"Strut" is a song by Scottish singer

Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress who achieved recognition in an episode of the reality television series ''The Big Time (TV series), The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to gain a ...

for her fifth studio album, ''

A Private Heaven ''A Private Heaven'' is the fifth studio album by Scottish Pop music, pop singer Sheena Easton, released on 21 September 1984 by EMI America Records. The album featured two US Top 10 hit singles: the lead single "Strut (Sheena Easton song), Strut" ...

'' (1984). It was composed by singer-songwriter

Charlie Dore Charlie Dore (born 1956) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Although best known as a singer-songwriter, Dore has a multi-faceted career that includes acting in film, TV and radio, comedy-improvisatio ...

and her longtime songwriting partner Julian Littman. Easton was sent the demo for the song by

Christopher Neil Christopher Neil (born 1948) is a British record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. Neil has produced records for A-ha, Amazulu, Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion, Cher, Dollar, Edyta Górniak, Gerry Rafferty, Jennifer Rush, José Carreras, Le ...

, who was Easton's first producer. "Strut" was released by

EMI America EMI America Records was launched in 1978 by EMI as their second label in the United States after Capitol Records, relying on Capitol only for pressing, distribution, and international liaison. In 1987, EMI America merged with Manhattan Records, ...

in August 1984 as the album's

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

and peaked that November at 7 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In the UK—where the single was released in November 1984—the track became the first US top-40 single by Easton to completely miss the top 100 of the UK Singles Chart.

Background

While Easton had achieved success with singles over her career, ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' asserted in 1984 that "the old Sheena Easton was running into some identity problems" due to her management not knowing whether to promote her as a rock or pop artist. EMI record executive Dick Williams noted Easton's concerns with being branded as a middle of the road artist, stating, "I think she felt, as did a lot of programmers, that her image was predominantly 'pop adult' and that limited her exposure to radio and television." After the success of the top-10 single " Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)", Easton wanted to keep exploring that genre and move away from her image as a ballad singer. She recalled in a 1984 interview that both she and producer Greg Mathieson "wanted to keep it young, spiky and aggressive" for ''A Private Heaven'', stating that Mathieson "fought in my corner to get me songs that normally wouldn't be sent to me, songs with a more adult lyric but a younger feel." Finding such material proved difficult; Easton noted that songs with a harder edge would be first offered to artists like

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; formerly and still professionally Benatar ; born January 10, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US ''Billboa ...

. She eventually found a suitable single in "Strut", however, after being sent a demo of the song by her friend and former producer,

. Neil encouraged her to take the song to Mathieson, who liked it enough to produce the track.

Reception and accolades

It was nominated for

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

at the 27th Grammy Awards. Like its parent album overall, the "Strut" single and accompanying video signaled Easton's shift towards a more sexually suggestive image.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Popular culture

In 1986 Easton, dressed as a

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor= ...

, performed "Strut" in a Japanese TV commercial for

shōchū is a Japanese distilled beverage. It is typically distilled from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or brown sugar, though it is sometimes produced from other ingredients such as chestnut, sesame seeds, potatoes, or even carrots. Typ ...

References

External links

Strut
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{Authority control 1984 singles 1984 songs EMI America Records singles Sheena Easton songs Songs written by Charlie Dore