ENTERTAINMENT Since becoming Shakespear's Sister two years ago, Marcella Detroit has made much ado about everything: Marcella' s Musical Muse STEVE HARTZ Special to The Jewish News n the 1970s, Mar- cella Levy toured the United States as Bob Seger's singing sidekick In the 1980s, she toured the world as Eric Clapton's song-writing sing- er. But today, she's rewriting history as Shakespear's Sister (yes, that's Shakespear with- out the "e"). co 0 Former Oak Parker Marcella (Levy) Detroit An • Levy, who recently chang- ed her name to Marcella Detroit, has teamed up with former Bananarama singer Siobhan Fahey, and together, they've struck gold. When their first album, Sacred Heart, was released last September, more than 100,000 copies were shipped to England. Weeks later, their single, "You're History," was a top-10 hit. "The song is now starting to take off in Japan, Canada, Australia and all over Europe," said Detroit, who is formerly of Oak Park and now lives in Los Angeles. "I was recently in Italy, pro- moting the album there." In the United States, the album hasn't yet climbed the charts. "It's a different market (in the United States). Our records aren't the typical kind of bop-pop stuff. They're kind of quirky, different and unusual. England is more open to different types of music than we are here," she said. However, Detroit has found success singing and writing for movies and tele- vision shows in the United States. She wrote and sang "Every Inch of the Way" in the film Mac and Me, "Come and Follow Me" in Short Circuit and several songs in American Pop. With Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, she sang "Help Me" in the film Time Square. As a back-up vocalist, she sang "Looking for Love" with Johnny Lee in Urban Cowboy and the re- cent hit "Time of My Life" with Bill Medley and Jen- nifer Warnes in Dirty Danc- i ng. Her songs "One Way" and "Turn it all Around" are playing today on the soap opera "Santa Barbara." But one of the most suc- cessful songs she ever wrote came when Detroit was sing- ing back-up with Eric Clap- ton. The song "Lay Down Sally" went gold, and the album went to number one. Years ago, she received a Millionaire Award, when it played 1 million times. Now, the record has aired more than 2 million times. "Eric (Clapton) came up with the title, and I just went off and started writing the melody and the words," she said. When Detroit was growing up in Oak Park, a radio was always playing in the house. Her father used to play the ukulele, "and we would kind of sing together." At Oak Park High, she sang in her school's plays. "When I was 18, I was sitting in a park in Birmingham . . .Ikind of made a conscious decision that I was going to devote all of my life to be a singer and song writer." And just a few years later, she was singing on the TV shows "Solid Gold" and "Dance Fever." "When I was 18, I was sit- ting in a park in Birm- ingham, trying to think what I was going to do with my life," she said. "I kind of made a conscious decision that I was going to devote all of my life to be a singer and songwriter." After singing back-up with Bob Seger for several years, she joined Eric Clapton and in 1982, Detroit released her first solo album, "Marcella." Since then, she has written songs for Al Jarreau, Philip Bailey, Rita Coolidge and Chaka Khan, to name a few. In the near future, Detroit will appear in the movie Beyond the Groove with Dave Stewart of the rock group Eurythmics. She studied acting with New York and Los Angeles — I GOING PLACES [ — WEEK OF DEC.22•DEC.28 JEWISH EVENTS HILLF.L FOUNDATION Hill Street Cinema, 1429 Hill St., University of Michigan, Festival of Animation, through Dec. 23; Wizard of Oz, through Dec. 23; Batman, through Dec. 29; Gone with the Wind, through Dec. 29; admission, 769-0500. SPECIAL EVENTS GREENFIELD VILLAGE "Power in Motion," through January; "Fifty Years of TV," through Jan. 2, admission, 271-1620. COMEDY MOUNTAIN JACKS 24275 Sinacola Ct., Farmington Hills, The Ron Coden Show, through Dec. 31, free, 476-5333. THEATER DETROIT REPERTORY 13103 Woodrow Wilson, Detroit, Blood Relations, through Dec. 31, admission, 868-1347. ATTIC THEATER 2990 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, Sand Mountain, through Dec. 23, admission, 875-8285. MARQUIS THEATER 135 E. Main, Northville, Cinderella, through Dec. 30, admission, 349-8110. PEANUT BUTTER PLAYERS New Center One Building, The Atrium (across from Fisher Theater), Detroit, Miracles, through Dec. 23, admission, 559-6PBP. SOMERSET 2801 W. Big Beaver, Troy, Somerset Dinner Theater at Sebastians, Fridays and Saturdays, through Dec. 31, admission, 643-6360. WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY Detroit, Hilberry Theater, The Winter's Tale, through Feb. 17, admission, 577-2972. FISHER THEATER 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Continued on Page 73 THE DETROIT .JEWISH NEWS 71 .