Stacey Q was on top of the music scene in the mid-1980s when freestyle music was at its peak. Although Stacey Q’s signature song that most people know her for is “Two of Hearts,” the girl with the upbeat attitude and gorgeous looks had many hits. Stacey Q has always had a unique voice that separated her from the rest. When comparing artists to one another, many times we can see similar traits, but Stacey Q was as unique as they come.
Stardom seemed to always be chasing Stacey Q, but singing was not her initial first choice of work. Her first love was dancing and live theater; which she did at a very young age. Stacey Q became a master at ballet and learned flamenco dancing. She also did seasonal entertainment for Disney and worked for the circus. She was a showgirl for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. As part of her act she also had the honor of regularly riding an elephant.
How did Stacey Q get started in the music industry?
Stacey Q was introduced to Jon St. James in 1981. James was a guitarist for a group that called themselves simply “Q.” Stacey eventually became the assistant producer of the band, but then St. James realized that he needed a vocalist. Stacey Q became the lead singer for “Q,” but despite this, in her eyes, she was still a dancer and not a singer. Group members would call each other by their first name and then “Q.” In case you’re wondering, all of this “Q” business had reference to the James Bond character.
The group’s music never received any major air play, but it was played at some colleges. This led to the group wanting to make more music. Unfortunately, copyright issues forced “Q” to change their name, and they came up with SSQ as their group’s name. This was inspired by Stacey Q’s real name which is Stacey Lynn Swain. The SSQ album called “Playback” was released in 1983, and one of the songs “Synthicide” was made in to a music video.
Top Songs From Stacey Q
One of the silliest things that a Stacy Q fan could ever hear was when VH1 ranked “Two of Hearts” #27 on a list of the 100 greatest one hit wonders of the 1980s. If somebody thinks that Stacey Q was a one hit wonder, they must have not been paying much attention or were sleeping a lot. Stacey Q had numerous hits during the freestyle era.
In 1986 the album “Better than Heaven” was released, and “Two of Hearts” became an instant hit. It received massive radio play, and the MTV video helped make Stacey Q instantaneously become a household name. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached at least the top 10 list is many other countries. The album was certified gold and reached #59 on the U.S. Album Chart.
Another successful song from the album was “We Connect” which peaked at #35 on the billboards hot 100. It did even better in the hot dance club songs coming in at #14. A third hit from the album was “Insecurity,” which many felt was very underrated. Rounding out other hits from the album were the album title “Better than Heaven,” “Music out of bounds,” “Love and Desire,” “Don’t let me down,” “Don’t break my heart,” “He don’t understand” and “Dancing nowhere.”
Stacey Q then followed up with a new album in 1988 titled “Hard Machine.” The album had small commercial success, but had nowhere near the success of the “Better than Heaven” album. The biggest hit from this album was “Don’t make a fool of yourself” which peaked at #66 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second most successful song from the album was a song called “I love you.” The upbeat dance song hit # 49 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs.
In 1989, her third album “Nights like this” did not have much success and is considered to have been a flop. The album featured a dance club sound. The most successful song from the album was “Give you all my love.” Stacey Q would not release another album for almost a decade after that and has since worked on various projects and has always continued to be involved in music.
Fun Facts About Stacey Q
Stacey Q did not want to record Two of Hearts
When John St. James introduced Stacey Q to the song, she was not happy at all about having to sing what she considered at the time as someone else’s song. The song was initially written to be sung by Sue Gatlin who also wrote the song along with John Mitchell and Tim Greene. Thank goodness John St. James convinced her to sing it because anybody that loved music loved Stacey Qs “Two of Hearts.”
What is Stacey Qs real name?
Stacey Q’s real name is Stacey Lynn Swaine
When is Stacey Qs birthday?
Stacey Q was born November 30th, 1958 in Fullerton, California.
Stacey Q appeared in the “Facts of Life” TV Sitcom
Stacey Q played a character named Cinnamon in the 1980s sitcom “The Facts of Life.” She appeared in a couple of episodes and performed “Two of Hearts” and “We connect.” A young George Clooney (who also appeared on the show) actually makes his departure from the show in one of the episodes as he becomes a roadie for Cinnamon (Stacey Q.)
Two of Hearts was considered for a Weird Al Yankovic parody
I’m glad that this didn’t happen! Not sure what it would have been called. Michael Jackson’s “Beat it” became “Eat It. Maddona’s “Like a Virgin” became “Like a Surgeon.” Of course Weird Al did many more songs. As for Stacey Qs “Two of Hearts,” I got nothing! I have no idea what he would have called his song. We can all thank the songwriters for declining the offer.