Sheena Easton - Do You (1985)

"Do It For Love" reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100

Sheena's cover of "Jimmy Mack"

The 3rd and biggest flop from the album - "Magic of Love". What a shitty video!

I'm an Easton fan and I've never heard of these songs!

I thought 'Can't Wait Till Tomorrow' was pretty catchy.

Bad single choices .............. 'Money Back Guarantee' might have caught on too.

She's a midget. In the Jimmy Mack video she has a good start on her now trademark turkey neck.

Love this album! Nile Rodgers produced it.

Listened to this entire CASSETTE constantly back in the days when I used to enjoy driving all over the place. Nowadays, I'd barely have time to listen to a song. Ha.

Here's 'Young Lions'

The problem with this album and the accompanying image is that after " A Private Heaven' with "Strut" and especially her work with Prince on "Sugar Walls", Sheena was on an innovative, very sexy tangent toward an edgier, more urban direction. In a way, she was kind right up there with Madonna in terms of controversy by having the Sugar Walls song and video banned on MTV and radio. During this period Sheena also unleashed the full power of her beauty and sexuality. Gone were the high neck lace collars and pixie haircuts in favor of longer hair,shorter skirts and a more aggressive attitude. She was already a bona fide star but was primed for an even bigger breakout. Had she gone straight into "The Lover in Me" sound and look she would have gone supernova.

On her "Do You" project why the decision was made to return her music to the safer, less transgressive side(JimmyMack?!) and her image back toward the covered up, short haired gamine is a mystery. She lost a lot of her momentum, regained some of it with "U Got the Look" and "The Lover in Me".but her peak potential had already passed.

I actually really like "Do it for Love", though.

She sucked

I thought she'd disappeared after "Morning Train".

R12, where were you in the 80s? In a Dixie cup?

"I thought she'd disappeared after "Morning Train".

I WISH she'd disappeared after "Morning Train." That song is one of the worst of all time. I was never a fan of hers. I remember videos where the camera is trained squarely on her ass (what ass?) while she wiggled it. That was her "dancing."

Sheena loved to wiggle!

[quote]I remember videos where the camera is trained squarely on her ass (what ass?) while she wiggled it. That was her "dancing."

I think you're referring to this.

"Do You" was produced by Nile Rodgers the year after Madonna's "Like A Virgin" so Sheena's record label had high hopes. Album tanked. I still love it. One of my favorites is "When The Lightining Strikes."

Have we run out of things to talk about here? Yikes. What's next, a discussion of Animotion's second single, Let Him Go?

This was part of the mid 80s backlash by blacks.

Oddly enough blacks have always bitched about being unrepresented but the entertainment industry, especially music they always have been OVER represented. Of course if you cherry pick "I didn't win award" you can get confused. But never has the black community in music been underrepresented.

But in the mid 80s white groups were starting to appear in numbers on black charts. Sheena East and Hall and Oates especially. While blacks were 11% - 12% of the population they were at times at 50% of the pop charts in the 80s.

Blacks didn't like whites appearing on their Soul or Black charts. Billboard gave this album of Sheena's rave reviews and said it was an R&B masterpiece containing hit after hit. Of course the "blacklash came" and hit her and Hall and Oates especially hard. Both artists started declining though Sheena next released album "The Lover in Me" was even more R&B. (The other album "No Sound But A Heart" between this and "the Lover in Me" was unreleased and wasn't very good. )

I recall even white Teena Marie who was a historically white R&B artist was getting hit with the criticism. But this album should've been a hit and would've been.

I was a Sheena fan as a kid and was all over "Do You".

She's in the West End starring in 42nd Street...and is surprisingly good.

I wished I lived in the UK so I could see Sheena in 42nd Street!

I'm glad I don't live in the UK so I don't have to see Sheena in 42nd Street!

R18 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I LOVED 'Let Him Go' by Animotion ............... Let's talk about it !!!

What a hateful pig, r23.

I went to a Sheena Easton concert one time and Animotion opened for her.

MIdgets are bad luck.

Um, she's 5' 3/4" tall

Here she is after the filming of the Strut video.

R27=shrimp dick

The reason we obsess over 80s music is because all the music that came after it sucks. Especially today's garbage.

[quote]"Do You" was produced by Nile Rodgers the year after Madonna's "Like A Virgin" so Sheena's record label had high hopes.

And that was the problem with Sheena....after her innovative work with Prince instead of continuing to push the envelope she fell back on a safe "hit" formula and chose songs that while good, were not very interesting. And certainly not lead singles.

Frankly, with the exception of "Do it For Love", the rest of the tracks are B-sides.

Except for Strut I tend to like her ballads better. Especially I'm Almost Over You. My favorite she sings though is Love and Affection.

I liked Sheena up until this album.

'A Private Heaven' had some good songs, but what a stupid name for an album. I remember an interview with Sheena where she explained how she came up with the name because the album was very both personal to her and it felt like heaven making it - or something to that effect. Bitch, please. You were trying to capitalize off of the massive success that Tina had with 'Private Dancer'.

She wore more makeup than Madonna, and that is really saying something.

Devil in a Fast Car is Grade A cheese. I love this.

SHEENA NO! NOT THE DEFENDER GAME.

r37, that video always cracked me up, but not because of the Defenders game. Bitch thought people would think she knew how to play the piano!

[quote]She wore more makeup than Madonna, and that is really saying something.

Except Sheena was truly sexy and beautiful.....she should have delivered the long hair, big tits, "What Comes Naturally" look 5 years earlier than she did. She wouldn't have had her slump.

Sheena gave good face in that "Almost Over You" video.

That's the song she performed on "The Tonight Show" that prompted Prince to produce "Sugar Walls" for her.

Sheena lip synching "Do It For Love" on Solid Gold!

She was still working the Prince & The Revolution-vibe in late 1985 with that "Do It For Love" performance. The long coats, the hair! She's even got Sheila E.'s brother ( and "Glamorous Life" video co-star) on percussion.

Sheena had talent but no image. She didn't have visual creativity or commanding stage presence. That's why Madge, Janet and Whitney flourished but other talented, hit-making pop singers of that era like Sheena, Laura Branigan and Irene Cara did not.

I also died.

Laura Branigan was great. I loved her. I think I bought everything she put out. Loved Sheena too but tired of her a lot sooner than Laura. I wonder how much vocal training Sheena had. Because one thing I loved about her voice is she had no grating habits or bag of tricks. Like nothing nasaly or anything like that. It was a solid voice that didn't need anything else.

Sheena Easton had hits throughout the 80s. Her last 'hit' was in 1991.

Laura Branigan stopped having hits in the late 80s. She passed in 2004, long after her career had ebbed. My point was that Sheena, Laura, Irene and others were talented, photogenic and made good music but lacked the distinctive image or creative presence that sustains careers long term.

Sheena Easton is still in show business. She's not at the same level of Madonna or Janet Jackson but she still has a career in the business Sheena is currently starring in a top West End production of 42nd Street in London until April of 2018. She only took the role after the show's producers contacted her directly and offered her the part.

Plus... Irene Cara really wasn't at the same level of Sheena Easton. Sheena was a bigger star in the 80s even though Irene Cara scored big with Fame and Flashdance.

I think that Laura Branigan always had management issues throughout her career. She never kept a manager for very long. Every year or two she changed management. She could have been a much bigger star in the 80s with the right manager to take her to that "superstar" level like Celine Dion. The one good thing was she had a solid record company (Atlantic) who was behind her for at least a good portion of her tenure there.

Yeah. I really, really loved Laura. I like Sheena a lot. I was going to suggest it was her that had the management problems or at least she lacked an idea of the direction she wanted to go. She had so many chances where she was just this close to being a long term Diva. She burst on the scene and everyone wanted her for everything yet she followed up with shit. Then she had the Strut/Sugar Walls and followed up with shit. Then she had a ballad phase and followed up with shit. Then she did more work with Prince and followed up with shit.

It was like she kept having to restart her career. However both Laura and her had very respectable careers and had flashes of A list singers. They both sold a shitload of records and filled stadiums.

I remember when Sheena Easton first came on the scene in the US (yes. I'm old). Much success was predicted for her, and even favorable comparisons to Barbra Streisand in reviews of her first album. And yet she seemed to flounder trying to find her niche.

As has been posted upthread, having Nile Rodgers produce "Do You" was considered quite a coup at the time, as he was hot off his work with Madonna and David Bowie. But the album was considered lackluster artistically (I'm inclined to agree) and chart-wise. "A Private Heaven" was far superior.

Sheena Easton has changed her musical style (and her look) a lot during her career. She was sort of like a pop music mannequin always trying on different musical styles to see what fit best. For the most part, I liked it, as it kept her more interesting to me than say an artist who especially releases the same album over and over again (Janet, Mariah, Whitney).

Strut is as good as any pop song is going to get. It could be released today. She could even get away with the look she has here. I love how subversive its feminist message is. Just on the surface it sounds like a lets fuck suck. when you actually listen to the lyrics it's more like I've heard you line a thousand times get the fuck out.

Always loved Sheena. She had the looks and could really sing. She was a big star but I always thought she could have been even bigger if she had picked better singles.

She had some good and some bad singles: The worst was her biggest hit - "Morning Train (9 to 5)". It was #1 for two or three weeks in 1981.

Her good singles (in my opinion) were : "For Your Eyes Only", "Strut", "Sugar Walls", "The Lover In Me", "You Could Have Been With Me".

[quote] The reason we obsess over 80s music is because all the music that came after it sucks. Especially today's garbage.

Why not listen to some of my music. I can guarantee you'll love it.

I like Ariana Grande. This is a Sheena Easton "Do You" thread though.

I prefer her pre-slut phase.

You Could Have Been With Me has some of the weirdest lyrics for a hit song. Love it though. I loved her debut tracks Modern Girl and Morning Train. They were fresh sounds and she was great singing them. Loved We Got Tonight with Kenny Rogers. They sounded great together. They really should have done a couple more songs together. When He Shines is a good one to. She's beautiful here really singing it.

All these Sheena memories coming through. I love I Wouldn't Beg for Water. One of the deeper cuts but it was a good song.

She could have done without the 80s rattail. The Do You stuff is pretty vapid compared to Sugar Walls and Strut.

Loved U Got the Look and The Lover in me

[quote] Plus... Irene Cara really wasn't at the same level of Sheena Easton. Sheena was a bigger star in the 80s even though Irene Cara scored big with Fame and Flashdance.

By some measures, Irene was bigger than Sheena and Laura. "Flashdance (What A Feeling)" was a bigger hit, and Irene has an Oscar and a Grammy and she was an actress.

She also did Breakdance

Cara was nothing compared to Laura and Sheena. She had two songs chart and the movie Fame. She was in a couple shit movies after that. Shit no one remembers. Laura's turn on CHiPs was just as good as the post fame shit Cara did. Sheena got more press for being the only singer to make it into the Bond film with her theme and then even more press for Miami Vice. That being said I love Cara's voice and wish she had a bigger singing career. Her acting shit. Who gives a fuck?

[quote] You Could Have Been With Me has some of the weirdest lyrics for a hit song.

Agree. It's not one of her big hits but it's a lovely song and she sounds wonderful on it. I still listen to it sometimes -- "are you a man or a paper tiger?"

You're the 7th son of a 7th son.....Yeah I love that one...

I'd always liked Sheena Easton, and I know it was a big hit, but I felt that her version of "We've Got Tonight" was strident and bombastic.

Her "No Strings" album is excellent.

I'm listening to Do You as we speak. "Do It For Love" is the best track.

I like "Do It For Love" but it's not a lead single. A good song yes, but you don't revolve the whole album around it.

I don't know who managed Sheena's career or who her A&R people were but they seemed to have a hard time picking consistently good songs for her. Or maybe Sheena herself picked them and didn't quite have the ear for steady success. Whatever the case I always felt EMI treated her career as an afterthought and her like a B-list artist. While other musicians were making well produced, innovative,provocative videos and were all over the place, in HER videos Sheena was being chased by Frankenstein and tacky dismembered hands. And you never saw them on MTV.

Either that or they just aimed and shot while Sheena stood in place. She didn't really have an expensive looking, A list video until "The Lover In Me", when she went over to MCA but she had peaked by that time.

It's ironic because Sheena certainly had superior beauty to most of her contemporaries and a very striking "look". NOBODY gave face to the camera like her.

This is a very interesting thread, with really valid insights about Sheena Easton's career. Excellent post by R69 got me to thinking that maybe if Sheena Easton had someone guiding her career like Whitney Houston had with Clive Davis or Mariah Carey had with Tommy Mottola (however heavy-handed their tactics may have been at times) her career might have had more consistency. Great point, too, R69, about Easton's videos, which were mostly bland and unmemorable (except "Telefone", which was just silly.)

"Strut" was the first music video picked up for major rotation by MTV. Prior to that Sheena and her music was thought of as essentially Adult Contemporary and not the type of music videos that MTV wanted. She was prime material for VH1 and was played there much more often. I did like the "Telefone" video and it was intended to be a spoof of 1930's horror movies. Her best early video in my opinion.

With Strut and then Sugar Walls she should have been launched into the stratosphere like Madonna. She was on every news program with that song and talked about in congress. Despite a wide ban it reached number 9. I remember the damn song being a subject on Phil Donahue. I think she made too many of her own decisions and she wasn't good at picking material. The material that was the success was the stuff that was either forced on her or was a big duh. Her first two hits were what she had to record from her first record contract. Then who isn't going to record the Bond theme? Then who isn't going to do a duet with Kenny Rogers? Then who isn't going to work with Prince? Her follow ups to everything that should have cemented her career were mostly crap. Though she did have a great run. Strut is her Mon Lisa.

EMI treated Sheena as a A-list artist. She worked with the best (popular) producers and song writers on all of her albums. The best studio musicians appeared on all of her releases as well. Music videos were another story. Sheena usually worked with video directors at her own choosing and made MANY video mistakes. Sheena is a very shrewd business woman, so was her then manager, Harriett Wasserman. She probably didn't want to shell out the extra money for more expensive videos that may or may not get played on MTV.

The only video she got right was Almost Over You. Strut was OK only because it showed off a great new look and the song was great enough to carry pretty much any type of video interpretation.

The Lover in Me was pretty good at showing her assets

Always thought Sheena should have been the one cast as "Gozer" in "Ghostbusters".

For being pretty new on the scene she really did have a pair. The story is she ended up bossing Prince around and the supposed tough Sinead O'Connor got weepy and locked in a closet for three days. Sheena had spunk.

Sheena today. She looks good, is funny as hell, happy, not bitter, she gives good interview. The hot guy sitting next to her helps too.

You know who was really terrific in the early 80s? Juice Newton.

The 80s was the zenith for lots of fun female singers to listen to Cyndi, Olivia, Sheena, Juice, The Go-Go's, The Bangles, Bonnie Tyler, Pat Benatar, Laura Branigan, Madonna, Scandal, The Motels, Heart II a lot of others too.

Oh yeah, I loved Juice too.

Agreed, R80 -- so many fine, fun singers of all types during that period!

Please stop that stupid Juice newton shit.

The documentary that started it all for Sheena.

the documentary was somewhat anticlimactic. The record company signed her five minutes after hearing her.

Juice, Juice, Juice!

Do You - came out in November of 1985. I remember being in the 7th grade and loving the single "Do It For Love" and buying the cassette when it first came out.

She's still gorgeous today. I think "Do You" was a mis-step though.

Do It For Love was a good track.

It was no "A Private Heaven".

r65, I love her hit "You Could Have Been With Me" from her second album. I believe that song peaked at number #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1981 or early 1982.

Holy shit. First time seeing the Almost Over You video, I can't believe she trashes the Defender video game. Talk about campy!

Still in love with Sheena Easton...

For Your Eyes Only just started on one of the movie channels. I can't stay up to watch it, but I watched Sheena do the theme song.

For Your Eyes Only. Only for you...