Don’s Top 10 From February 2, 1987

(#11 last week) Former backup vocalist for the R&B band Zapp steps out with a solo number, bigger locally than nationally. Shirley collaborated with the late Teena Marie on one of her last recordings in 2009.

(#5 last week) Fourth single from the smash album of the same name, produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. This video won an MTV award, beating out her brother Michael, among others. However, making it was difficult. The crowd at the performance portion was told there'd by a free concert; instead, they got 50 takes of Janet lip-synching just this song.

(#7 last week) Abbott not only sings, he plays keyboards & drums. Before singing, Abbott studied psychology at Berkley & creative writing at Stanford; where he won a Wallace Stegner fellowship. Also, he has taught English at Berkeley. An intellectual on the chart!

(#8 last week) The second single off the "True Colors" album (the title track was first), guess who,the Bangles sang backup vocals here.

(#9 last week) The story goes that Jon bon Jovi did not like the original recording of this song, which can be found as a hidden track on "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong". Richie Sambora convinced him the song was good, and they reworked it with a new bass line, different drum fills and the use of a talk box to include it on their "Slippery When Wet" album. Smart move.

(#6 last week) The fourth single from Madge's third album, "True Blue". The songwriters first wrote the lyrics as "Follow Your Heart", & imagined Cyndi Lauper singing, but they never got it to her.

(#4 last week) This did well in the U.S., but REALLY well in Canada, where it spent SEVEN weeks at #1. I guess sultry Samantha really warmed up those cold Canadians!

(#3 last week) So silly: this novelty was banned by the BBC during the Gulf War because it mentioned the Middle East. Toni ("Mickey") Basil turned this down before the Bangles got it. They're my favorite 80s recording act!

(#2 last week) Nevil in recent years has turned to producing such acts as Babyface, Destiny's Child & Jessica Simpson. Boy, has this song disappeared.

(#1 last week; 2nd week at #1) First charted in 1981, this stalled at #79, but became a smash due to inclusion in the hit NBC sitcom "Family Ties".