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First of all, there was never a Jessie. It was Gary.
Gary was a guy in Rick Springfield's stained glass art class who had a gorgeous girlfriend--also in the class--that Rick lusted after.
Unfortunately, they were never introduced. Rick obviously chickened out.
Rick never even learned her name, but he was so enamored, he sat down and wrote "Gary's Girl."
He immediately realized that "Gary" just didn't sound right, so he changed it to Jessie' Girl."
In 1981, when the song was released as a single (from the album "Working Class Dog"), it not only went to #1 in Rick's native Australia, it reached the top spot at all three of America's chart-based magazines: Billboard, Cashbox & Record World!
In 2006, VH-1 ranked "Jessie's Girl" at #20 on their list of the "Greatest Songs of the '80s."
True Story: At one point, Oprah Winfrey headed an effort to find the girl, but discovered that the teacher of the class had died and his class records had been thrown out!
So to this day, whoever Jessie's--I mean Gary's--Girl was, there's no way of knowing if she knew about ANY of this!
"Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield: a Great Song of 1981! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYkbTyHXwbs
Tomorrow: Chicago's Comeback...
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