Songoftheday 8/18/13 - She's a wizard with her shears she's been turning heads for years, all the darlings and the dears say she's got the touch...

Van Stephenson - "Modern Day Delilah"
from the album Righteous Anger (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's Song of the Day is by singer/songwriter Van Stephenson, who went from being a successful country songwriter to a moment as a solo rockstar success before going back to country. His big break came in 1979, when Crystal Gayle took one of his songs, "Your Kisses Will", into the country top-10. Van's first album was released in 1981, and he had a minor pop hit with "You've Got A Good Love Coming", reaching #79. It would later be covered by Lee Greenwood and made the top-5 of the country list in 1985.

In 1984 Stephenson put out his second set, Righteous Anger, and the first single, "Modern Day Delilah", with the typical over the top and blow-dried "concept video", got legs on MTV and made Van a top-40 hit...

"Modern Day Delilah" became Van's first and only solo top-40 hit in June of 1984. It also was big on rock radio, topping out at #9 on the chart. The followup single, "What The Big Girls Do", almost did the trick later in the year, stalling at #45. It would be his last solo hit, but not his last time on the pop chart...

In the 1990s, Van joined the country trio Blackhawk along with fellow rock refugee Henry Paul, and had a bigger career here than in the pop realm, placing fifteen singles in the country top-40, with seven of them reaching the top-10. One of them, "There You Have It", almost gave Van a second top-40 Hot 100 hit, peaking at #41 in 1998. But sadly, not too long after in 2000 he exited the band after being diagnosed with cancer, dying from melanoma a year later.

"Modern Day Delilah" is the cream of the power-pop that dominated the rock through the mid-80s. And I ate it up. 

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..and here's Van (with a big ol' bear of a drummer) on American Bandstand in 1984...

Up tomorrow: the Boy works wonders.