Take My Time is the debut album by UK pop singer Sheena Easton

Sheena Easton

Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...

. Released in January 1981, the album reached #17 in the UK and earned her a Gold Disc. Two months later, the album was released in the US as Sheena Easton, where it also went gold. The album went platinum in Canada.

Background

After becoming suddenly famous due to her appearance on a television documentary in 1980 and with the hits “9 To 5

9 to 5 (Sheena Easton song)

"9 to 5" is the title of a popular song written by British songwriter Florrie Palmer and recorded by Sheena Easton in 1980, becoming her biggest hit...

” (which went gold) and “Modern Girl

Modern Girl (Sheena Easton song)

"Modern Girl" is the debut single by Scottish pop singer Sheena Easton. The song was originally released in February 1980. It made a lowly #56 in the charts before being re-released to top ten success in August of the same year...

”, Easton began recording her debut album with producer Christopher Neil

Christopher Neil

Christopher Neil is a British record producer, songwriter, singer and actor.He has worked with Celine Dion, a-ha, Dollar, Paul Nicholas, Kim Criswell, Morten Harket, Mike + The Mechanics, Johnny Logan, Marillion, The Moody Blues, The Other Ones, Paul Carrack, Rod Stewart, Gerry Rafferty, Cher,...

. The style of the album was a combination of pure pop (“Take My Time” and “Voice on the Radio”) and sentimental ballads (“When He Shines” and “No-One Ever Knows”). The album charted in February 1981, just as Easton was finding fame in the US when “9 to 5” (retitled “Morning Train (Nine to Five)” to avoid confusion with a record by Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

 called "9 To 5

9 to 5 (Dolly Parton song)

"9 to 5" is a song written and originally performed by Dolly Parton for the 1980 film comedy Nine to Five, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Parton in her film debut....

") took her to No. 1 in the charts

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 there.

In the UK, the album met with favourable response by reaching No. 17 and spent 19 weeks on the charts. In the US, it was released two months later and also made the top 30. By May 1981, three more singles were released from the collection, namely; “One Man Woman

One Man Woman

"One Man Woman" is a 1980 song recorded by Scottish singer Sheena Easton. Although was never released as a single in the United States, it was Easton's third single...

”, “Take My Time” and “When He Shines”. The latter being a song she had performed at the Royal Variety Performance

Royal Variety Performance

The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...

 in November 1980, and was left off the US version of the album (to be later included on her second album). With four of the singles reaching the top 20 in the UK (the title track reached a lower #44), Easton became the first female artist to score five top 50 hits from an album.

In the US, the album was simply titled Sheena Easton and included only two singles (“Morning Train“ and “Modern Girl”) before Easton was to chart highly with a new song, the James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 theme, “For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton song)

"For Your Eyes Only" is the theme tune to the 12th James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only, written by Bill Conti and Mick Leeson, and performed by Scottish singer Sheena Easton...

”; however "When He Shines" was released as a single from Sheena's second US album. Easton quickly became a staple on Adult Contemporary radio, where "Morning Train" also hit No. 1 and "Modern Girl" reached the top 10, both in 1981.

Producer Christopher Neil continued to work with Easton and produced her following two albums in a similar vein, before Easton decided to leave behind the pure-pop image she had gained.

Take My Time was re-released on Compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 in the US on 19 June 1999 with bonus tracks by One Way Records

One Way Records

One Way Records was a record label established by Larry Norman in 1970 to distribute his own work, and that of other Christian musicians including Randy Stonehill, after he had been released by Capitol Records in 1969.-History:...

. The UK version of the album was re-released on CD on 19 October 2009 with bonus tracks by Cherry Red Records.

Track listing

Side One

1. "Don't Send Flowers" (Phil Pickett)
2. "Cry" (Frank Musker, Garth Murphy)
3. "Take My Time" (Florrie Palmer)
4. "When He Shines" (Dominic Bugatti, Peter Vale)
5. "One Man Woman" (Mike Leeson, Peter Vale)
6. "Prisoner" (D.B. Cooper, James Lance, Tony Riparetti)

Side Two

1. "9 to 5
   9 to 5 (Sheena Easton song)
   "9 to 5" is the title of a popular song written by British songwriter Florrie Palmer and recorded by Sheena Easton in 1980, becoming her biggest hit...
   
   " (Florrie Palmer)
2. "So Much In Love" (Dominic Bugatti, Frank Musker)
3. "Voice On the Radio" (Florrie Palmer, Peter Vale)
4. "Calm Before the Storm" (Christopher Neil, Peter Vale)
5. "Modern Girl" (Dominic Bugatti, Frank Musker)
6. "No-one Ever Knows" (Leeson, Peter Vale)

Bonus tracks later released on CD:

1. "Paradox" (Christopher Neil)
2. "Moody (My Love)" (Easton, Christopher Neil)
3. "Summer's Over" (Florrie Palmer, Christopher Neil)
4. "Right or Wrong" (Florrie Palmer)

Track listing (US)

Side One

1. "Morning Train (9 to 5)"
2. "Don't Send Flowers"
3. "Cry"
4. "Take My Time"
5. "Prisoner"

Side Two

1. "Modern Girl"
2. "So Much In Love"
3. "Voice On the Radio"
4. "One Man Woman"
5. "Calm Before the Storm"

Bonus tracks later released on CD:

1. "Family of One" (Mike Leeson, Peter Vale)
2. "Please Don't Sympathize" (Thompson)
3. "Right or Wrong"
4. "Paradox"
5. "Summer's Over"

Personnel

• Sheena Easton - vocals
• William Lyall - keyboards
• Derek Austin - keyboards
• Sharon Campbell - background vocals
• Alan Carvell - background vocals
• David Cullen - keyboards, horn arrangements
• Kim Goody - background vocals
• Ian Lynn - keyboards
• Frank Musker - background vocals
• Christopher Neil
  Christopher Neil
  Christopher Neil is a British record producer, songwriter, singer and actor.He has worked with Celine Dion, a-ha, Dollar, Paul Nicholas, Kim Criswell, Morten Harket, Mike + The Mechanics, Johnny Logan, Marillion, The Moody Blues, The Other Ones, Paul Carrack, Rod Stewart, Gerry Rafferty, Cher,...
  
   - background vocals
• Phil Palmer
  Phil Palmer
  Philip 'Phil' John Palmer is a sideman and session guitarist in jazz and rock who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous famous artists...
  
   - guitar
• Frank Ricotti
  Frank Ricotti
  Frank Ricotti is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist.Ricotti played in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra while a teenager, then attended Trinity College of Music...
  
   - percussion
• Peter Vale - keyboards, background vocals
• Peter Van Hooke
  Peter Van Hooke
  Peter Van Hooke was drummer in the English band Mike + The Mechanics as well as having drummed for Cliff Richard, Van Morrison's band, Headstone, and Ezio. During the 1980s he successfully co-produced many of Tanita Tikaram's hits.Van Hooke grew up in Stanmore, Middlesex and attended Mill Hill...
  
   - drums
• Andrew Brown - bass
• Tony Hall - saxophone

Chart performance

Original release date	Single title	UK	US	JP Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	AUS Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...	IRL Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
February 1980	"Modern Girl"	8	18	18	24	10
May 1980	"9 to 5" / "Morning Train (9 to 5)"	3	1	17	1	2
October 1980	"One Man Woman"	14				5
February 1981	"Take My Time"	44
April 1981	"When He Shines"	12	30			9

Original release date	Album title	UK	US	JP	AUS	CAN Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
January 1981	Take My Time / Sheena Easton	17	23	4	57	9

Certifications

{| class="wikitable"
!Country
!Certification
!Sales
|-
|United Kingdom
|Gold
|100,000
|-
|United States
|Gold
|500,000
|}