You Should Hear How Melissa Manchester Talks About Her Biggest Hit

Melissa Manchester was primarily a torch singer in the Streisand mold, with Adult Contemporary hits such as "Midnight Blue" and "Don't Cry Out Loud." She also co-wrote the Yacht Rock classic "Whenever I Call You Friend" with Kenny Loggins. I mean, who needs Michael McDonald?



But in 1982, someone at the record company must have called Manchester into his office and said, "Melissa, baby, we love you but you're just not selling. Try to do something the kids are gonna like, you know? Something they can dance to."



"You Should Hear How She Talks About You," sort of a "She Loves You" for the '80s, peaked at #5 and became her most successful single. But according to Wikipedia, she "had to be dragged kicking and screaming into [the] studio" to record it. I'll bet nobody had to drag her kicking and screaming to the Grammys, where she won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance over Laura Branigan, Olivia Newton-John and Juice Newton! That's like the Holy Trinity of early '80s female pop. She should have won a special Grammy just for beating those three.

Songwriter Peter Brown probably had this song stuck in his head when he wrote Madonna's "Material Girl." Sing the lines "Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me/I think they're OK" to the tune of the chorus and you'll see what I mean. Hey Melissa Manchester, you should hear how Madonna ripped off the song you didn't even like.