On August 1, 1981, an '80s icon soared to the top of the Billboard charts with a scandalous hit. At the time, he was also starring on a popular daytime soap, quickly becoming a heartthrob to millions. His chart-topping song, centered on a forbidden love affair, would go on to define a generation of romantic rebellion.
Rick Springfield’s breakout hit Jessie’s Girl began its two-week reign at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart on this day in music history. The song, which captured the angst of unrequited love, later earned Springfield a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
The song initially came out in March. It took 19 weeks for the tune to hit the number one position on the Billboard charts.
The song hailed from Springfield's fifth album Working Class Dog. Before this "breakthrough" hit, he previously released four albums: Beginnings (1972), followed by Comic Book Heroes (1973), Mission Magic (1974), and Wait for Night (1976).
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Springfield was already a familiar face to fans thanks to his role as Dr. Noah Drake on the wildly popular daytime soap, General Hospital. His debut coincided with the song's debut on the charts in March 1981.
The tune told the story of a forbidden love affair. Springfield revealed the inspiration behind the song in an interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
"It was a real story," he revealed to Kelly Clarkson. "I hadn't written in a while. I was an actor, but I wasn't making a lot of money back then."
"I thought 'maybe I should look for something else to support my future family,'" he continued. "So I thought I'd become a stained glass master."
"I started going to stained glass class. So there was this burning hot girl, and I was just like 'Oh my God,' and of course, she had a boyfriend [Gary]."
Springfield added, "She wanted nothing to do with me. And I would try, you know, but I wasn't good talking to girls."
The lyrics for that now-iconic song came from that chance encounter. Springfield says he believes the young woman who inspired the lyrics still doesn't know the song is about her.
Subsequently, The Oprah Winfrey Show tried to track her down, but without success. Yahoo! Entertainment interviewed Springfield, who revealed, “Oprah went and found the stained-glass class in Pasadena. But the teacher had died two years before she had found them, and they’d thrown out all his paperwork a year later. Oprah missed it by a year."
The identity of "Jessie's Girl" remains one of rock’s great musical mysteries. Rick Springfield is currently on his I Want My '80s Tour, which wraps up August 10.
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