No Strings is the eleventh studio album by Scottish singer Sheena Easton released in 1993 by MCA Records. The album was a departure from the pop and R&B style of her earlier recordings with jazz-tinged production arrangements by Patrice Rushen.
The album was recorded live in the studio, as Easton wanted to record the music in a similar fashion to Frank Sinatra's Capitol Records sessions of the 1960s. The song "The Nearness of You" was featured on the soundtrack to the film Indecent Proposal. Easton appears in a cameo role singing the song with Herbie Hancock playing the piano during a pivotal moment in the film, and the song was released as a promo single in some European markets.
Track listing "Someone to Watch Over Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 3:18 "Medley: I'm in the Mood for Love / Moody's Mood for Love" (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields / Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh, James Moody) – 4:14 "The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington) – 3:17 "How Deep Is the Ocean" (Irving Berlin) – 3:40 "If You Go Away" (Ne me quitte pas) (Jacques Brel, Rod McKuen) – 5:52 "Body and Soul" (Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Robert Sour) – 5:51 "Medley: Little Girl Blue / When Sunny Gets Blue" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers / Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal) – 6:10 "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else" (Gus Kahn, Isham Jones) – 3:25 "The Man That Got Away" (Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin) – 4:23 "I Will Say Goodbye" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) – 2:37 "Never Will I Marry" (Frank Loesser) – 3:25
Personnel
Musicians Sheena Easton – vocals Patrice Rushen – acoustic piano Phil Upchurch – guitars (2, 6, 8) Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitars (5, 10) Reggie Hamilton – bass (1) Ken Wild – bass (2–11) John Guerin – drums (1) Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums (2–11) Valerie King – flute (2, 5, 6, 8, 10) Fred Jackson, Jr. – alto saxophone (2, 5, 8, 10), soprano saxophone (2, 5, 8, 10), tenor saxophone (6) Bob Sheppard – alto saxophone (4, 7), tenor saxophone (4, 7), tenor sax solo (11) Larry Williams – tenor saxophone (6, 8), clarinet (6, 8) Lew McCreary – trombone (2, 6, 8), bass trombone (5, 10) Reggie Young – trombone (2, 6, 8) Rick Baptist – trumpet (2, 6, 8), flugelhorn (2, 6, 8) Raymond Lee Brown – trumpet (2, 4, 6, 7, 8), flugelhorn (2, 5, 6, 8), cornet (4, 7) Marni Johnson – French Horn (2, 5, 6, 8, 10) Richard Todd – French Horn (2, 6, 8)
Production Patrice Rushen – producer, arrangements Rick Winquest – recording, mixing Eric Cowden – assistant engineer Dann Thompson – assistant engineer Bernie Grundman – mastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood, California) Booker White – music copyist Vartan – art direction John Coulter – design Margo Chase – logo design Alberto Tolot – photography Barron Matalon – hair Fleur Theimeyer – stylist Francesca Tolot – make-up Harriet Wasserman – management
Charts + Chart performance for No Strings Chart (1993) Peakposition Japanese Albums (Oricon) 80
References