Sheena Easton played to a smallish crowd at Lorain’s Palace Theater on Saturday night. Offering twelve tunes, Ms. Easton gave a career-spanning look at her life since gaining notoriety in 1981 for the theme song from the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
Winning a Grammy as “Best New Artist” in 1982, she went on to record duets with Kenny Rogers and collaborated with Prince on a few sexually-explicit tunes such as “Sugar Walls.”
As the 1980s moved on with the British New Wave movement, rising artists such as Easton and Christopher Cross faded from the public’s short memory. Taking up acting, she appeared on a memorable stint on Miami Vice in the mid ’80s. Becoming an American citizen in the early 1990s, she has lived in suburban Las Vegas for decades.
Local artist Gypsy gave a spirited half hour of covers. About twenty minutes later Ms. Easton took to the stage. Her act, refined by years of Vegas residencies, was polished and reminiscent of a Lounge Act retrospective.
Her band, a tight four-piece, was complemented by a young male vocalist to share duet duties that Kenny Rogers previously offered.
Singing “Almost Over You,” “Strut,” and the seemingly-anachronistic “Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)” throughout the ninety-minute show, she closed with “Morning Train” and “For Your Eyes Only.”
