Grammy-Winning ’80s Pop Star Sheena Easton Explains Why She Left the Spotlight: ‘I Wanted Something More’

Sheena Easton won two Grammys, had seven Top 10 hits and collaborated with artists like Prince and Kenny Rogers. And then she gave it all up.

Easton, 66, opened up about her life outside the music industry in an interview published in The New York Times on Oct. 26. Reflecting on her music career, she told the outlet, “What got me through the craziness of those years was that my instinct was always to go towards normal things, to stay as grounded as possible. I felt like, this is all a wonderful fantasy, but I don’t ever want to start believing it’s real.”

Easton’s 1981 song “9 to 5 (Morning Train)” was her first No. 1 hit in the U.S. (and has recently been revived as a TikTok trend). Other successes included “Strut,” the James Bond song “For Your Eyes Only,” “You Could Have Been with Me,” a duet with Rogers titled “We’ve Got Tonight” and collabs with Prince like “Sugar Walls” and his hit “U Got the Look.” She won the Grammys for best new artist in 1982 and best Mexican-American performance in 1985 for her duet with Luis Miguel, “Me Gustas Tal Como Eres.” She received four other nominations.

Easton, who is Scottish, found fame when she starred in a BBC docuseries about aspiring artists. She signed a record contract and was soon releasing music on both sides of the pond. She told The Times that while she’s “really proud” of her work, “There came a point where I thought, I need to change my life. At the risk of a horrible cliché, that’s when I got off the merry-go-round. I didn’t want to be in my 50s and 60s looking back thinking all I’ve ever did was make records, get on a tour bus, do a bunch of TV — rinse and repeat. I wanted something more.”

In 1992, she starred on Broadway in Man of La Mancha. During that time, she decided to become a mother. She adopted two children, Jake and Skylar. She ultimately left Los Angeles and moved to Las Vegas, where she did a residency. “I did eight shows a week for two and a half years straight,” she said. “And it worked out great because the kids would go to bed and that’s when I would go to work.”

Easton’s last album came out in 2000. Though “most people” thought she’d eventually return to the industry, she said, “I found it easy not to return to that life.”

“I’m open to different creative things,” she explained. “What I’m not open to is the craziness, the almost compulsory nature of what you have to do be a pop star. I did that once. I don’t need to do it again.” 

She still performs a couple of shows a year, but noted, “I’m not being shoved in people’s faces anymore, which means I can lead a very normal life 99 percent of the time.” This year, her label EMI is releasing two boxed sets, Modern Girl and Strut, compiling her work

Easton spoke to PEOPLE back in 1981, at the very start of her career. “I didn’t know how, but I knew I would make it,” she said of her early career. At first, she copied Barbra Streisand, “until it finally dawned on me that I didn’t want to be a clone. I wanted to be able to hold my own with just a piano in Albert Hall. But you have to have confidence to take all the knocks that come your way.”