Teddy Geiger "These Walls"

Born John Theodore Geiger II, "Teddy" Geiger found success as a solo artist in 2006 with "For You I Will (Confidence)" and "These Walls". Geiger later made it big by writing songs for Shawn Mendes, Maroon 5, 5 Seconds of Summer, and One Direction. Things changed for Teddy in 2017, when Geiger came out as transgender and started hormone therapy to covert to being a woman. Still using the name Teddy, she told People Magazine that as early as age five, she looked into a mirror and felt and wished she was a woman. Most recently, Geiger found love with actress Emily Hampshire who plays Stevie on Schitt's Creek.

Zucchero & Paul Young "Senza una Donna (Without A Woman)"

Known as the "Father of Italian Blues", Zucchero Fornaciari released "Senza una Donna" in 1987. Upon its re-release in 1991, the song adopted English lyrics as well as English singer Paul Young. The song's lyrics seem to say "Scent of a Woman", but it's actually the song's title "Senza una Donna".

Karla Bonoff "Personally"

One listen to "Personally" from Karla Bonoff and you'd think you stumbled upon a deep cut from Linda Ronstadt. Bonoff, coincidentally, sang backup for Ronstadt but the singer-songwriter also covered many of her songs along with writing for Bonnie Raitt. "Personally" was Bonoff's one big hit (#3 on Adult Contemporary Chart, #19 on Hot 100) during the summer of 1982.

Vanessa Carlton "A Thousand Miles"

Budding artists usually make stops to radio stations to meet Program Directors and listeners; sometimes they even perform their newest song. In the case of 2002 breakout pop singer Vanessa Carlton, she paid a visit to the radio station where I worked, but security at Prudential Plaza wasn't letting her upstairs. The singer of "A Thousand Miles" decided to bring her dog with her to the radio station and our building had a no-animals policy at the time.

Jude Cole "House Full of Reasons"

A Midwestern boy with a dream to make it in the music business, Jude Cole dropped out of high school at 18 and boarded a prop plane bound for Southern California. Unlike many stories that start this way, Cole's story is quite different. Not only did he make it as a writer, performer and singer in the '80s and '90s, but Cole took what he learned from the music business and moved behind-the-scenes. He helped move the needle of the rock group Lifehouse from an unknown to a multi-platinum success story. Cole now serves as the manager of the rock band Lifehouse as well as actor Keifer Sutherland. At the end of 2017, Jude released his first album in years. Oh, and Jude happens to be married to Lori Pfieffer, the younger sister of Michele Pfieffer.

Stevie Wonder "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"

Stevie Wonder gets all the credit for "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", yet his voice is actually the third you hear in the love song. Jim Gilstrap sings the first two lines of the song followed by Lani Groves on the next two. Then, around 45 seconds into the song (which is barely three minutes in length), we finally hear from Stevie. The song soared to #1 on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary Charts in 1973.

Matchbox 20 "If You're Gone"

Rob Thomas carried so little faith in the song, "If You're Gone", that he didn't even expect it to make the band's Mad Season album. Instead, the song exceeded his expectations and went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and even climbed to #5 on the Hot 100 in 2000. If that wasn't enough, the brassy ballad finished fifth on the Year End Chart in 2001.

Bruce Willis "Respect Yourself"

The year 1987 not only saw actor Patrick Swayze transition from actor to singer with "She's Like The Wind", but Bruce Willis also turned up with a hit song on the radio. The star of Moonlighting released an album that contained a remake of "Under the Boardwalk" as well as The Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself". "Under The Boardwalk" was a minor hit, but "Respect Yourself" (which featured The Pointer Sisters) became into a Top 5 hit on the Hot 100.

Jim Brickman & Anne Cochran "After All These Years"

"After All These Years" featured the vocals of Anne Cochran with Jim Brickman playing piano. The song not only was a Top 10 hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart, but it helped to launch Cochran's career as one-half of a duet. She went on to sing with Donny Osmond, Dave Koz, and Michael Bolton (among others).

Paul Davis "'65 Love Affair"

Paul Davis originally wrote penned '65 Love Affair as '55 Love Affair, but his record company convinced him to change it. Why? Well, Paul would have only been seven years old in 1955 and perhaps too young for a love affair.

Michael Damian - "Rock On"

If fellow soap star Jack Wagner could release hit records, why not Michael Damian?  The Young and the Restless actor re-recorded David Essex's "Rock On' in 1989 resulting in a #1 hit for Damian.

Regina - "Baby Love"

If you can't get Madonna to agree to sing a song, find someone who sounds just like her and let her record it.  That sums up the story behind the pop song "Baby Love".  Originally written for Madonna, the singer Regina stepped up after Madonna passed on the song and turned the catchy tune into her one and only hit in 1986.

Newton Faulkner - "Dream Catch Me"

My old Dell laptop has been dying a slow death for the past handful of years now.  Last Christmas, I made the switch to a new Dell meaning I was no longer running on the Vista platform and now had the much-ballyhooed/maligned Windows 10.   While my day-to-day computer work moved to my new Dell, I left iTunes untouched on my old laptop because, frankly, I knew that it would be a complete clusterfuck.  The straightforward directions from Apple made the process appear simple and seamless.  The reality was quite different.  After doing exactly what Apple.com suggested, my music transferred over successfully.  The problem was that only about one-third of my massive music collection made the trek.  I don't know why the other songs decided they didn't want to join the party.  So, I tried again only to have my playlists not transfer.  A third attempt yielded my entire music library making the trek including multiple copies of the majority of my songs, but again no playlists.  So, I manually deleted well over 1,000 duplicates of songs.  Next up, go in and trim the audio and recreate all my playlists.  (Why the hell haven't I just make the switch to Spotify, you're asking.  Again, I don't have a reasonable answer.)  I did discover many songs I thought I deleted years ago.  One such song came from English singer-songwriter Newton Fulkner.  Newton made the lunchtime concert circuit back in 2007, and I was graced with a free lunch, music, and a shiny new CD called Hand Built By Robots.  "Dream Catch Me" achieved success over the pond, but never really found an audience in the States.  Now, back to the clusterfuck known as iTunes...

Peter Cetera & Chaka Khan - "Feels Like Heaven"

"Feels Like Heaven" is one of those power ballads that got lost in the shuffle.  Peter Cetera released the song during a time of massive transition on the radio.  Gone were the days of Cetera and his contemporaries ruling the Top 40 chart as the early-90s saw the move from pop to alternative, rap, and urban songs dominating the Top 40.  The Adult Contemporary audience was all that was left to embrace "Feels Like Heaven", and the song found success there (#4).