If you were listening to mainstream rock in the 1980s, you were likely listening to Valerie Carter’s beautiful vocals at some point. Because she didn’t release any of her own music in that decade, you may not have known her by name, but Carter was prolific as a backing vocalist in the ‘70s, ‘80s and beyond. If you somehow weren’t listening to songs featuring Carter, then you almost certainly heard a couple of songs that were about her.
Carter, who died from a heart attack in March 2017 at age 64, wouldn’t have been vain to think a couple of rock hits from the early ‘80s were about her. It was just the truth. The title and lyrics to Jackson Browne’s “That Girl Could Sing” don’t reveal who the song is about, but decades after its release Browne revealed he wrote it about Carter. Two years after “That Girl Could Sing” came out, Steve Winwood’s song “Valerie”—for obvious reasons—sparked speculation that Carter was the subject of the lyrics. For many years, however, Winwood’s lyricist Will Jennings remained mum on the matter.
How did a relatively unknown singer/songwriter become part of the early ‘80s zeitgeist? Carter may not have been a household name, but she was well-known in musical circles. Here’s how Carter became a part of Browne’s and Jennings’ orbits, and how we now know that both songwriters made her the subject of one of their songs.
No Stranger to the Stars
For the better part of 40 years, Carter was active as a recording artist, beginning with her work as a member of the early ‘70s trios RJ Fox and Howdy Moon. Her involvement with both groups was short-lived, but it was during this period she became friends with Jennings. In 1976, Carter recorded her debut solo album Just a Stone’s Throw Away. The George Massenburg-produced record was loaded with star power, from co-producers Lowell George (Little Feat) and Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire) to a roster of guest musicians that included George, Linda Ronstadt, John Sebastian, Jeff Porcaro, several members of Earth, Wind & Fire, and Browne. Just a Stone’s Throw Away was critically acclaimed but was not a big seller.
Carter’s 1978 follow-up Wild Child was also loaded with talented musicians—Toto (minus keyboardist David Paich and vocalist Bobby Kimball) were essentially her backing band on several tracks. However, this album also lacked a hit single and was not quite as well received as her debut. Carter would wait another 18 years to release her third and final official studio album, The Way It Is. In the interim, she would contribute vocals to albums by Eddie Money, Christopher Cross, Don Henley, James Taylor, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, Rod Stewart, Nicolette Larson, and many other notable artists.
Carter Was Browne’s “That Girl”
Carter would also provide backing vocals for a pair of Browne’s albums, I’m Alive (1993) and Looking East (1996), and she co-wrote “It Is One” and “Niño” for the latter album. She was not featured as a singer or co-writer on Browne’s 1980 album Hold Out, which featured “That Girl Could Sing.” However, she had already worked with Browne on Just a Stone’s Throw Away and as a co-writer on Browne’s “Love Needs a Heart” from Running on Empty (1977).
During Carter’s lifetime, Browne had not divulged he wrote “That Girl Could Sing” about her. Then prior to a live performance of the song shortly after her death, Browne said he “wrote the song for her at a time when I was really out of my mind about her.” Browne made that state of mind apparent in the song’s introductory section.
She was a friend to me when I needed one
Wasn’t for her I don’t know what I’d have done
She gave me back something that was missing in me
Even then, Browne was aware it was a good thing for both of them that he did not get the kind of relationship he wanted with Carter. He finishes the song by singing That girl was sane, but he also made it clear in the final lines of the intro.
She could have turned out to be almost anyone
Almost anyone
With the possible exception
Of who I wanted her to be
“That Girl Could Sing” received heavy airplay on album-oriented rock stations after Hold Out was released. It also went to No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. With more than 6 million streams, it is the most played track from Hold Out on Spotify.
Yes, Carter Was Linwood’s “Valerie”
Like Browne, Jennings had long been vague about whether he wrote lyrics about Carter. In an interview for Songfacts, he merely hinted at the identity of Winwood’s “Valerie,” saying “Valerie is a real person, whose identity I will not reveal. She was almost at the top of the world in her profession and let it slip away from her. She was a dear friend and this was my tribute to her.” Carter did not do much vocal work in the latter part of the ‘80s, halting whatever momentum she had built up until then. Jennings appears to reference this in the lines Music, high and sweet / Then she just blew away.
A website commemorating the work of the late songwriter Tom Jans published an email written by Jennings from July 2005 in which he verifies the identity of “Valerie.” Jennings wrote, “I put Valerie [Carter] in a lyric I wrote for Steve Winwood’s music when we were working on the second album Steve and I collaborated on, ‘Talking Back to the Night.’”
Since the song “Valerie” is Jennings’ only reference to a person with that name on Talking Back to the Night, he solved the mystery of the song’s inspiration with this revelation. In the email message, Jennings also referenced the close friendship he, Jans, and Carter had in the mid-’70s.
“Valerie” was a hit on AOR stations upon its 1982 release, going to No. 13 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. A remixed version released in 1987 made it a crossover hit, with “Valerie” shooting up to No. 9 on the Hot 100. With more than 142 million streams, it is Winwood’s most popular song on Spotify.
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