Songoftheday 5/14/15 - Why don't you stop playing games? Ooh boy do you think you'll ever change?

"Serious" - Donna Allen
from the album Perfect Timing (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's SOTD is by pop/dance singer Donna Allen, who went from being a cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team to a backup singer gig for artists like Gloria Estefan. The Florida native (born in Key West) released her first solo album in 1986. The first single from the set, "Serious", was co-written by the artist with her producer Louis Pace, and had a slinky midtempo synth-driven groove more like Janet Jackson than Madonna...

"Serious" became Donna's sole pop top-40 hit in May of 1987, while climbing to #5 on Billboard's R&B chart. The song was an even bigger hit across the Atlantic, going to #8 on the British pop singles chart. Her follow-up single, "Satisfied", missed the top-40 on the pop chart but made that level on the Dance Club Play list, her first appearance there. In 1988, Allen released her sophomore album, Heaven On Earth, and the third single, "Joy And Pain", returned her to the top-10 on the American R&B and British pop charts. She released a one-off club single in 1995, "Real" (from the Specialist soundtrack), which peaked at #23 on the dance chart. Two years later, she appeared as a guest on East 57th Street's "Saturday", which landed at #37 in the UK. Most recently, Allen appeared on The Voice, making it through the blind auditions only to be cut after her second performance (though losing to the eventual winner of that season).

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here's Donna gettin' her groove on live on TV in 1987...

British Eurodance act Strike interpolated "Serious" for their single "U Sure Do", which climbed into the UK top-40 twice, reaching #4 in 1995...

Up tomorrow: an Irish rock band gets their big break fatalistically.