Early Life and Career
Foley was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of John and Virginia B. Foley. Foley attended Webster University. Foley gained high public recognition singing the duet with Meat Loaf on the hit single "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" from the 1977 album Bat out of Hell. Although Karla DeVito is featured on the music video, DeVito is lip synching to Foley's vocals.
Her debut album Night Out was released in 1979; the album's single "What's A Matter Baby" was a minor hit, reaching No. 92 on the US Charts. The album itself peaked at No. 152, and was produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson. Foley recorded a memorable duet with Ian Hunter in 1980, "We Gotta Get Outta Here". Her creative relationship with Hunter also led her to singing backing vocals on the Iron City Houserockers' 1980 album Have a Good Time but Get out Alive!, produced by Hunter, Ronson, and The E Street Band's Steven Van Zandt.
She can also be heard on the 1980 Blue Oyster Cult album Mirrors singing on the title cut, and also on The Clash album Sandinista! (also released in 1980), in the songs "Hitsville UK" and "Corner Soul", and on the unreleased track "Blonde Rock 'n' Roll". All four members of The Clash appeared on her second album The Spirit of St. Louis in 1981, and Mick Jones and Joe Strummer co-wrote a number of songs for the album. Jones produced the album, which also featured members of The Blockheads, and peaked at No. 137 on the US charts. The Clash's hit song "Should I Stay or Should I Go", written and sung by Jones, was about the turbulent relationship he shared with Foley at the time.
She released her third (and to date, final) solo album Another Breath in 1983; it failed to chart. In 1984, she sang backing vocals on Joe Jackson's album Body & Soul and had a large role in the music video for Utopia's "Crybaby".
Foley was one of four female vocalists to front the band Pandora's Box, formed by Jim Steinman in 1989. Their album Original Sin was the first to feature the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (vocals by Elaine Caswell); both Meat Loaf and Celine Dion had separate chart successes with that song, years later.
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