The Girl in the Video 2: MORE original interviews with icons of 1980s MTV

From Annie and Josie to Diane and Jenny and (sort of) Billie Jean…welcome to round 2 of the girl in the video series.

logo adapted by Leigh Cullen @DesignLeigh

Thank you to all who said such nice things about round 1. Thank you also for your requests here and on Twitter; I’ve fulfilled as many of them as I could, plus, of course, threw in some surprises. 

This encore presentation/love letter to an era features 27 videos and 29 women including winners of an Oscar (Marlee Matlin) and Emmy (Kay Lenz). It also spills a bit into the ‘90s.

But first, a recap of round 1 (15 videos, 21 women): 

1983 

• Huey Lewis and the News, “Heart and Soul” and “I Want a New Drug” (1984)—Signy Coleman
• Journey, “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”—Margaret Olmsted Menendez (+ BONUS: Steve Perry, “Oh Sherrie” [1984]—Sherrie Swafford)

1984 

• ZZ Top, “Legs” and others—Wendy Frazier, Kymberly Herrin, Danièle Arnaud
• Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”—Audie Lenkov (Audie England)
• Huey Lewis and the News, “If This Is It”—Janet Cross, Sandra Wilder

1985 

• a-ha, “Take On Me”—Bunty Bailey
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Don’t Come Around Here No More”—Wish Cohen (Louise “Wish” Foley)
• Bryan Adams, “Summer of ‘69” and others—Lysette Anthony

1986

• Robert Palmer, “Addicted to Love”—Julie Pankhurst, Patty Elias (Patty Kelly), Kathy Davies, Mak Gilchrist, Julia Bolino
• The Outfield, “Your Love”—JoAnn Willette

1987 

• Lou Gramm, “Midnight Blue”—Traci Lind

1988 

• Michael Jackson, “Smooth Criminal”—Kelley Parker

1989 

• Tom Petty, “Free Fallin’”—Devon Kidd (Devon Jenkin)

[Also rare ‘80s: interview with Mick Smiley, singer-songwriter behind the memorable song “Magic” from Ghostbusters (1984).] 

And now...ROUND 2:

1981

• Tommy Tutone, “867-5309/Jenny”—Karen Morton

1982

• John Cougar (now John Mellencamp), “Jack & Diane”—Vicky Granucci
• 38 Special, “Caught Up in You”—Shari Shattuck
• Adam Ant, “Goody Two Shoes”—Caroline Munro
• John Waite, “Change”—Tina Gullickson

1983

• Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”; Bryan Adams, “Cuts Like a Knife”—Raquel Pena
• Mötley Crüe, “Looks That Kill”—Wendy Barry 

1984

• Night Ranger, “Sister Christian”—Macha Bennet-Shephard (Annie Hubbard)
• Rod Stewart, “Infatuation”—Kay Lenz 
• John Waite, “Missing You”—Liz Whitney (Elizabeth Reiko Kubota Whitney)
• Survivor, “I Can’t Hold Back”—Lee Ann Marie
• Chicago, “Stay the Night”—Ingrid Anderson
• Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”—Carol Seligson Fabi

1985

• The Cars, “Tonight She Comes”; Huey Lewis and the News, “Doing It All for My Baby” (1987)—Tara Shannon 

1986

• Prince, “Kiss”—Monique Mannen
• Huey Lewis and the News, “Stuck with You”—Keely Brosnan (also known as Keely Shaye Smith)
• Robbie Nevil, “C’est La Vie”—Kathy Foy-Asaro

1987

• REO Speedwagon, “That Ain’t Love”—Karen Peterson Matchinga

1988

• George Michael, “Father Figure”—Tania Harcourt-Cooze (Tania Coleridge)
• Richard Marx, “Endless Summer Nights”—Blueberry Blervaque
• Bryan Ferry, “Kiss and Tell”—Denice Lewis

1989

• Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”—Melody Knighton, Marlee Matlin, Lupe McDonald, Susan McNabb, Barbara Paolella, Frankie Thorn

1990

• Billy Idol, “Cradle of Love”—Betsy Lynn George

1991

• Van Halen, “Poundcake”—Diane Manzo

1993

• Meat Loaf, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”—Dana Patrick

Some I found declined to participate or did not respond:

J. Geils Band, “Centerfold” (1981)—Jill Forbert (Jill Priest); 
did not remember the names of any of the other women in the video:

Jill (left); Jill in 2011

 Huey Lewis and the News, “Do You Believe in Love” (1982)—Liz Shatner; 

daughter of William Shatner:

 Liz 2008; one of several videos of Liz interviewing her dad

Dexy’s Midnight Runners, “Come On Eileen” (1982)—Máire Fahey; 
editor of Prima magazine:

 
 

Maire recently

Kajagoogoo, “Too Shy” (1983)—Carolyn Miller (Carolyn Espley); 
married to comedian Dennis Miller:

Carolyn recently; image: C Home

The Kinks, “Come Dancing” (1983)—Emma Harrison (no photos)

 The Cars, “You Might Think” (1984)—Susan Gallagher; 

married to author/MTV executive Bill Flanagan:

image: Doug Hopkins

Susan 2010

Ray Parker, Jr., “Ghostbusters” (1984)—Cindy Horn (Cindy Harrell); 
a humanitarian married to Alan Horn, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios:

 Cindy 1982

Cindy 2014

Bruce Springsteen, “Dancing in the Dark” (1984)—Courteney Cox; 
starred in a 1990s sitcom (no photos)

 Lionel Richie, “Hello” (1984)—Laura Barboza (Laura Carrington); 

married to photographer Anthony Barboza:

  
Billy Idol, “Eyes Without a Face” (1984)—Nina Tolbert (no photos) 

Bon Jovi, “Runaway”  (1984)—Jennifer Gatti:

  
David Lee Roth, “California Girls” (1985):

 (one on the left)
 
Elton John, “Nikita” (1985)—Anya Rajah (Anya Major); 

also the hammer-wielding woman in the iconic
 Apple Computer “1984” Super Bowl commercial:

Anya circa 2010

Tears for Fears, “Head Over Heels” (1985)—Joan Densmore:

  
The Moody Blues, “Your Wildest Dreams” (1986)—Janet Spencer-Turner:

 Janet recently

 AC/DC, “You Shook Me All Night Long” (1986)—Corinne White (Corinne Russell); 

works in music management in the United Kingdom:

  
George Michael, “I Want Your Sex” (1987)—Kathy Jeung; 

a makeup artist who agreed to participate but then changed her mind:

  
Young MC, “Bust a Move” (1989)—Lisa Ann Cabasa:

 
John Mellencamp and Meshell Ndegeocello, “Wild Night” (1994)—

 Shana Phipps (Shana Zadrick); 
a model whose mother (from whom she is estranged) kindly left 
a note from me on Shana’s windshield…but I don’t know if Shana got it:

 

Believe me, I passionately tried to convince them to (re)consider. I risked annoying them for your benefit. Luckily, this round does feature women from other videos by five of the artists on the list immediately above. 

How you can become part of this series:

There could be a round 3.
 
If you agree that the people above saying no to an interview is a cultural misfortune, please say so in the comments below. If enough readers express heartfelt interest any particular ingénue, perhaps that will change her mind...

Plus I am still searching for a handful more. In other words, where can I find a woman like that?

If everyone who reads this simply skims the eight photos at that link (time investment: 11 seconds), I bet we will find at least one of those women the very day this series launches and others as word spreads.

So please click the link and tell me if you have leads on any of them: mtnobleman@gmail.com.

Housekeeping:

• I conducted the interviews between August 2013 and July 2014.
• Stills from videos are copyright their respective labels. I got permission to post all previously unpublished images; if you want to repost, please do the same by asking me first. You know the music business does not tolerate piracy.

To tease you in, five of my favorite lines (stay tuned to find out who said what):

• “You couldn’t eat breakfast at Du-par’s without a video gal chucking some hash browns at you.”
• “Now how did such an indelicate question get in here? I’m quite sure it must have been a mistake, so I’ll just pretend it wasn’t asked.”
• “My friend said I was the Forrest Gump of modeling.”
• “My dad was just thankful I wasn’t playing a prostitute this time.”
• “Who puts Prince on hold?”

She’s right here behind the glass
And you’re gonna like her ‘cause she’s got class
You can look inside another world
You get to talk to a pretty girl
She’s everything you dream about…

First up: Tommy Tutone, “867-5309/Jenny” (1981).