Well would you believe it, you wait for me to do a piece looking back at a young female American singer known by a six-letter mononym ending in “A” who had one minor hit in the UK with a single that begins with the word “Baby” in early-1986, who some claimed “could’ve been bigger than Madonna”, and then two (almost) come along at once.
Alisha (not the one who had an attic of course!) began her pop music career in the mid-80s, while she was still a teenager, and her first single “All Night Passion” was released in America in 1984. But her first real success was with “Baby Talk”. This was released in the UK in January 1986, and went on to spend two consecutive weeks at no. 67 (also her only two weeks on the chart in this country).
This was described by one critic at the time as “simple lyrics appealing to mass audiences”, which I think is supposed to be something of a compliment. “Baby Talk” also went on to top the Dance Chart in America, but maybe surprisingly, this only reached no. 68 on the Hot 100, one place lower than in the UK. There was a video made for this though.
And I also found a performance of this on the TV show TopPop, where everybody in the studio was suddenly in the mood to dance, although that’s probably because this was a piece of Freestyle Electro, whatever that is. It does sound good though. Also around this time, her debut album “Alisha” was released, and although this was rather well-received, this didn’t make the chart.
Although her brief moment of fame in the UK was over, Alisha continued to release more singles and albums in America. Her second album “Nightwalkin'” was released in 1987, and her third “Bounce Back” was released in 1990. It was at this point when she had her biggest chart success, when the single, also called “Bounce Back”, reached no. 59. But she never really hit the big time, and not long after, she left the music industry.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 