Doug Fieger, leader of the power pop band The Knack who sang on the 1979 hit "My Sharona," died Sunday. He was 57.
Fieger, a Detroit-area native, died at his home in Woodland Hills near Los Angeles after battling cancer, according to The Knack's manager, Jake Hooker.
Fieger formed The Knack in Los Angeles 1978, and the group quickly became a staple of Sunset Strip rock clubs. A year later he co-wrote and sang lead vocals on "My Sharona."
Fieger said the song, with its pounding drums and exuberant vocals, was inspired by a girlfriend of four years.
"I had never met a girl like her ever," he told The Associated Press in a 1994 interview. "She induced madness. She was a very powerful presence. She had an insouciance that wouldn't quit. She was very self-assured. ... She also had an overpowering scent, and it drove me crazy."
"My Sharona," an unapologetically anthemic rock song, emerged during disco's heyday and held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard pop chart for six weeks, becoming an FM radio standard.
It became a pop culture phenomenon, parodied by Weird Al Yankovic and others and sampled by rap group Run DMC.
In 1994, "My Sharona" re-entered the Billboard chart when it was released as a single from the soundtrack of the Ben Stiller film "Reality Bites."
"My Sharona" gained attention again in 2005 when it was reported that George W. Bush had the song on the presidential iPod.
Their songs, about young love and teenage lust, included the hits "Good Girls Don't," "She's So Selfish" and "Frustrated."
The Knack continued to release albums and tour through the mid-2000s but they never replicated the success they enjoyed with their first two albums, "Get the Knack" and "... But the Little Girls Understand."
Fieger battled cancer for six years. In 2006 he underwent surgery to remove two tumors from his brain.
He is survived by a sister, Beth Falkenstein, and a brother, attorney Geoffrey Fieger of Southfield, Mich., who is best known for representing assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.
A Los Angeles memorial service for friends and family is being planned.
Doug Fieger performs at the Countdown Spectacular 2 at Rod Laver Arena on Aug. 30, 2007, in Melbourne, Australia. Fieger died on Feb. 14, 2010, at the age of 57.
After I got fired from the BN in 1978 (unathorized wildcat strike) I found work at Budget Tapes and Records for 6 months. The Knack was really big back then (not big enough to enter my record collection) The Knack came and went pretty fast. Had this headline not come forth, I'd bet basically no one ever heard of the Knack. Weird Al Yankovic's version/cover of "My Bologna" probably sold just as many copies.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
Song always reminds me of when I was first a student engineer, attending cars in the pre-LAMCO air car, spotted on a diesel house track in what was, unbeknowst to me at the time, to become my future and final home terminal.
After I got fired from the BN in 1978 (unathorized wildcat strike)
There must be a good story behind this......??
I was a youngster at the time with only 5 years seeny. The whole office (clerks) were in an uproar over over this dunce asst terminal agent and the shit he troweled out. I sort of got sucked in due to my naivete but played a crucial role because I working asst chief clerk and was to take numerous calls from persons laying off sick and say "fine". Think it was some fine morning in late July 1978 that no clerks showed up for work for the whole day. I made a field trip to Mt Raineer. Well our shinanagan didn't work quite like we planned. We were known as the "Everett 22" and the story made the local newspaper. Well the railroad fired our asses. The union had a bunch of work to do to get us all back. Took a while, about 8 months before we were re-instated with our seniority dates but we had to bid in to whatever jobs that were up for bid. It's how I ended up at the Balmer Yard Crew desk. I still have the newspaper clipping of the debacle. With no income I had to move from the place I was living in with another clerk who was buying a house. The job at the record store paid my rent with him. Wouldn't recomend doing anything like this. They are other ways to correct course action.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
The Everett 22 disbanned pretty quick after they fired us. We all got a chance to try to figure out who the number one "moran" was who thought this nightmare up.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
