Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo
Encyclopedia
Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo (born June 1, 1950, Hollywood, California
) is an American
R&B
singer best known as Charlene. She is known for her 1982 popular song "I've Never Been to Me
", and is considered a one-hit-wonder
.
", which omitted a spoken bridge. She first released the single in 1977, but it initially had little success, reaching #97 on the pop chart
.
" in 1976, and the single reached #97 on the US Billboard Hot 100
singles chart in 1977. When released again in 1982, the single reached #3 in the United States
(US), and #1 by June 1982, in the UK Singles Chart
. The song has been her only Top 40 hit.
In 1982, Tampa, Florida
disc jockey
Scott Shannon, then at WRBQ
, started playing the song at the behest of a girlfriend, by which time Charlene had lost her recording contract, moved to England
and was working in a sweetshop in Ilford
, London
. Audience reaction was impressive, resulting in the song's second release with the original spoken bridge. The second release was a hit in England as well.
When the song was first released in the US in 1976, Charlene's legal name was Charlene Duncan from her marriage to record producer Larry Duncan; by the time the song was released in 1982, her name was Charlene Oliver by her subsequent marriage to Englishman Jeff Oliver. The single reached the top ten of the US pop and adult contemporary charts that year, and the concurrent release of her album I've Never Been to Me, was also relatively successful. The single was one of the year's biggest hits, and the video for the song was filmed at Blickling Hall
, Norfolk
, England and Charlene wore the wedding dress that she got married in.
"I've Never Been to Me" was featured as the opening song to the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
. The song is mimed onstage by two Sydney drag queens at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, Sydney
, Australia
. The latter performance includes a scene where a plastic "baby doll" (actually a rubber chicken
) is hurled into the audience by one of the performing drag queens.
that was penned by the writers of "I've Never Been to Me", which did not reach the pop top 40 chart and only reaching #46 on the pop charts. Both records were ranked the third and fourth worst records of all time by Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell in their 1991 book, The Worst Rock n Roll Records of All time. Not surprisingly, the Used to Be album, which accompanied its titular single, was not as successful as her previous album.
In 1984, Charlene released another album, Hit and Run Lover. Motown
attempted to revamp her image in order to appeal to new audiences by highlighting her in a segment of the film The Last Dragon
, which was under development by Motown's founder Berry Gordy
. She and other Motown artists, including DeBarge
and Vanity
, were strategically placed in the film to appeal to the MTV
craze of the time. Charlene's song "Fire" was used along with a music video depicting her as a goddess. Although the film managed to improve some of the other artists' notoriety, Charlene's appearance in the film did not catch on and she was dropped from the Motown label the following year.
Because of her one big hit, Charlene became known as a one-hit-wonder
in music. She was featured on VH1
's 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders show, hosted by William Shatner
in 2002. Her ranking on the list was #75. In 2006, "I've Never Been to Me
" was released as one of the songs on SingStar Anthems, one of the popular SingStar
s. Charlene has re-released the song in the form of a dance remix via download music.
Charlene launched an official web site in April 2011, that includes several new songs released via download music. Songs released include "Broken Women", "California Dreamin (Dance)", "Emotional Scars", "I Wanna Be A Woman", "I Was You", "I've Never Been To Me (Dance)", "Oh Cecilia", "Sea of Tranquility", "Spirit of Woman", "Symphony For A Broken Piano", "There I'll Be", "(Why Can't) Time Stand Still", and "Used To Be (With Stevie Wonder)."
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer best known as Charlene. She is known for her 1982 popular song "I've Never Been to Me
I've Never Been to Me
"I've Never Been to Me" is a sleeper hit single performed by American singer Charlene Oliver née D'Angelo.-Chart history:Upon its initial release in 1977, the song reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, renewed interest in the song led to the single reaching Number 3 in...
", and is considered a one-hit-wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
.
Early recording career
She was christened by her mother under the name Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo, which was later shortened to Charlene for her record label. In 1973, Charlene signed with Motown under the name "Charlene Duncan", and released her first (and unsuccessful) single "All That Love Went to Waste" in January 1974. Three years later, she released a second album, It Ain't Easy Comin' Down, on Motown's Prodigal label. The release was credited to Charlene, although an album issued the same month had "Charlene Duncan" printed on the spine (and was, confusingly, titled Charlene). Another 1977 album, Songs of Love, was a repackaging of her song "I've Never Been to MeI've Never Been to Me
"I've Never Been to Me" is a sleeper hit single performed by American singer Charlene Oliver née D'Angelo.-Chart history:Upon its initial release in 1977, the song reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, renewed interest in the song led to the single reaching Number 3 in...
", which omitted a spoken bridge. She first released the single in 1977, but it initially had little success, reaching #97 on the pop chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
Success of "I've Never Been to Me"
Charlene originally recorded "I've Never Been to MeI've Never Been to Me
"I've Never Been to Me" is a sleeper hit single performed by American singer Charlene Oliver née D'Angelo.-Chart history:Upon its initial release in 1977, the song reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, renewed interest in the song led to the single reaching Number 3 in...
" in 1976, and the single reached #97 on the US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
singles chart in 1977. When released again in 1982, the single reached #3 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(US), and #1 by June 1982, in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The song has been her only Top 40 hit.
In 1982, Tampa, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Scott Shannon, then at WRBQ
WRBQ
WRBQ-FM is a commercial classic hits music formatted radio station in Tampa, Florida.-History:Formerly WPKM and later WEZX, 104.7 switched to a rock ’n roll format as Q105 in December 1973, home to the Q-Morning Zoo, Cleveland Wheeler, Scott Shannon, Dave Saint, Jack Harris, Bill Garcia, Uncle...
, started playing the song at the behest of a girlfriend, by which time Charlene had lost her recording contract, moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and was working in a sweetshop in Ilford
Ilford
Ilford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It forms a significant commercial and retail...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Audience reaction was impressive, resulting in the song's second release with the original spoken bridge. The second release was a hit in England as well.
When the song was first released in the US in 1976, Charlene's legal name was Charlene Duncan from her marriage to record producer Larry Duncan; by the time the song was released in 1982, her name was Charlene Oliver by her subsequent marriage to Englishman Jeff Oliver. The single reached the top ten of the US pop and adult contemporary charts that year, and the concurrent release of her album I've Never Been to Me, was also relatively successful. The single was one of the year's biggest hits, and the video for the song was filmed at Blickling Hall
Blickling Hall
Blickling Hall is a stately home in the village of Blickling north of Aylsham in Norfolk, England, that has been in the care of the National Trust since 1940.-History:...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England and Charlene wore the wedding dress that she got married in.
"I've Never Been to Me" was featured as the opening song to the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot is based on the journey of three drag queens who travel across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named...
. The song is mimed onstage by two Sydney drag queens at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The latter performance includes a scene where a plastic "baby doll" (actually a rubber chicken
Rubber chicken
A rubber chicken is a prop used in comedy. The phrase is also used as a description for food served at speeches, conventions, and other large meetings, and as a metaphor for speechmaking.-Comedy:...
) is hurled into the audience by one of the performing drag queens.
Subsequent recordings and releases
The following year, Charlene released another song, "Used to Be", a duet with Stevie WonderStevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
that was penned by the writers of "I've Never Been to Me", which did not reach the pop top 40 chart and only reaching #46 on the pop charts. Both records were ranked the third and fourth worst records of all time by Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell in their 1991 book, The Worst Rock n Roll Records of All time. Not surprisingly, the Used to Be album, which accompanied its titular single, was not as successful as her previous album.
In 1984, Charlene released another album, Hit and Run Lover. Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
attempted to revamp her image in order to appeal to new audiences by highlighting her in a segment of the film The Last Dragon
The Last Dragon
The Last Dragon is a 1985 martial arts musical film produced by Rupert Hitzig for Berry Gordy and directed by Michael Schultz. The film was a critical disappointment but a financial success, The Last Dragon is now considered a cult classic. The film stars Taimak, Vanity, Julius Carry, Christopher...
, which was under development by Motown's founder Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...
. She and other Motown artists, including DeBarge
DeBarge
DeBarge was a sibling music group of American origin whose repertoire included R&B, soul, funk, and later gospel. Active as a professional recording group from 1979 and 1989, the group was one of the few recording acts to bring success to the Motown label during the 1980s.-Background:Hailing from...
and Vanity
Vanity (performer)
Denise Katrina Matthews , better known as Vanity, but sometimes credited as Denise Matthews-Smith or D.D. Winters, is a Canadian-born former singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and model from the 1980s until the early mid-90s...
, were strategically placed in the film to appeal to the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
craze of the time. Charlene's song "Fire" was used along with a music video depicting her as a goddess. Although the film managed to improve some of the other artists' notoriety, Charlene's appearance in the film did not catch on and she was dropped from the Motown label the following year.
Because of her one big hit, Charlene became known as a one-hit-wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
in music. She was featured on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders show, hosted by William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
in 2002. Her ranking on the list was #75. In 2006, "I've Never Been to Me
I've Never Been to Me
"I've Never Been to Me" is a sleeper hit single performed by American singer Charlene Oliver née D'Angelo.-Chart history:Upon its initial release in 1977, the song reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, renewed interest in the song led to the single reaching Number 3 in...
" was released as one of the songs on SingStar Anthems, one of the popular SingStar
SingStar
SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...
s. Charlene has re-released the song in the form of a dance remix via download music.
Charlene launched an official web site in April 2011, that includes several new songs released via download music. Songs released include "Broken Women", "California Dreamin (Dance)", "Emotional Scars", "I Wanna Be A Woman", "I Was You", "I've Never Been To Me (Dance)", "Oh Cecilia", "Sea of Tranquility", "Spirit of Woman", "Symphony For A Broken Piano", "There I'll Be", "(Why Can't) Time Stand Still", and "Used To Be (With Stevie Wonder)."
Singles
| Year | Single | US Hot 100 | US A.C. | US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... >| | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | "It Ain't Easy Comin' Down" | 97 | - | - | Charlene |
| "I've Never Been to Me I've Never Been to Me "I've Never Been to Me" is a sleeper hit single performed by American singer Charlene Oliver née D'Angelo.-Chart history:Upon its initial release in 1977, the song reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, renewed interest in the song led to the single reaching Number 3 in... " |
97 | - | - | ||
| "Freddie" | 96 | - | - | Songs of Love | |
| 1982 | "I've Never Been to Me I've Never Been to Me "I've Never Been to Me" is a sleeper hit single performed by American singer Charlene Oliver née D'Angelo.-Chart history:Upon its initial release in 1977, the song reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, renewed interest in the song led to the single reaching Number 3 in... " (re-release) |
3 | 7 | 60 | I've Never Been to Me |
| "It Ain't Easy Comin' Down" (re-release) | - | - | - | ||
| 1983 | "Used to Be" (with Stevie Wonder Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist... ) |
46 | 31 | - | Used to Be |