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"I became re-current with my kids," Newton laughs.
Shaggy reworked Newton's 1981 signature hit Angel of the Morning for the song, but she didn't share in the financial windfall because she didn't pen the tune. But that's no worry to Newton, 50, a Grammy Award-winning performer who has been in the game for more than 25 years.
While her biggest hits may be years behind her, the country-pop star still plays about 120 shows a year with many of the same musicians who played on her multi-platinum album Juice in 1981. Newton issued records throughout the 1980s before taking a break to raise her kids, now 12 and 15. She returned in the late 1990s as an independent artist.
"I kept releasing stuff and it was very creative because I actually wasn't as confined. Sometimes when you're on a major (label) they like to act like you have a say, but they're pretty restrictive at times. They have an image of what they think you are and they're in the business to make money. It's not necessarily artistic for them, and I understand that and appreciate that," she says.
Her latest album, American Girl, was released in 1999 and she has a new live CD and DVD due next month.
Tickets are $15 at the casino.