TV and Broadway star Michele Lee never Twerked, per se. But in her day, long before her 14 year run on “Knots Landing,” Michele was Miley Cyrus for a minute.
That’s right. Or maybe, shall we say, a young Streisand, or a future Taylor Dane. In between her hit musical (and movie)Â “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and “Seesaw,” Michele had a pop hit. The song was called “L. David Sloane,” and it went to number 52 on Billboard and Cashbox. Here it is:
Michele– who has a sold out three night run starting tomorrow (Thursday) at 54 Below– says she recorded about 20 singles. “Sloane” was the biggest hit. She also had a couple of albums. But pop star was not in the cards. Instead, she had a massive hit with “Seesaw” and then went on to “Knots Landing,” where she was Karen MacKenzie, the nighttime soap’s central character and voice of reason while everyone else was kidnapped, impregnated, blackmailed, and adulterated.
She’ll sing “Sloane” at 54 Below, as well as the many Broadway show tunes she introduced for composers like Cy Coleman. And she’ll tell some tales about growing up in Hollywood. Her dad, Jack Dusick, was Clint Eastwood’s make up guy during Clint’s long run of early hits.
(Yes, there was a Clint Eastwood before “Unforgiven”!)
And no, Michele is not planning on writing a memoir despite many requests. I wish she would. She knows where a lot of the bodies are buried in Hollywood and on Broadway. But she’ll only tell the stories live so far. That may be why 54 Below is down to just a few seats.
