There has always been something that has bugged me ever since I became a massive Stevie fan and knew everything about her career. Why was she never bothered about coming to the UK in the 80's?
When
Bella Donna came out in '81 we all know that it was a smash and sold millions in the US and also did well in Canada and Australia. So why when it debuted just outside the top 10 did she never promote it here? If Stevie had gone on
Top Of The Pops with EOS or even SDMHA, the album and singles would've benefited dramatically. This would've kick started a massive career here and things could've been very different. However, I don't think
Bella Donna was the perfect album to promote here as american rock was never the most popular music here at that time.
That's where
The Wild Heart comes in. SB was the
perfect song to promote in the UK as it could've been HUGE. It was massive in the US and therefore the album sold millions once again. If she had performed SB on Top Of The Pops, the single and album would've sold a lot as
The Wild Heart was quite electronic and fitted in well with some of the UK music at the time. Again, massive opportunity missed.
Though Stevie's voice was beginning to sound very different by
Rock a Little the chance for a big single and album was still there. When the album was released it didn't get anywhere but once ICW was released it climbed into the top 40 briefly. If ICW was again performed on Top Of The Pops it could've been huge as it just missed out on the top 50 with no promotion. It had the right beat and was the all round perfect song for a big UK hit. The album did sell steadily and sold over 100,000 in a year but that could've been a lot more with promotion.
By the time
The Other Side of The Mirror was released in '89, FM were one of the biggest bands of that time as TITN sold over 2 million copies here and was in the best sellers list of '87 and '88. Therefore Stevie had more exposure here than she had since
Rumours, that's why ROF had a kickstart into the top 20 and she then had no choice but to do Top Of The Pops which made the album huge. To go top 3 and sell 200,000 copies was something she hadn't done and hasn't been able to achieve since, all because of promotion.
Therefore, why didn't she promote anything before '89? She also said in an '85 interview that she was touring Europe which didn't happen.
Because of FM's recent resurgence in popularity, Stevie's albums have charted in the top 20 on her name alone. Especially
24KG which reached #14 on literally no promotion.
So why didn't she promote in the UK in the 80's?
