How about we split the difference and get to ...Debbie Gibson?
The proto-Taylor Swift if you will, Deborah Gibson was born in Brooklyn and raised in Merrick, Long Island. #nypride By age five she had written her first song; by age fourteen she was performing in nightclubs! (In between this was a stint at the METROPOLITAN OPERA.) She began work on her debut album, Out of the Blue, in 1987. She would go on to make history as one of the youngest artists to write the lyrics and music to her ENTIRE DEBUT ALBUM. Not even TayTay did that!
First single Only in My Dreams was an instant top ten smash, and eventually went top twenty in the UK.
Taking cues from Madonna's circa-Like a Virgin look, but adding her own flair (neon swashes, denim cutoff jackets, hairbows!), Debbie took off amongst the teen girl populace, whom Madge had outgrown. Second single Shake Your Love confirmed this.
The title track was released as the third single, and similarly did the business. By the end of 1998, she was triple platinum. The proto-Lorde! But her biggest hit came with the requisite ballad, Foolish Beat.
Dig that classy sax! Foolish Beat went to number one, marking her as the youngest artist to compose, arrange, and produce her own number one single. #royalscouldn'tdoit #sorrynotsorry
A smash era, all in all. She even got a Revlon contract out of it!
Her second album, Electric Youth, didn't do as well, but did give her a few more top ten hits - including number one Lost in Your Eyes.
These were the pre-Britney days, however, and people weren't ready to see their teenage idols all grown up. Debbie's career eventually crumbled, as she wasn't allowed to make the transition to adulthood. One bad nose job later, she now appears in SyFy films with her former nemesis.
Only in My Dreams
Shake Your Love
Foolish Beat
Lost in Your Eyes
We have her cassette tapes somewhere in my house. I haven't actually heard it but I do remember a couple of those music videos you posted. She is just SO 1980 Teen Pop Dream, I love it.
It was really hard to find songs for the next artist, as everything GREAT she did was done with Rufus ... except these two songs! Ladies and gents, I present Chaka Khan. (Or Yvette Stevens, if you're nasty.)
Do You Love What You Feel? Sweet Thing? Tell Me Something Good? Ain't Nobody? All some of Chaka's most signature songs, all done with Rufus.
I'm Every Woman? Classic, but released in the 70s. (And arguably more well known for the Whitney version, embarrassingly.)
What song helped her relaunch as a solo artist? Only something originally written and recorded by Prince. I Feel for You features a who's who of collaborators: rapping by Melle Mel, a harmonica solo by the one and only Stevie Wonder! It's simply joyous, and one of the first records to feature 'scratching' and 'breaking,' commonly associated with rap. It became her first (and only hyhy) solo top ten on the Hot 100, and went to number one in the UK!
Fun Fact: Rebbie Jackson also covered this for her debut album!
One hit that was only a real hit on the R&B charts, but DID crossover to adult contemporary, was Through The Fire. Written by David Foster and dem, it gained new life ten years later when Kanye West sampled it for his debut single Through the Wire.
Fun Fact: Every woman who has covered this on American Idol has gone home the next night!
Funnily enough, she REFUSED Gabrielle/her people the rights to sample her opus. Never knew lesbians could be catty!
Found busking in Harvard Square while busking for change, and immediately signed to Elektra Records, Tracy Chapman became the voice of the 80s folk scene - artists tremendously inspired by what was done in the 60s, and striving to make it relevant in their own time.
Fast Car was performed at Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday, and took off like a rocket.
It went top ten - if not number one - all over the world, and won Tracy three Grammys. It was also her last top 40 hit for a very long time.
Subsequent singles Talkin' Bout a Revolution and Baby Can I Hold You cemented her fame, but didn't break any chart records.
Fun Fact: BCIHY is more famous in its boy band and reggae versions.
Tracy would not go on to have a big hit until 1996.
Fast Car
Talkin' Bout a Revolution
Baby Can I Hold You