"Whirly Girl" is a US top 40 pop song performed by American dance-rock band OXO. The new wave style song was written and co-produced by singer/guitarist Ish "Angel" Ledesma (former singer and guitarist of Foxy) and included on OXO's 1983 self-titled debut album. The song was about Ish's wife Lori and was originally titled "Worldly Girl", "but adding that 'd' to the mix made the chorus too chunky and difficult to sing. So they abbreviated it to 'Whirly Girl' and pop music history was made with the only song to ever use the phrase 'Whirly Girl'." It was the band's sole hit, peaking at number 28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1983. The song has since been re-released on a number of 1980s music compilations. It also reached #24 in Canada. According to

Ken Mansfield Ken Mansfield (October 14, 1937 – November 17, 2022) was an American record producer who was the manager of Apple Records in the United States. He was also a high-ranking executive for several record labels, as well as a songwriter, author o ...

and

Marshall Terrill Marshall Terrill (born December 17, 1963, in Texarkana, Texas) is an American author and journalist. He is noted for biographies on Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Billy Graham and Pete Maravich. Early years: 1963-1982 Terrill is ...

, OXO "debut record on Geffen Records was a Top 30 hit called 'Whirly Girl' that died a painful death. The moment the record charted, the group began breaking up. Politics and power struggles erupted between management and Geffen". Following the breakup of OXO, in 1986 Ledesma formed the

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

group Company B, at first a trio with his wife among the members, which also had a sole ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit (1987's " Fascinated") penned by Ledesma. In 2015, G.J. Echternkamp, stepson of Frank Garcia (

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

of OXO), directed the semi-documentary '' Frank and Cindy'', which includes a rearranged version of the song and some excerpts from its video clip.

Chart history

References

External links

*
"Whirly Girl" music video
on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

{{Authority control 1983 singles 1983 songs Songs written by Ish Ledesma Geffen Records singles