Songoftheday 9/18/19 - Did you call on every saint you know, but still you feel like you're on your own...
from the album Jamie Walters (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 20
Today's song of the day comes from singer and actor Jamie Walters, who had been previously in the short-lived musical drama The Heights, playing the lead singer in the titular fictional band. Although the show didn't even last a season, a song from the show featuring Walters, "How Do You Talk To An Angel", climbed all the way to #1 on Billboard magazine's pop Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1992. However, with the success of that track, Walters got himself signed as a solo artist by Atlantic Records.
Two years later, Jamie found himself another acting gig on Fox Network on the "teen-drama" Beverly Hills 90210, where he was cast as Ray Pruit, a musician who started dating Tori Spelling's character Donna. He wasn't a sympathetic character (hell, he pushed Tori down a flight of stairs), but the girls still swooned for him, just in time for Jamie to release his self-titled debut album. The first single from the record, "Hold On", reunited Walters with Steve and Stephanie Tyrell, who co-wrote "How Do You Talk To An Angel". With Jamie and keyboardist Kevin Savigar sharing writing credit, the by-the-numbers love ballad got the singer back with his fans as well as mainstream radio...
"Hold On" landed Walters his sole solo charting hit on Billboard's Hot 100 American pop chart, reaching the top-20 in April of 1995. The song also climbed to #9 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart. Internationally, the single spent a week at #9 in Canada, and also made the top-ten in Sweden (#2), Norway (#3), and New Zealand (#7). A second single from the debut, "Why", missed the pop Hot 100, but managed to "bubble under" the list at #105. After a sophomore effort in 1997, Ride, which also featured work from the Tyrells, stiffed, Walters was let go from Atlantic. His most recent release is 2002's Believed, which he put out independently. He also is now involved with the reboot of Beverly Hills 90210 again playing Ray Pruit.
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Here's Jamie appearing on Beverly Hills 90210 singing "Hold On"...
And on a live TV appearance in Europe...
Up tomorrow: "Genuine" Eurodance act wants to flee.
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