The Retroscope: 11 December

1982: Singer, TV actress and dancer, Toni Basil reached #1 on the US singles chart with “Mickey” which made her a one hit wonder. The song was written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn as “Kitty” and was first recorded by UK group Racey in 1979. The name was changed from Kitty to Mickey to make the song about a man. It had been rumoured that the name was changed to Mickey because Basil was fond of The Monkees’ lead singer Micky Dolenz after meeting him on the set of their movie Head as a choreographer. This claim had later been disputed by Basil who said she didn’t know Dolenz that well. The music video featured costuming and choreography inspired by cheerleader dance routines. It featured heavily on MTV and reached #7 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the ‘80’s.