Meet the 80s pop divas who walked away from global fame to raise families away from the spotlight

Scottish singer Sheena Easton, now 67, was one of the stars of the 80s music scene with hits like Morning Train (Nine to Five) and Sugar Walls, and having worked with industry legends like Prince. 

But by the early 90s, she'd stepped away from the limelight and stopped making music. 

Two decades later, the musician opened up about why she chose to live a quieter life raising her two adopted children. The star adopted her son, Jake, in 1994, and her daughter, Skylar, two years after. 

"I’m not being shoved in people’s faces anymore, which means I can lead a very normal life 99 percent of the time," Sheena said in an interview with The New York Times last year.

The star explained there "came a point where I thought, I need to change my life."

"At the risk of a horrible cliché, that’s when I got off the merry-go-round. I didn’t want to be in my 50s and 60s looking back thinking all I’ve ever done was make records, get on a tour bus, do a bunch of TV - rinse and repeat. I wanted something more," she added.

Karyn White rose to fame in the late '80s with her chart-topping hit Superwoman. She followed up the track with her 1991 album Ritual of Love, which featured another hit single titled Romantic. 

As she was gaining notoriety, she stepped back from the spotlight following her third album in 1999. 

The singer, who was going through a divorce from her husband Terry Lewis, stepped away to focus on her young daughter and her career in real estate. 

"I never really said “oh I’m going to quit music”. Time kind of happened, and then more time happened, and I felt like music had moved on," the star said in a recent interview with Rated R&B.

"Not really understanding when you have a legendary, iconic music, and not even so much that, but just that I kind of felt I lost confidence in myself," she continued. 

"Then it turned into OK, I’m raising my daughter, it was kind of I want to be with my daughter. Then I was flipping homes. Then my daughter graduated, and now what was I going to do?"

Two decades later, the singer is back on the music scene in 2026 with a brand new single titled You’re Gonna Want Me Back.

With her signature blonde hair and tunes like Kids in America and her chart-topping cover of You Keep Me Hangin' On in her discography, English pop star Kim Wilde has was a force in the '80s.

However, after touring with Michael Jackson in 1988, the singer stepped back from music in the mid 90s to focus on her growing family. 

"I got to travel, then go home and have a life - get my groceries without a bodyguard," she told the i newspaper. "That tour experience was the beginning of me thinking about leaving the music industry and finding another world."

Kim married actor Hal Fowler in 1996 and they welcomed two children together: a son named Harry and a daughter named Rose. The couple were married for 26 years but ended up divorcing in 2022. 

After a stint as a landscape gardener, the singer returned to the music scene in the 2000s – and she's still making tunes! Her 15th studio album Closer came out in 2025.

Patty Smyth skyrocketed to fame as the leading lady of '80s American rock band Scandal. 

Fronted by Patty, the group found success thanks to hits like Goodbye to You and The Warrior, which made it to No.7 on the US Billboard charts. 

In her personal life, Patty found love with legendary tennis player John McEnroe, with whom she tied the knot in 1997. 

While she took a step back from her music career to welcome their children Anna, 27, and Ava, 24, the star returned to the studio after a nearly three-decade hiatus, releasing an album in 2020 titled It's About Time.

"I don't have to think about that now because [my kids are] grownups, but there was a moment when I had to choose - and I chose my kids. That's what I had to do," the singer told Stereogum. 

"At that point, as a single parent, I didn't really have that and there wasn't anyone else who could step in for me."

Known for her velvety vocals and effortlessly cool and timeless stage style, Helen Folasade Adu, or Sade Adu, rose to fame as the lead singer of Sade. 

Following their Best New Artist Grammy win in 1884, the group took a brief hiatus in the '90s after Sade welcomed her first and only child in 1996. 

After taking a step back to prioritise her personal life, Sade returned with the 2000 album Lovers Rock.

"After you make a record your life changes. Beforehand I was living my little anonymous life. But that whole machine that starts going when you make a record... it was all about how that change was going to affect my life, and my new life as a mother," she previously said in an interview with The Fader. 

ABBA was on a generational run in the '70s with hit after hit and chart-topping success. 

After the band went on an indefinite hiatus in the early '80s, Agnetha Faltskog pursued a solo music career. But after the release of her third studio album I Stand Alone in 1987, she quietly left the spotlight for a private live on an island near Stockholm. 

According to The Guardian, Agnetha retreated to her farm on Ekerö to focus on raising her two children, whom she shares with her ex-husband and former bandmate, Björn Ulvaeus. 

"We have dogs, cats, chickens and a rooster and maybe 20 or 30 horses, so it’s a big place," she told the outlet. 

These days, the singer is a grandmother of four and has made a small return to the industry with a new album and track in 2023 titled Where Do We Go from Here?.