"She Did It" is a song written and originally recorded by

Eric Carmen Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Rasp ...

in 1977. Carmen's single was a Top 40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, reaching number 23. "She Did It" was covered in 1981 by actor and singer

Michael Damian Michael Damian Weir (born April 26, 1962) is an American actor, recording artist, and producer, best known for his role as Danny Romalotti on the soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', which he played from 1980 to 1998 and again in 2002-2004, ...

, who reached number 69 on the Hot 100 with his version.

Eric Carmen version

Background and release

"She Did It" was first recorded and performed by

. Released in August 1977, it was the first and greatest hit on Carmen's second solo LP, ''

Boats Against the Current ''Boats Against the Current'' is a 1977 album by Eric Carmen. The title is taken from a line in the novel ''The Great Gatsby'' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” It was ...

''. It reached number 23 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, number 15 on the '' Cashbox'' Top 100, and number 11 in Canada. This ballad is an upbeat love song about finally finding the right person and experiencing love after being lonely for an extended period of time. It is a happy answer to Carmen's more melancholy hits the year before, " All By Myself" and "

Never Gonna Fall in Love Again "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" is a song co-written and recorded by American pop rock artist Eric Carmen. It was released as the second single from Carmen's self-titled debut solo album, the song peaked at number 11 on the US ''Billboard'' H ...

." It has been hailed as "the best Beach Boys song

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

''never'' wrote." Back-up vocals for "She Did It" were provided by Bruce Johnston and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, whose 1968 hit " Do It Again" is credited by Carmen with being the initial inspiration for the song because of the 'did-its'. "She Did It" also features

Burton Cummings Burton Lorne Cummings (born December 31, 1947) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for leading The Guess Who during that band's most successful period from 1965 to 1975, and for a lengthy solo career. Cummings has ...

, formerly of the Guess Who, and a guitar solo by Andrew Gold (" Lonely Boy"), featuring his distinctive harmonized lead guitar sound, and drumming by

Toto Toto may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Pets * Toto (Oz), Toto (''Oz''), a dog in the novel and film ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' * Toto, in Japanese ''The Cat Returns#Plot, The Cat Returns'' Characters of agency * a ...

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...

. Carmen has stated that "She Did It" was in turn a source of inspiration for another song, the 1982 hit "

Did It in a Minute "Did It in a Minute" is a song performed by American musical duo Hall & Oates. Written by member Daryl Hall with Sara and Janna Allen, the song was released as the third of four singles from their tenth studio album '' Private Eyes'' in March 198 ...

" by Hall & Oates, with whom he was touring at the time their song became a hit. The 45 rpm cover sheath for "She Did It" was a black and white of the full-color photo taken for the album, with manuscript lettering instead of the cursive text which appeared on the cover of the LP. The B side, "Someday," was omitted from the "Boats" LP, but was placed on Carmen's follow-up album, ''Change of Heart''. Two other songs penned and recorded by Carmen, "

That's Rock 'n' Roll "That's Rock 'n' Roll" is a song written and originally recorded by Eric Carmen in 1976. It became a popular ''Billboard'' top 10 hit in 1977 for teen idol Shaun Cassidy. Eric Carmen version Background American pop rock artist Eric Carmen releas ...

" and "

Hey Deanie "Hey Deanie" is a song written by Eric Carmen. It was a popular hit single by Shaun Cassidy that was released the last week of November, 1977 from his album, ''Born Late''. It was his third and final top 10 hit, peaked at number seven for two wee ...

", but made into hits by Shaun Cassidy, charted concurrently with "She Did It" in late 1977, reaching numbers three and seven, respectively. On the Canadian singles chart, "She Did It" spent four consecutive weeks at number 11. One of the songs blocking it from entering the Top 10 was Carmen's own composition, "That's Rock 'n' Roll," a number-one hit in Canada. "She Did It" ranks as the 104th biggest Canadian hit of 1977.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

radio superstation WLS, which gave the song much airplay, ranked "She Did It" as the 56th most popular hit of 1977. It reached as high as number 6 (for two weeks) on their surveys of November 19 and 26, 1977. Other cities where the song was played heavily include Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City and Dallas in the west, and Boston, Philadelphia,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, Charlotte, Atlanta and New Orleans in the east, in addition to Ohio, Carmen's home base. "She Did It" also performed particularly well in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, where radio station CKLG-AM 1070 ranked "She Did It" as the 27th biggest hit of the year. It peaked at number 3 for two weeks on their surveys of October 19 and 26, 1977. While not charting nationally in Australia, the song did become a Top 40 hit (#23) in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

area on radio station

2SM 2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's. 2SM's progra ...

Television performance

Carmen performed "She Did It" on '' The Midnight Special'' television program (season 6, episode 5) on October 14, 1977. The show was hosted by Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.

Other appearances

"She Did It" was featured on several compilation albums featuring music from 1977 and 1978. It was included on "20 Monster Hits" by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, as well as appearing on other similar collections by

Ronco Ronco was an American company that manufactured and sold a variety of items and devices, most commonly those used in the kitchen. Ron Popeil founded the company in 1964, and infomercials and commercials for the company's products soon became per ...

and K-Tel. In 1993, it was included on ''My Crescent Love 2 – Afternoon AOR'' (BMG Victor). "She Did It" has been included on the following collections of Carmen's material: * ''The Best of Eric Carmen'' (1988) * '' Definitive Collection'' (1997) * ''The Essential Eric Carmen'' (2014)

Chart performance

Michael Damian version

Background and release

Almost four years after Eric Carmen's release of "She Did It," the song was covered by actor and singer

. This version was Damian's debut single release. It was a non-album single from 1981 that reached number 69 on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart and number 95 on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100 chart. It was released almost eight years before his subsequent hit, a cover of " Rock On," which reached number one in 1989. "She Did It" was backed with " I Love How You Love Me", a cover of

the Paris Sisters The Paris Sisters were a 1960s American girl group from San Francisco, California, United States, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. Career The group consisted of lead singer Priscilla Paris (January 4, 1941 – March 5, 200 ...

Television performance

On April 11, 1981, Damian performed "She Did It" on the ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program, ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...

''.

Chart performance

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* {{Eric Carmen 1977 songs 1977 singles 1981 singles Eric Carmen songs Songs written by Eric Carmen Arista Records singles Pop ballads Rock ballads 1970s ballads American soft rock songs Michael Damian songs