Top Ten hit

Girl groups have been around as long as there has been popular music, reaching their heydey in the '60s when acts like Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, The Ronnettes, and The Supremes were ubiquitous hitmakers. The '70s saw a decline in such musical formations, but the '80s arrived with The Go-Gos who, unlike their predecessors, wrote and performed their own material. They were followed by British trio Bananarama in 1983 who more resembled early all-female acts.

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Long Island trio The Stray Cats were required to go to the UK to find an audience, but, once they did, the States took notice. Their 1982 debut Built For Speed was a multi-million selling smash album which reached the Top Ten as did two of its singles, "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cat Strut' (the latter becoming their biggest hit when it peaked at #3 in early 1983). So, expectations were high for their sophomore album, Rant 'N Rave With The Stray Cats, was issued in late summer of 1983.

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In the late summer of 1981, San Francisco rock quintet Journey would release their eighth album, Escape, their fifth with lead singer Steve Perry. It was the album that would make the band, which had been a popular live act and staples on album rock radio throughout the '70s, and make them mainstream superstars, scoring numerous pop hits, in the '80s.

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Country singer Johnny Lee unwittingly set up the biggest hit of his career with one single act of moxie. As a young singer following his discharge from the Navy in the late '60s, Lee convinced Mickey Gilley to allow him to join his band under the pretense that the two had met years before. They hadn't. However, it established Lee with Gilley and made the former a headliner in the latter's successful Houston club.

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From the time they arrived off the assembly line with their 1978 debut, Boston's The Cars had become one of the most popular bands in America on the strength of their uptempo fusion of classic power pop and New Wave. Four albums had produced a string of hits including "Just What I Needed," "Let's Go," and "Shake It Up." It was their 1984 release, Heartbeat City, though, that had launched them to superstardom.

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Although regarded by many as one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time, including having appeared on record with the legendary Miles Davis, George Benson also managed to carve out a highly successful career on R&B, pop, and adult contemporary radio in the '70s. Not only did Benson win four Grammy Awards during the decade, he also notched smash hits like "This Masquerade," "On Broadway," and "The Greatest Love Of All" (which would later become a #1 hit for Whitney Houston).

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For as much success as singer/songwriter Billy Joel had during the late '70s - a period where over the course of three albums, he notched hits like "Just The Way You Are," "My Life," and "Only The Good Die Young" - the '80s proved to be even more hit-laden for the piano man. From 1980 through the end of 1984, Joel released 14 songs that became US Top 40 hits - five of them reaching the Top Ten.

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"S-A-F-E-T-Y. Safety. Dance." One of the most memorable spelling lessons in pop music history, those letters and words also introduced the music world to the the synth-pop stylings of the Canadian band Men Without Hats. Including brothers Ivan and Stefan Doroschuk, the group had formed in 1980 and released an EP which was re-released the following year on Britain's legendary Stiff label. In 1982, they would release their full-fledged debut, Rhythm Of Youth, which would become a hit in the States in 1983, following success around the world.

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Toward the end of 1981, Los Angeles' Go-Go's scored their first hit with "Our Lips Our Sealed" and, as 1982 began, they stormed the charts with its even more successful follow-up, "We Got The Beat," which reached #2 on the pop charts and helped the band's debut album, Beauty And The Beat, become a #1 album.

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In 1980, young actress Irene Cara, who had already accumulated a long list of credits since childhood, was cast in the film Fame. The film, which chronicled the lives of students at the New York School For Performing Arts, featured Cara as an aspiring singer and dancer. As such, she contributed several songs to the film's soundtrack.

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Aside from Madonna, there might not have been a more popular female singer in the world in 1985 than Tina Turner. Returning from years of absence, Turner had released the album Private Dancer in early 1984 and, in addition to selling millions of copies, it had spawned five Top 40 singles, including three Top Ten hits - "What's Love Got To Do With It," "Better Be Good To Me," and the title track.

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The daughter of a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera, pop songstress Melissa Manchester wrote commercial jingles and sang back-up for Better Midler before embarking on a solo career in the mid-'70s. While notching Top Ten hits like "Midnight Blue" and "Don't Cry Out Loud," Manchester also found success as a songwriter as well, including writing the smash duet between Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks, "Whenever I Call You Friend."

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Drummer Sheila E. was well-prepared for the success she found with the the release of the debut album in the summer of 1984. The daughter of Latin jazz percussionist Pete Escovedo, Sheila had been performing with his band since her teens. She had also recently provided vocals to the Prince song "Erotic City," which had been the b-side to his #1 hit "Let's Go Crazy" (and she would become a member of his band in 1987).

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One of the more curious hitmakers of the '80s was undoubtedly Indonesian-born Taco Ockerse. Recording under the name of Taco, the singer recorded an album recreating hits from the '30s, as well as originals in the vein of that period, all given a bit of synth-pop twists. It was unusual musical course to take, but it proved to be a successful one (albeit short-term success).

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