, The Bobby Doyle Three)
• Reprise (1967, with The First Edition, all material recorded during this time has since been acquired by Universal Music)
• Jolly Rogers (1973, with The First Edition, label was owned by Rogers)
• United Artists (1975, solo deal)
• Liberty (1980, United Artists merged into EMI/Capitol in 1980; some pressings of albums were issued on Capitol's imprint labels, EMI, EMI America, and EMI Manhattan.)
• RCA (1983, solo deal)
• Reprise (1989, solo deal)
• Giant (1993, one solo album)
• Atlantic (1994, one solo album)
• onQ Music (1996, one solo album; onQ Music was created by the QVC Network to release exclusive albums for sale only on QVC. The first onQ release was Rogers' Vote for Love, a two-disc set that would later become available in standard retail stores.)
• Magnatone (1996, solo deal)
• Dreamcatcher (1998, solo deal; Dreamcatcher was owned and run by Rogers and Jim Mazza for the purpose of releasing Rogers albums and certain reissues of Rogers' catalog. Other artists such as Marshall Dyllon and Randy Dorman were released on Dreamcatcher Records, also. The label closed in 2004)
• Capitol Nashville (2004, solo deal)

See also[link]

• Brady Hawkes

References[link]

External links[link]

	Book: Kenny Rogers
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Kenny Rogers at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Delafont.com profile
• Allmusic.com profile
• CMT.com profile
• Kenny Rogers' Classic Weekend 1988
• Goldsmith, Thomas. (1998). "Kenny Rogers". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 455–6.

v t e Kenny Rogers Studio albums Love Lifted Me Kenny Rogers Daytime Friends Love or Something Like It The Gambler Kenny Gideon Share Your Love Love Will Turn You Around We've Got Tonight Eyes That See in the Dark The Heart of the Matter Love Is What We Make It They Don't Make Them Like They Used To I Prefer the Moonlight Something Inside So Strong Love Is Strange Back Home Again If Only My Heart Had a Voice Vote for Love Across My Heart She Rides Wild Horses There You Go Again Back to the Well Water & Bridges The Love of God Collaboration albums Every Time Two Fools Collide (with Dottie West) Classics (with Dottie West) What About Me? (with Kim Carnes and James Ingram) Timepiece (with David Foster) Christmas albums Christmas Once Upon a Christmas Christmas in America The Gift Christmas from the Heart Christmas with Kenny Christmas Collection Notable singles "That Crazy Feeling" "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" "But You Know I Love You" "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" "Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got)" "Lucille" "Daytime Friends" "Sweet Music Man" "Every Time Two Fools Collide" (with Dottie West) "Love or Something Like It" "The Gambler" "All I Ever Need Is You" (with Dottie West) "She Believes in Me" "'Til I Can Make It on My Own" (with Dottie West) "You Decorated My Life" "Coward of the County" "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" (with Kim Carnes) "Love the World Away" "Lady" "I Don't Need You" "Share Your Love with Me" "Blaze of Glory" "Through the Years" "Love Will Turn You Around" "A Love Song" "We've Got Tonight" (with Sheena Easton) "All My Life" "Scarlet Fever" "Islands in the Stream" (with Dolly Parton) "Buried Treasure" "Together Again" (with Dottie West) "What About Me?" (with Kim Carnes and James Ingram) "Crazy" "Morning Desire" "Goodbye Marie" "Tomb of the Unknown Love" "Twenty Years Ago" "Make No Mistake, She's Mine" "I Prefer the Moonlight" "The Factory" "I Don't Call Him Daddy" "Planet Texas" "The Vows Go Unbroken (Always True to You)" "Maybe" "Love Is Strange" "Crazy in Love" "If You Want to Find Love" "The Greatest" "Buy Me a Rose" (with Alison Krauss and Billy Dean) Guest singles "What Are We Doin' in Love" "Real Love" Related articles Discography The First Edition United Artists Records Liberty Records RCA Records Reprise Records Kenny Rogers Roasters Book:Kenny Rogers

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2008)

Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton on 7 November 2009
Background information
Birth name	Sheena Shirley Orr
Born	(1959-04-27) 27 April 1959 (age 53)
Origin	Bellshill, Scotland
Genres	Adult Contemporary, Pop/Rock, Dance, R&B, Country
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, producer, actress, voiceover, designer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1980–present
Labels	EMI UK, EMI US, MCA, Universal
Website	www.sheenaeaston.com

Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr; 27 April 1959) is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records. Easton is a two-time Grammy winner and has 15 US Top 40 singles on the Billboard US Pop Singles chart to date. She is the only artist in the history of the Billboard chart to have a Top Five single on all the key charts: Pop/Rock, R&B, Country, Dance, and Adult Contemporary.

Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop hits "9 to 5" (known as "Morning Train" in the United States), "For Your Eyes Only," "Strut," "Sugar Walls," "U Got the Look" with Prince, and "The Lover in Me." She went on to become successful in the United States and Japan, working with prominent vocalists and producers, such as Prince, Christopher Neil, Kenny Rogers, Luis Miguel, L.A. Reid and Babyface, and Nile Rodgers.

Early life[link]

Easton was born Sheena Shirley Orr in the Scottish town of Bellshill, the youngest of six children to steel mill labourer Alex Orr and his wife Annie. She had two brothers (Robert and Alex) and three sisters (Marilyn, Annessa and Morag). Her earliest known public performance as a singer was at the age of five (in 1964), when she sang "Early One Morning" for her uncle and aunt and various relatives at the couple's 25th wedding anniversary celebration.^{[citation needed]}

Easton's father died in 1969 and her mother had to support the family. Easton's website states that despite her mother's heavy workload she was always available for her children: "Sheena always speaks very highly of her mum and the wonderful job she did in bringing up her and her siblings, including teaching each of them all to read at home before they were even enrolled in school."^[1]

Easton did not consider a singing career until viewing the movie The Way We Were, with Barbra Streisand. Streisand's singing over the opening credits "overtook" the young Scottish girl and convinced her that what she wanted most was to be a singer and to have the same effect on others.^{[citation needed]} Her top grades in school earned her a scholarship to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, where she trained from 1975 to 1979 as a speech and drama teacher by day, while singing with a band called "Something Else" by night at local clubs.^{[citation needed]} She chose to study teaching rather than performing, because it was a course of study that would let her perfect her craft as a singer.^{[citation needed]}

In 1979, she married Sandi Easton, the first of her four husbands. They divorced after eight months, and Sheena decided to keep the surname Easton. That year, one of her Academy tutors coaxed her into auditioning for Esther Rantzen, producer of the BBC programme The Big Time. Rantzen was planning a documentary film to chronicle a relative unknown's rise to pop-music stardom. Easton was selected as the subject for the programme, where she met Lulu (another Scottish singer), who told her that she was unlikely to make the "big time."^{[citation needed]} Within a year of the programme airing, Sheena Easton proved Lulu wrong as EMI executives awarded her a contract, and Christopher Neil was assigned as her recording producer. Deke Arlon became her first manager, and Easton spent much of 1980 being followed by camera crews, who filmed her throughout the process of making her first EMI single, "Modern Girl".

Career[link]

[edit] 1981–83: "9 to 5", James Bond, Take My Time

Her first single, the disco-tinged soft-synth-pop tune, "Modern Girl", was released in the UK before the show aired and reached #56. At the end of the show, Easton was still unsure of her future as a singer. The question was soon resolved when, after the show aired, her second single, "9 to 5", reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1980. "Modern Girl" re-entered the chart subsequently and climbed into the top 10, and Easton found herself with two songs in the top 10 simultaneously. During the year 1980, Sheena was voted "Best British Female Singer" by the Daily Mirror Pop & Rock Awards, "Best Newcomer" by Capital Radio, and "Best Female Singer" by the TV Times Readers Awards.^{[citation needed]}

"9 to 5" was Easton's first single release in the United States, although it was renamed "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" for its release in the US and Canada to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton's hit movie title song "9 to 5." "Morning Train" became Easton's first and only #1 hit in the US and topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in Billboard magazine. "Modern Girl" was released as the follow-up and peaked at #18, and before 1981 was over Sheena had a Top 10 hit in both the US and UK with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme For Your Eyes Only. The song was nominated for an Academy Award in 1981 in the category "Best Music (Original Song)."^[2] Easton's US success culminated in her winning the Grammy Award for "Best New Artist" of 1981.

Easton's first three US albums, Sheena Easton (a.k.a. Take My Time), You Could Have Been With Me, and Madness, Money and Music, were all in the same Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary pop vein (although she made a grab for the New Wave audience with "Machinery," from the latter album).^{[citation needed]} The title track from You Could Have Been With Me made it in to the Top 15 (US), however, by the end of 1982, she saw her sales slumping.^{[citation needed]} Some of her songs on these albums were covered by other artists too: "For Your Eyes Only" was covered by Marilyn McCoo and "Prisoner" was covered by the bands Sue Saad and the Next and Uriah Heep.

[edit] 1983–87: Best Kept Secret, A Private Heaven and No Sound but a Heart

In 1983, she released the album Best Kept Secret and its first single, the synthesized dance-pop tune "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" became her fourth Top 10 hit. The single "Telefone" was Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1983.^{[citation needed]} That same year, she had a Top 10 hit in the US with "We've Got Tonight," a cover of the Bob Seger song and duet with Kenny Rogers, which also earned her a #1 single on the Country chart (it reached the Top 30 on the British charts). The follow-up to "Telefone," "Almost Over You," was a #4 AC chart hit, Top 30 pop hit, and later became a hit on the Country charts for Lila McCann in 1998.^{[citation needed]} "Almost Over You" was very popular in Asia (especially the Philippines) and was covered by the Filipino artists Sarah Geronimo, Regine Velasquez, Aiza Seguerra, Karylle, and Janno Gibbs and the Chinese singer Sandy Lam.

In 1983, Easton recorded a Spanish-language single, "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" ("I Like You Just the Way You Are"), a duet with Mexican star Luis Miguel. The single earned her a second Grammy, this time for Best Mexican-American Performance. The track was taken from the album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti, which featured Spanish-language covers of seven previous Easton recordings and three new tracks. The disc went gold in many Spanish-speaking countries.^{[citation needed]}

In 1984, she made a transformation into a sexy dance-pop siren. She was rewarded with the biggest-selling US album of her career, RIAA certified platinum A Private Heaven, and her fifth Top 10 single, "Strut." Easton was, again, Grammy nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" in 1984.^{[citation needed]} She was also one of the first artists to have a music video banned because of its lyrics rather than its imagery; some broadcasters refused to air the sexually risqué "Sugar Walls,"^{[citation needed]} which had been written for her by Prince (using the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind). "Sugar Walls" was named by Tipper Gore of the Parents' Music Resource Council as one of the "Filthy Fifteen", a list of songs deemed indecent because of their lyrics, alongside Prince's own "Darling Nikki."^{[citation needed]} The song eventually hit #3 on the R&B singles chart and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Easton's follow-up to A Private Heaven, entitled Do You, was produced by Nile Rodgers and achieved gold status. In late 1985, Easton contributed "It's Christmas (All Over the World)" to the holiday release Santa Claus The Movie. In 1987, the release of a follow-up album, No Sound But a Heart,^[3] was hampered in the United States after an initial single release, Eternity, (another Prince composition) failed to reach the pop, R&B or adult contemporary charts.^[4] The album's release moved from February to June;^[3] then in August the release was further held up as Easton's attorneys asked that the album be delayed after EMI Records was absorbed into EMI/Manhattan.^[5] Songs from the album were covered by other artists: Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris featured "Wanna Give My Love" and "What If We Fall In Love" on a 1987 duet album named for the latter song; Celine Dion recorded "The Last to Know" on 1990s Unison while Mexican singer Yuri featured the tune on her album Espejos De Alma (1995); Patti LaBelle covered "Still In Love" on 1989's Be Yourself; Pia Zadora recorded "Floating Hearts" on 1989's Pia Z; and "Telefono" was covered by the Mexican band Timbiriche. No Sound But a Heart eventually did get released in the United States in 1999, with four bonus tracks, including Easton's contributions to the soundtrack of the 1986 film About Last Night..., "Natural Love" and the Top 50 single "So Far, So Good".

[edit] 1987–90: "U Got the Look" and The Lover in Me

In 1987, she sang on Prince's #2 hit, "U Got the Look", and also appeared in the video. Prince and Sheena were Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group" in 1987.^{[citation needed]} The two would later team again for "The Arms of Orion" written by Easton and featured on Prince's soundtrack to the movie Batman in 1989, reaching #36 in the US and #27 in the UK. They also co-wrote a song for Patti LaBelle's album that year titled "Love '89". In addition they co-wrote "La, La, La, He, He, Hee", which Prince recorded. Tabloid press linked the two romantically, which she has always denied.^[6]

In November 1987, Easton made her first dramatic acting appearance on the television program Miami Vice. She played a singer named Caitlin Davies whom Sonny Crockett was assigned to protect until her court appearance to render crucial testimony against certain corrupt music industry mavens. Sonny and Caitlin ended up married by the end of the episode, the first of five for Easton until her character was killed off. Easton garnered good reviews and the episodes she was featured on earned the show higher ratings.^{[citation needed]} By the spring of 1988, the latest installment of the Miami Vice soundtrack was released and featured "Follow My Rainbow", which Easton had finished singing on her last appearance just moments before her character was eliminated.

The song also appeared on her next album The Lover in Me, a gold-selling disc debut released the following autumn on her new label MCA Records that put Easton back on the charts. This album features Urban R&B and Dance-pop, and a sexier image.^{[citation needed]} The title song from "The Lover in Me" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (UK#15) and became her biggest pop hit since "Morning Train". It also became a (#5) hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart. It was followed on the R&B chart by "Days Like This" (#35) (UK #43), which missed the Billboard Hot 100. A third single was released "101" (UK #54) and missed the Billboard top 100 but did make it to #2 on the Billboard Dance chart.^[7] The album received positive reviews and featured collaborations with LA and Babyface, Prince, Angela Winbush, and Jellybean Benitez.

In 1990, Easton revisited her home country of Scotland to perform at a festival (The Big Day) in Glasgow. After announcing that it was "good to be back home" in an American accent, she had bottles (some containing urine) thrown at her and, visibly shaken, she was forced to cut her set short. She vowed never to perform in Scotland again.^[8]

[edit] 1991–96: What Comes Naturally, No Strings, and My Cherie

In 1991, What Comes Naturally became the last of Easton's albums to chart in the United States, peaking at No. 90. The title song was also her last Top 40 single to date, reaching No. 19. It also became her first hit in Australia since the mid 1980s, peaking at No. 4.^{[citation needed]} Another two singles "You Can Swing It" and "To Anyone" followed but failed to chart. "What Comes Naturally" (US No. 19, UK No. 83, Australia No. 4.) remained on the pop chart for 10 weeks. Easton has songwriting credits on three tracks.

Easton followed this with the critically acclaimed,^{[citation needed]} but non-charting No Strings, an album of Jazz standards and My Cherie her last album to date stateside.

[edit] 1996–98: Role in All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, Freedom, and Home

Easton was set to star as the voice of a female canine (Sasha La Fleur) in All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 in 1996.^{[citation needed]} She also contributed vocals to the soundtrack on "Count Me Out" and "I Will Always Be With You." Easton also contributed the theme song "Are There Angels" to the soundtrack for Shiloh in 1997; and provided the song "A Dream Worth Keeping" for the 1993 animated film Ferngully The last Rainforest. In 1997, she played 'Melissa,' a recording star who is visited by time travelers from the future in an Outer Limits (Season 2/Episode 19) entitled 'Falling Star'.

In the late 1990s, Easton retained an album contract with MCA Japan and released 2 discs of new material. Freedom in 1997, a return to her trademark pop including a remake of her debut single "Modern Girl" and in 1999 Universal/Victor released the self-produced acoustic set, Home. Also around this time, a greatest hits collection featuring 12 MCA singles recorded from 1988-1995 charted in Japan at #98.

Easton adopted a boy (Jake) and girl (Skylar) between 1995 and 1996. Motherhood led her to curtail her appearances and focus on casino gigs, corporate shows and theatrical work.^[9] "Because I adopted my children, I could plan my timing," she told The Arizona Republic. "I knew exactly when they were coming along, so I knew when I had to change my life so it would be a stable life."^[9]

Easton continued acting in America, starring in Broadway revivals of Man Of La Mancha opposite Raul Julia in his last stage role, (1992) and Grease (1996). Between 1994 and 1996, she played several characters in Gargoyles the animated series, including Lady Finella, the Banshee, Molly and Robyn Canmore. In 1999, she voice-acted a part-demon character, Annah-of-the-Shadows, in the computer game Planescape: Torment. She lives in Las Vegas with her two children and often performs in various casinos' entertainment venues. She voiced the character of Fiona Canmore for a scripted but unfinished episode of the cancelled animated feature, Team Atlantis.

1998–99: Colors of Christmas Tour[link]

In December 1998, Easton toured with "The Colors of Christmas" with artists Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, Peabo Bryson, and Jeffrey Osborne. Windham Hill Records produced "The Colors of Christmas" disc by Robbie Buchanan of holiday music. Easton contributed two tracks, "The Place Where We Belong" (a duet with Jeffrey Osborne), and "The Lord's Prayer".

[edit] 1999–02: Todo Me Recuerda a Ti and Fabulous

1999-2000 saw New York based One Way Records gain the rights to release all of Easton's EMI-America catalog. For the first time in the US, No Sound But a Heart was released. All Easton's EMI back catalogue was re-released with bonus tracks, incorporating b-sides and remixes. However, there was one notable exception to the re-release schedule, Easton's Spanish language album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti. In 2000, Easton co-starred with David Cassidy in At The Copa, a show in Las Vegas at The Rio Hotel for one year.^{[citation needed]}

She also signed an album contract with Universal International UK and attempted a comeback of sorts with Fabulous, an album of classic disco covers produced by Ian Masterson of Trouser Enthusiasts fame and Terry Ronald.^{[citation needed]} The first single, "Giving Up, Giving In", reached UK #54, and the album failed to chart in the UK and was not released in the US. A second single, a cover of Donna Summer's hit "Love is in Control", was withdrawn. In Japan, the first single was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and the album included a cover of Teena Marie's "I Need Your Lovin" as a bonus track. Remixes of the singles were produced by Joey Negro, Sleaze Sisters, Sharp Boys, Rob Searle, DJ Soma Grow and Almighty. This was to be Easton's last album release to date. Released in 2000, it was Easton's 16th studio album. The album was only released throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and Argentina.

The album contains mostly cover versions of hit songs from the 1970s and 1980s, and most of them disco classics. There are also two original compositions. The first single released from the album was a remake of "Giving Up Giving In", which had originally been a hit for The Three Degrees in 1978. Easton's version was less successful, peaking at #54 on the UK singles chart. A second single was released in 2001, a cover of Donna Summer's 1982 hit "Love Is In Control" with an accompanying video that was taken from footage of Easton's album launch concert at G-A-Y nightclub in London. However, this too was unsuccessful and shelved indefinitely.

In Japan, "Fabulous" was released in February 2001 and the first single was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" which had originally been recorded by Frankie Valli in the 1960s, though a disco version had been a hit for The Boys Town Gang in the early 1980s. The album was packaged differently from the UK version and included two bonus tracks; "I Need Your Lovin'" (a cover of the 1980 Teena Marie song) and a remix of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". In Australia, "Fabulous" was released 24 February 2001 and Easton was asked to perform songs from the album to close out 2001 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras ceremonies. The album was a commercial failure in the UK, though the album did enjoy mild success in dance clubs in London, Japan, and Australia. However, the album was not released in the United States.

Easton also went back to Australia in 2001 for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras and closed the celebration with songs from Fabulous. She also performed in (The Concert: Celebrating Women in Music,) Centennial Park, Australia, on 24 February 2001.^{[citation needed]} In 2001, Easton began a successful run headlining at the Las Vegas Hilton.^{[citation needed]}

2003–present: Work in television, live performance, break from recording[link]

Sheena Easton performing live on 7 November 2009

In 2003, Easton contributed vocals to "If You're Happy", a cover for a Japanese disc called Cover Morning Musume-Hello Project. She also began to host Vegas Live, a talk show with Clint Holmes (later replaced by Brian McKnight).

On 31 October 2004, she was inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana Resort & Casino along with fellow Las Vegas icons Debbie Reynolds, Ben Vereen, Patti Page, Jack Jones and Tempest Storm.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2005, Easton appeared in the television series Young Blades.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2005, she performed as the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh, NC. The show co-starred Ray Walker as Joseph, Merwin Foard as the Pharaoh, David F.M. Vaughn as Reuben, Demond Green as Judah, and Darryl Winslow as Simeon.^{[citation needed]}

Easton worked with composer Nobuo Uematsu for two songs on the video game Lost Odyssey, released for the Xbox 360 video game system in February 2008.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008 and 2009, Easton performed Perry the Teenage Girl, When Will He Call Me?, and Happy Evil Love Song for the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb.^{[citation needed]}

Easton appeared in a celebration with Kenny Rogers at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut on 10 April 2010.^{[citation needed]} The show was in honor of his 50-year music career. This special is set debut on 8 March 2011 on Great American Country.

Personal life[link]

Easton has been married four times. The first was when she was in Scotland to Sandi Easton at the age of 19. The marriage lasted eight months. Sandi Easton died in 1998, aged 48.^[10]

Her second marriage in 1984 to Rob Light, a talent agent, ended after 18 months.^{[citation needed]} Easton was granted US citizenship in 1992 and adopted her first child, Jake Rion Cousins Easton, in 1994.^{[citation needed]} Two years later, she adopted again, this time a baby girl named Skylar.^{[citation needed]} In the summer of 1997, she met producer Tim Delarm while filming an episode of ESPN Canon Photo Safari in Yellowstone National Park and later married Delarm in Las Vegas in July 1997.^{[citation needed]} The marriage lasted one year. On 9 November 2002 she married John Minoli, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.^{[citation needed]} They divorced in 2003.

Easton is a single mother to her two children, and currently resides in Henderson, Nevada. She reportedly made shrewd investments in Florida property that led to her appearance on the Sunday Times Rich List, but she denies such claims.^[6]

Discography[link]

• Take My Time (1980)
• Sheena Easton (1981) retitled edition of Take My Time
• You Could Have Been with Me (1981)
• Madness, Money & Music (1982)
• Best Kept Secret (1983)
• A Private Heaven (1984)
• Todo Me Recuerda a Ti (1984) - Spanish language release
• Do You (1985)
• No Sound But a Heart (1987)
• The Lover in Me (1988)
• What Comes Naturally (1991)
• No Strings (1993)
• My Cherie (1995)
• Freedom (1997)
• Home (1999)
• Fabulous (2000)

Filmography[link]

• For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Herself in opening credit sequence
• Miami Vice (1987) - Caitlin Davies (five episodes)
• All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996), All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996 - TV series), An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998) - voice of Sasha LeFleur
• Body Bags (1993) - Megan (in segment titled "Hair")
• Highlander: The Series (1993) - Annie Devlin (in episode titled "An Eye for an Eye")
• The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993) - Crystal Hawks (one episode)
• Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1993) - voice of Agnes
• TekWar (TV series) (1994) - War Bride
• Real Ghosts aka Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories (1995) - Janet (nightclub owner)
• Gargoyles (1995) - Robyn Canmore, Banshee, Molly, Finella
• The Outer Limits (1996) - Melissa McCammon in episode titled "Falling Star"
• Road Rovers (1996) - Groomer, Persia, Mrs. British Prime Minister
• Duckman (1997) - Betty (one episode)
• Chicken Soup for the Soul (1999) - Vicky in episode titled "Sand Castles"
• Disney's The Legend of Tarzan (2001) - voice of Dr. Robin Doyle (two episodes)
• Vegas Live! With Clint Holmes and Sheena Easton (2003)
• Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004) - voice of Professor Fiona Pembrooke
• Young Blades (2005) - Queen Anne

Broadway[link]

• Man of La Mancha- Aldonza- 1991-1992-reprise role in 1998 (Broadway show)
• Grease- 1996- Betty Rizzo (Broadway show)

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

	Book: Sheena Easton
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sheena Easton

• Official website
• Sheena Easton at the Internet Movie Database
• Sheena Easton at the Internet Broadway Database
• Sheena Easton at AllRovi
• Sheena Easton discography at Discogs
• Musician Biographies
• Rock On The Net Charts

v t e Sheena Easton Studio albums Take My Time You Could Have Been with Me Madness, Money & Music Best Kept Secret A Private Heaven Do You'' No Sound But a Heart The Lover in Me What Comes Naturally My Cherie Freedom Home Fabulous Singles "Modern Girl" "9 to 5" "One Man Woman" "For Your Eyes Only" "We've Got Tonight" "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" "Strut" "Sugar Walls" "Swear" "Jimmy Mack" "U Got the Look" "The Lover in Me" "101" "The Arms of Orion" "What Comes Naturally" Related articles Discography Book:Sheena Easton