Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Help me find these ‘80s music video girls!

Where are they now?

Who is the girl in the video?


Or rather, where can I find a woman like that?

I ask because round 2 is coming.

With literally a single click, you can spread word of my quest to find the long-lost ingénues from the following 1980s music videos to add to this interview series. If successful, your simple effort will make many people happy over many years. Not bad for the push of one button!


  • “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield
  • “Africa” by Toto
  • “Gimme All Your Lovin’” by ZZ Top
  • “Tell Her About It” by Billy Joel (multiple women)
  • “Along Comes a Woman” by Chicago
  • “Shake Me” by Cinderella
  • “Should’ve Known Better” by Richard Marx
  • “Got My Mind Set on You” by George Harrison
 
“Jessies Girl”

 “Africa”

“Gimme All Your Lovin’” (woman on the left; we know who the other two are)

 
“Tell Her About It”

“Tell Her About It”

“Along Comes a Woman”

“Shake Me” (it is not Amanda Peet!)

“Should’ve Known Better”

“Got My Mind Set on You”

For months, all leads have turned to dead ends. Here is who hasn’t remembered/had record of their names:

  • the music video directors
  • the producers
  • the casting agents
  • the record companies
  • the fans
  • the bands

And I am not surprised.

But these girls-now-women are out there.

They are probably not googling themselves because they don’t think anyone would be posting about their brief appearance in a music video 30 years ago. However, their kids may be googling them, and I hope they (you) have not only the curiosity but also the initiative to reach out to me.

Yes, I want to interview your mom. (Or aunt. Or godmother. Or friend’s mom.)

The point is simple: someone knows how to reach each of these memorable ‘80s faces, and everyone reading this is one of my six degrees of separation to reach those people.

Dreaming bigger:


  • if we can get anyone with a quarter of a million followers or more to tweet this, we will find at least one of the women
  • if we can get anyone with half a million or more, I’m convinced we can find every person on this list in just a day

Reasons to help:


  • It takes literally less than 30 seconds.
  • It costs nothing.
  • It has worked before...to startling effect.
  • You will make people smile. They want to hear the stories of the people I’m looking for.
  • You will be a crowdresearching pioneer. (The already-common crowdsourcing works, and that’s a lot more labor intensive.)
  • You will become part of the story yourself.

If you know any of these women, please let me know no matter how much time has passed since I posted this!

Thank you for contributing to this social media/pop culture/posterity experiment.

62 comments:

Unknown said...

You should have known better, Ava Fabian.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Ingrid - thanks, but while I believe she was in at least one other Richard Marx video, she was NOT in "Should've Known Better."

Unknown said...

always thought the girl in Should've Known Better was Emily Warfield (the older sister in The Man in the Moon). I can't find any proof out there (isn't listed on her IMDb)… and she looks very different in the movie (darker hair/ no makeup) - but she has a really distinctive profile and body language… and I'd be shocked to find out it isn't her.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Thanks Christie. Investigating!

Unknown said...

You could tell me what the name of the girl in the video A-HA "You are the one."? She works as a taxi driver in the video. thanks

Anonymous said...

Could someone tell us the names of the video vixens in Billy Squire's Video "Don't tell me you love me." The one brunette with the wide face appears to be asian. She looks like a Vogue cosmetics model. Absolutely beautiful.

Thanks,

Unknown said...

There's three women and a girl in "Video Killed the Radio Star". I wonder where they are now?

Debi Doss and Linda Jardim did female vocals for the song and video, but I can't find anything on the girl. The woman who spends most of the time in a plastic tube is only described as an aspiring actress friend of Russell Mulcahy, who edited the video.

Since it was the first video shown on MTV, they're the faces that launched the channel that used to be all about music.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

brunette in tell her about it is Jeana Tomasino

bluemango22 said...

Could you please find the girl in Billy Ocean's "Get outta my head (into my car)" video? I think she plays a carwash attendant (yes, it was a bizarre concept for a video).

earnie yearnie said...

re: Should've Known Better Girl: She's not Ava Fabian or Emily Warfield. Hopefully you get a lead Marc. Many people wonder. Males, mostly. Lol

Usmctpr said...

I have wondered who the girl is too in "Along Comes a Woman". To me she looks very much like Priscilla Barnes, who took over for Suzanne Summers in "Three's Company".

Unknown said...

The woman in Along Comes A Woman is Dorothy Mays. I believe she still lives in Glen Burnie Maryland.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Huge thanks Robert!

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Robert Larr, would you please email me at mtnobleman@gmail.com? Thank you!

Seyilayo Olagbami said...

The woman in Africa is Jenny Douglas-McRae. All I had to do was check Wikipedia

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Thanks, Sandra, but I was told that info is incorrect.

Unknown said...

Who are the two women sitting in the car, in "The Search Is Over" video, by Survivor?

Unknown said...

Hi, I have a suggestion for another search... who is the woman at the beginning of the video of the song "What is love" by Howard Jones?

11b33t said...

Marc,

Love your blog and appreciate all the hard work you've done! I'd like add to the wish list too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHYtsnSlCg0

Glass Tiger's 'Someday' video with the gorgeous female lead and the two backup singers has always intrigued me.

Unknown said...

I really want to know who the actors are in Bon Jovi "Living In Sin" video. Any idea?

sliceanddice said...

The girl in the Cinderella shake me video is Jodie Varble /Russel If I would have know that when I was eighteen I would have been cruising Rochelle IL because I didn't live very far from were she grew up. She has an IMBd profile and I am 75% sure she was also the blond in the Nobodys Fool video also, there's a story to that.

Unknown said...

what's the girl's name in Richard Marx's should've known better music video

Unknown said...

Who is the girl in the video The Promise by When In Rome

Gindorn said...

"Got My Mind Set On You" is Julie McCullough,a Playboy centerfold,and actress. She was on "Growing Pains" for a while.
The guy flirting with her is Alexis Denisof of "Buffy" and "Angel"(Wesley Wyndam-Pryce ) fame. He's also married to Alyson Hannigan,also from "Buffy"(Willow)

Unknown said...

The girl in the Chicago video Along Comes A Woman is Dorthy Mays. She's also the center fold girl in the July 1979 issue of Playboy. She used to cut hair at a hair salon call Head First in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

joe bobb said...

The girl in "Got My Mind Set On You" is NOT Julie McCullough. Looks a lot like her though.

ccie24137 said...

Donna Bottman is the girl in Domino Dancing music video by Pet Shop Boys

earnie yearnie said...

oh wow. found this site again. Update on Should've known better girl. Wikipedia said it was Daphne Zuniga. After viewing vids of her from movies around the year the song was released. UHhhh. no. Lol. So the mystery continues :(

toker53 said...

Should've Known Better
Side by side screen shot to several pinterest photos of Daphne Zuniga bear a remarkable likeness.

carla.evans said...

No, that is who I thought it was!! And the searching got me here. Lighter hair than when she was on Melrose Beach, but def her!!

earnie yearnie said...

Likeness yes, but not Daphne. the girl in the video has a smaller more round face. I think someone once asked Richard Marx who she was but he had no recollection.

Loquaciously Amorphous said...

2nd request for "Who is the girl in the video The Promise by When In Rome" !!!

JAM said...

Some interesting 80's video women to hunt down...the girl in Boys Don't Cry's "I wanna be a cowboy" and the gymnast in Asia's "Only Time Will Tell".

Loni's World said...

Got My Mind Set on You, is that Jennifer Aniston before the nose job? It looks so much like her!

Anonymous said...

may i ask? who is the girl in the music video of 'THE SEARCH IS OVER" by Survivor. Thanks a lot

BFK said...

I believe you. It's got to be Emily Warfield.

Jessie's Girl said...

So no one has identified the girl in Jessie's Girl?

Unknown said...

It's Jessie's girl.

Guilherme Rocha Leite said...

Julie McCullough was such a beautiful woman. She reminds me Alicia Silverstone in the Aerosmith's clips.

Unknown said...

The Promise - when in Rome ....Whose the Girl?????

Unknown said...

A loira é a Julie McCullough.

Unknown said...

The blonde is Julie McCullough

Unknown said...

Jodie Varbell Russell is Cinderella in Shake me video.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

At least two commenters above said that the woman in the Cinderella "Shake Me" video was Jodi Russell. I asked her and she said she did not do a video for Cinderella, but did do others:

- Air Supply "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" 1983
- Y&T "Contagious" 1987
- Air Supply "It's Never Too Late" 1993

Thanks for contributing. Keep the leads coming!

Unknown said...

Could the girl in Richard Marx video "Should Have Known Better" been his ex wife Cynthia Rhodes?

Unknown said...

Alguien sabe como se llama la chica del video should've known better por Richard marx gracias

Unknown said...

Como se llama la chica del video should've known better de Richard Marx alguien sabe gracias

Unknown said...

Maybe somebody could help me I've been looking to see if Kim Anderson and girls school video by Britney Fox is still alive today 2021

Sabrewulf said...

As said joe bobb The girl in "Got My Mind Set On You" is NOT Julie McCullough. The girl in the music video is a teenage girl, Julie was 22 in 1987. And if you look a bit more they have definitly not the same nose. So nobody knows who is she, because she's a random girl who not became famous.

Unknown said...

5TH request on girl in The promise video from the band When In Rome

the doctor said...

I TOO (TWO! HA!) would very much like to know WHO the girl is in the 'When in Rome' - The Promise' video is.

the doctor said...

ALSO, while I'm here...Does ANYONE know WHO the girl in the 'White Town' - Your Woman' video is?


NO! I'm NOT taking about the lesser attractive girl in the fur coat, and hat, but instead the much hotter girl in the long black leather coat. For some reason, everyone knows who the 'fur-coat' girl is, but no one seems to know the identity of the 'leather-coat' girl?


THANK YOU FOR READING!!! ; )

bluzcruz said...

To this day I keep trying to find out who the lovely villainous girl is in Asia's Don't Cry Video?
She doesn't seem to come up in any searches I do through Google.
Does anyone have a clue?

David said...

Can I also second that request. She is nowhere to be found on the internet!

Francesca said...

No She Is not Cynthia Rhodes

Unknown said...

Can't be Emily Warfield in Should've known better. She would only have been 15.

Stormy said...

Argh! Just lost my comment. I really want to know who the girl in the George Harrison video was. I really don’t believe she is Julie McCullough—their faces are totally different.

The girl in the video has that distinctive Slavic look, so I’m almost positive she is. She looks strikingly similar to a girl I went to school with (who was of Polish descent).

I don’t know if this was true, but I read that that version was the UK version. Could she have been from the UK?

Sean said...

I can’t find anything, but she looks like a young Monica Bellucci to me 🤷‍♂️

G said...

Please find the blonde in the Squeeze video Tempted!

Rick said...

Excuse Me by Danny Spanos (1983), I'd like to know the name of that woman

Sean B said...

Nope… Julie was quoted as saying it wasn’t her.