When a new James Bond film comes out, longtime fans are as curious about the theme song — Who recorded it? What does it sound like? Is there a video? — as the movie itself.
“You want to hear what it’s going to be like,” says singer Sheena Easton. “You may not love every [theme song], but you’re going to pay attention to it. It has such a long history.”
As a 20-year-old up-and-coming pop singer, Easton was tapped to sing “For Your Eyes Only,” the theme to the 12th Bond movie, which reached theaters in 1981. The song, written by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson, was a huge worldwide hit and earned an Oscar nomination, and Easton became the first — and still the only — Bond singer to appear on-screen in the franchise’s famous title sequence.
The Scottish singer also unwittingly placed herself dead center in the now-legendary procession of Bond-theme performers, a list that includes Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Rita Coolidge, Duran Duran, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow, Madonna, Jack White and Alicia Keys, Adele, and now Sam Smith, the British star chosen to sing “Spectre,” the theme to the 24th Bond movie, which comes out this fall.
At 56, Easton hasn’t lost her enthusiasm for mystery and intrigue. On Saturday, Oct. 24, she brings “The Spy Who Loved Me,” an espionage-themed revue, to the Bushnell in Hartford. It’s the first of six concerts by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Laura Jackson) in its 2015-16 POPS! season.
Easton and her team developed the show out of a passion for all things spy-related.
“I love the drama and the romance and excitement of the genre,” she says. Performing with an orchestra, Easton adds, “never gets old. I’m in the wings when [the musicians are] tuning up. It’s a dream to perform in front of them.”
As a toddler in Scotland, Easton hummed Bond tunes. “They were a part of my culture,” she says. Bassey, the Welsh singer who performed the themes to “Goldfinger” (1964), “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971) and “Moonraker” (1979), Easton says, “was, and still is, a goddess to me.”
In 1980, when work began on “For Your Eyes Only,” the producers initially reached out to rock group Blondie to write and perform a theme song, but what they offered was rejected in favor of the Conti/Leeson composition.
Easton already had two hits, “9 to 5 (Morning Train)” and “Modern Girl,” on the U.K. singles chart.
“I was still considered the new kid on the block,” she says. “Everything was fresh and new, and my career had just taken off.” When the offer reached her, Easton’s first thought was, “Yes!” Her second: “Oh, crap.”
“There was a baton being passed, and I knew I had to give it 100 percent,” Easton says, “to take it seriously, to make it the best I could make it. Plus, if I sucked, I knew they were going to fire me and bring someone else in.”
Fifteen minutes into an initial meeting, Maurice Binder, who created the iconic Bond opening sequences, asked Easton if he could put her face on the screen — a first.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, that would be great!’ I tend to get excited before I know I should be scared,” she says. In the studio, Easton sang in front of a row of movie executives. “They were going to make sure this lived up to their expectations.”
In the middle of the session, the phone rang: Easton’s “9 to 5 (Morning Train)” had just hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
“It was one of those amazing moments,” she says. “Looking back, I should have said, ‘Let’s celebrate!’ But I was too focused on getting the vocals done. That moment got buried in that.”
Easton sang a few takes. The team picked the best one. “The firing squad came in and listened to it and gave it the thumbs up. The rest is history.”
The single, and Easton’s career, took off. “For Your Eyes Only” remains one of the more recognizable Bond themes. It’s also part of a debate that will continue for decades.
“You can go on the Internet and scroll through chat rooms. On any given night, I’m just as easily going to be up there on the favorites list as on the ones they can’t stand.”
Easton’s show at the Bushnell, meanwhile, weaves songs from films (Bond and otherwise), Broadway musicals, television programs and pop culture. Scott Coulter, a NYC-based singer, serves as her on-stage foil.
“The show does everything that I was hoping it would do. There are so many different textures in there: light, delicate moments, moments with great passion, some humor involved. It’s proven to be as much fun as I thought it would be.”
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME WITH SHEENA EASTON featuring the Hartford Symphony Orchestra is at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $68. Information: hartfordsymphony.org.
