Somgoftheday 5/18/12 - Sometimes a tramp, sometimes a dude, he changes color just like a chameleon that can't find the mood

Sheena Easton - "When He Shines"

from the album You Could Have Been With Me (1981)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (two weeks)

weeks in the top-40: 6

Today's Song of the Day is by Scottish-born singer Sheena Easton. Born Sheena Orr, she acquired her surname from her first of four marriages. Her big break came as when she was part of a BBC television program that tracked her as an aspiring singer to get a record deal (kind of like the first Idol). The resulting album gave Easton her first and only #1 hit in the US (and biggest hit in the UK) with "Morning Train (9 to 5)" in 1980.  A year later, she was recruited to sing the title theme to the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, which gave Easton another top-5 pop hit in the states.

In 1981 Sheena released her sophomore album, You Could Have Been With Me, and the title song reached the top-20 in the US.For her second American single, her record company went with a tender ballad, "When He Shines", which was a track on her debut album in Britain that was added to the US version of You Could... It reached the top-30, and is one of her most restrained and beautiful songs.

Easton would go on to have five more top-10 songs in the US, including "U Got The Look",  her collaboration with Prince, with whom she'd work with throughout the late eighties.She performed on Broadway in numerous productions including the revival of Man of La Mancha, and had a successful stint performing in Las Vegas in the 90's and 00's, earning her a spot in Vegas' Casino Legends Hall of Fame. She still lives out in Henderson, Nevada, and performs from time to time.

Up tomorrow: the band named for its specialty, "danceable jazz", and my favorite song of 1982.