*Life imitated art on this day in 2004, when Paula Abdul was driving her Mercedes-Benz on the 101 Freeway in California’s San Fernando Valley, clipped another vehicle, and kept going, according to police. It was 16 years after asking herself in her breakout hit, “Straight Up,” if she was “caught in a hit and run.”
The song’s route to Abdul’s debut album “Forever Your Girl” was not a smooth one. The former Lakers Girl and in-demand choreographer – with Janet Jackson, ZZ Top, Duran Duran and Debbie Gibson on her resume – was looking for material to fill her first album when she came across the “Straight Up” demo, written and produced by a keyboard player named Elliot Wolff. He had already co-written the track “Super Love” for Johnny Gill and “All Our Love” for Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Wolff wrote the “Straight Up” demo for a new singer he was working with on Virgin Records, but she was dropped from the label before ever releasing any material. The demo eventually wound up with her label-mate Abdul. Despite everyone around her thinking the demo was trash, Abdul saw potential in track. The lyrics were about a girl who swears her crush is too good to be true and questions his motives, asking in the chorus: “Do you really wanna love me forever, or am I caught in a hit and run.”
Virgin execs and Abdul’s own mother were among those not feeling this demo, but Abdul convinced the label to let her record it. Finally given approval, she recorded the track inside of Wolff’s studio apartment, using his shower as a vocal booth. Abdul recalled his neighbors banging on the walls to complain about the noise, which included that signature synthetic horn riff he crafted with a Roland D-50 linear synthesizer.
Once finished and nestled on her debut album, “Forever Your Girl,” Virgin execs still weren’t sold on “Straight Up,” and instead released “Knocked Out” as Abdul’s introduction to the world.
“Knocked Out” appeared to be a no-brainer as the album’s first single, since it was written and produced by bona fide hitmakers L.A. Reid and Babyface. But the single peaked at only #41 on the Hot 100 in August 1988. The label decided to go with “(It’s Just) The Way That You Love Me” for the second single released in September.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB: Summer Walker Ready to Give Life, Tracee Ellis Ross Blasts Hollywood & More | WATCH
But “(It’s Just) The Way That You Love Me” did even worse than “Knocked Out,” peaking at #88.
“Straight Up,” the album’s third single released on Nov. 22, 1988, went straight up to No. 1, and went on to become the fourth best-selling single of 1989. The music video, seen below, was directed by David Fincher, who also directed Madonna’s “Vogue,” and the movies “Seven,” and “Fight Club.” That year, the visual won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best Dance, Best Choreography and Best Editing.
Wolff also wrote “Cold Hearted,” for Abdul, which was the fifth single from “Forever Your Girl,” and the album’s third to reach #1. The title track was the second single to top the Hot 100.
Below, “Straight Up’s” journey is told in Abdul’s own words – from listening to Wolff’s horrible “Straight Up” demo with her mom, who actually threw it in the trash, to Virgin execs giving the demo a collective side eye, to recording the song in his studio apartment shower, to his neighbors yelling “shut up!,” which she says was never edited out of final mix.
Wolff died in 2016 at age 60 when he reportedly went missing on a solo camping trip in New Mexico and was never seen again, until his remains were believed to have been discovered in the forest 18 days after he was last seen there.
Eighteen years after the release of “Straight Up,” Abdul, according to LA city attorney’s spokesman Frank Mateljan, apparently failed to look while changing lanes when she clipped the vehicle and did not stop to exchange information. He told the Associated Press at the time that there were no injuries, and the driver and passenger in the clipped car took photographed the Mercedes’ license plate number with a cell phone camera. The outlet Celebrity Justice reported that the driver of the clipped car called the California Highway Patrol on Dec. 21, and the CHP contacted Abdul – who claimed that her car was in the repair shop on the day in question. But the CHP said they learned that her Mercedes went in for service the day after the alleged incident.
Somebody wasn’t being straight up.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
