Pop singer Sheena Easton doesn't hesitate when asked to name her favourite James Bond actor.
"I have to say, of course, I'm Scottish and he's Scottish, but Sean [Connery] is my all-time favourite Bond," the performer said Thursday night, slipping into a thick brogue.
"He's just a charming and delicious Bond."
Easton, whose '80s hits include Telephone and Morning Train, was in Toronto to celebrate the opening of Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
The singer has her own place in Bond film history: she performed the titular theme song for 1981's For Your Eyes Only, which starred Roger Moore as the famed superspy.
Easton says she has yet to hear the song Adele recorded for the latest Bond instalment Skyfall, opening Nov. 8, but she's clear on what makes a good Bond tune.
"Drama. It has to have an essence of mystery and excitement and drama."
"My favourites are the Shirley Bassey ones but I also love [Carly Simon's] Nobody Does It Better."
Bassey performed songs for 1964's Goldfinger, 1971's Diamonds Are Forever and 1979's Moonraker while Simon did the theme for 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me.
Other famed Bond hits include Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die and Duran Duran's A View to A Kill.
Easton recalls being "shocked and surprised" when she got the call more than three decades ago to perform the Bill Conti-Michael Leeson song For Your Eyes Only.
"It's one of those songs that has a timeless, classic nature to it," she said after performing it Thursday.
The Bond exhibit at the TIFF Bell Lightbox runs until Jan. 20.
