"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''. 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 "All by Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriter Eric Carmen released in 1975. The verse is based on the second movement (''Adagio sostenuto'') of Sergei Rachmaninoff's circa 1900–1901 '' Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor'', Opus 18. The ...

" and " Never Gonna Fall in Love Again." It has been hailed as "the best

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...

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 Bruce Arthur Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin; June 27, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who is a member of the Beach Boys. Johnston also collaborated on many records with Terry Melcher (his bandmate in Br ...

and Brian Wilson of the

, 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, formerly of

the Guess Who The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a cover of " Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After ...

, and a guitar solo by

Andrew Gold Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold played on scores of rec ...

(" Lonely Boy"), featuring his distinctive harmonized lead guitar sound, and drumming by Toto's

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 19 ...

" by

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The tw ...

, 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" and " Hey Deanie", but made into hits by

Shaun Cassidy Shaun Paul Cassidy (born September 27, 1958) is an American singer, actor, writer, and producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including ''American Gothic'', '' Roar'' and ''Invasion''. Cassidy currently serves as ...

, 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, 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 most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. T ...

, 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 Mountai ...

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 progr ...

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 Marilyn McCoo (born September 30, 1943) is an American singer, actress, and television presenter, who is best known for being the lead female vocalist in the group the 5th Dimension, as well as hosting the 1980s music countdown series '' Solid Go ...

Billy Davis Jr Billy Davis Jr. (born June 26, 1938) is an American singer and musician, best known as a member of the 5th Dimension. Along with his wife Marilyn McCoo, he had hit records during 1976 and 1977 with "I Hope We Get to Love in Time", " Your Love", ...

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 pe ...

and

K-Tel K-tel International Ltd is a Canadian company which formerly specialized in selling consumer products through infomercials and live demonstration. Its products include compilation music albums, including ''The Super Hits'' series, ''The Dynamic ...

. 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 "I Love How You Love Me" is a song written by Barry Mann and Larry Kolber. It was a 1961 Top Five hit for the pop girl group The Paris Sisters, which inaugurated a string of elaborately produced classic hits by Phil Spector. Bobby Vinton had a T ...

", 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''.

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