1983's "Eddie & The Cruisers" did a lot of good for two men's careers.
Actor Michael Pare was cast in the lead as musician Eddie Wilson. Rhode Island-based singer-songwriter John Cafferty was Pare's voice double on the musical numbers on the soundtrack, which included a pair of singles, "Tender Years" & "On The Dark Side", the first single off the album.
I think a lot of people consider "Eddie & The Cruisers" to be some sort of homage to Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band, right down to having a solid saxophone player, in this case Michael Antunes.
There are two clips circulating on YouTube of "On The Dark Side". This is the one that got the most airplay on MTV, and introduced America to Cafferty.
Cafferty would follow up with a pair of hits off the soundtrack to Sylvester Stallone's "Cobra" three years later, but would not return for the "Eddie" sequel, which was released in 1989, and included a cameo by rock legend Bo Diddley.
I remember when Eddie & The Cruisers was released, but I caught it on cable some time later. Wasn't crazy about it (the music was less early-mid 60s and too close to the early 80s sound) although Pare was much better in B action films. I thought he'd fallen off the map but according to IMDB, he'd been very busy with many DTVs over the years. I guess the move is hit and miss depending on who you talk to. I definitely preferred seeing the actual band in the music video, since it was no secret who the voice behind "Eddie" was.
ReplyDeleteI think MTV made that pretty clear it was Cafferty doing the actual singing.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, Dan Hartman was in the role of a voice double in Streets of Fire, with actor Stoney Jackson playing the singer in the band for "I Can Dream About You".