Los Angeles-born singer/songwriter Kim Carnes had spent the late '60s and the decade of the '70s flirting with breakthrough success. She had been a member of the popular folk act The New Christy Minstrels before going solo at the beginning of the '70s. Her solo career had produced some minor success before she hit the Top Ten duetting with Kenny Rogers (himself a former member of The New Christy Minstrels with Carnes) in 1980 on "Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer."

The hit duet gave Carnes momentum which translated into a solo Top Ten hit later that year with her cover of The Miracles' "More Love," but it gave no hint of the success she would have in 1981 and the release of her album Mistaken Identity. The album would feature the song "Bette Davis Eyes" which would become the song with which Carnes would be most identified.

Co-written by folk rocker Jackie DeShannon half a decade earlier, the song was given a dramatic new reading by Carnes and a hypnotic, atmospheric arrangement. With hints of New Wave synthesizers, the song's air of mystery proved to be too much for listeners to resist. The song reached the Top Ten within a month of entering the US Top 40 and quickly took the top spot, holding at #1 for nine weeks. Not only was it the song of the summer of '81, it earned Carnes several Grammy Awards the following spring.

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