February 1979: Nicolette Larson Peaks at No. 8 on the Hot 100 with LOTTA LOVE
It was over the week of February 17, 1979, when Nicolette Larson's "Lotta Love" reached its peak position of #8 on the Hot 100. The #1 song in America that week: Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (both songs maintained the exact same positions the following week). The only single from Larson's debut LP Nicolette was strong enough to hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the same month (the song topped the AC chart for the week of February 3, 1979).
How the Neil Young-penned "Little Love" came to be is something of a rock legend; according to the late Larson herself, it was a moment of chance: "I got that song off a tape I found lying on the floor of Neil's car," she recalled. "I popped it in the tape player and commented on what a great song it was. Neil said: 'You want it? It's yours.'"
The Ted Templeman-produced Nicolette arrived on September 29, 1978. The album was a hit, peaking at #15 over the first week of March 1979. The full-length and single were so popular that Rolling Stone named the Larson as the mag's Female Vocalist of 1978.
FUN FACT: Larson's connection to producer Ted Templeman would find the singer providing backing vocals on the Doobie Brothers' "Real Love" (One Step Closer) and Van Halen's "Could This Be Magic?" (Women and Children and First).
