Lost in the ’70s: Cheryl Ladd, “Think It Over”

Charlie’s Angels chanteuse Cheryl Ladd was known for two spectacular things: her acting and her singing.

What? What’d you think I was gonna say?

Anyhoo, Ladd got her start as a singer in the early ’70s, back when she was still known as Cheryl Stoppelmoor. In fact, after her first stage-name change to Cherie Moor, she sang as one of Josie’s Pussycats (covered previously in this column) on the Josie and the Pussycats album. A few lean years followed before she was cast as Kris Munroe (Jill’s little sister, of course!) on Charlie’s Angels in 1977, replacing Farrah Fawcett, who left after the first season. The show was wildly popular, so why shouldn’t Ladd try her hand at singing again?

Capitol Records bit (the same label that released Josie and the Pussycats, actually), and the creatively titled Cheryl Ladd was unleashed upon the world in 1978. Lead single “Think It Over” (download) was one of those songs I only heard on the radio during the first hour of American Top 40, aka the Most Awesome Hour of Radio as a Child, since it was the only place I could hear many songs my local Top 40 station wouldn’t play, like “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors or “Island of Lost Souls” by Blondie. “Think It Over” may have been a bigger hit elsewhere, but in Ohio Ladd’s singing career wasn’t greeted with the same enthusiasm as, say, the 3,000th play of Journey’s “Wheel in the Sky.” It did well enough to scrape the Top 40, though, and Ladd set out to flog the single on various variety shows.

Woo! All that hair flipping’s made me lightheaded. And hey, a Brenda Russell cameo! See ya in a few years when you write “Piano in the Dark” and “Get Here,” Brenda!

Cheryl Ladd failed to produce any more hits, but Ladd continued to release albums — one more for Capitol called Dance Forever in 1979, and two Japan-only releases in the early ’80s. Capitol put out a Best of Cheryl Ladd CD in Japan in ’93, but really, why?

“Think It Over” peaked at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978.

Get Cheryl Ladd music at Amazon.