http://soultrain.com/2014/10/02/80s-ste ... reet-talk/
October 2, 2014
In 1983, the San Francisco-based band Journey was already on a commercial high from their hit album Frontiers, which earned the group four Top 40 hits—“Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” “Send Her My Love, “After the Fall” and “Faithfully.”
The following year, 1984, was a perfect time for Journey lead singer Steve Perry to release his debut solo album, Street Talk. Like Frontiers, Street Talk also produced several Top 40 singles, including the songs “Strung Out” and “She’s Mine.”
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One of the major hits from the album was a tune entitled “Oh Sherrie,” inspired by his-then girlfriend Sherrie Swafford. The song was the result of a songwriting collaboration with Perry and Randy Goodrum, along with two of the musicians who performed on the Kim Carnes hit “Bette Davis Eyes,” drummer Craig Krampf and keyboardist Bill Cuomo.
Thanks to a lot of love from radio as well as a music video in heavy rotation on MTV, “Oh Sherrie” wound up being a number one hit for Perry on the Billboard Top Tracks chart, number three on the Hot 100 and even cracked the Top 40 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The fourth single from the album, the ballad “Foolish Heart,” made it to the top twenty on the Hot 100 chart and number two on the Adult Contemporary chart.
“Foolish Heart” has been covered by several artists including former Atlantic Starr lead singer Sharon Bryant, who released her version of the song as a single from her 1989 solo album Here I Am, taking it back to the charts when it hit the Top 100 on the pop chart and the Top Ten on the R&B chart.
Street Talk went double platinum and peaked at number twelve on the charts in the U.S.
After the release of Street Talk, Perry went on to record two more albums with Journey, as well as another hit solo project, For The Love Of Strange Medicine, before leaving the band in 1998.