Rachel Sweet

Stiff Records embraced irreverence as a core principle, with its slogans and unconventional promotional tactics frequently proving as striking as the inventive records the label issued. Teenage Rachel Sweet, initially presented by the company as a "jailbait" country singer and later as a leather-clad child abductor, appeared to mark the point where that provocative wit had overstepped. A single hearing of her albums, though, pushes those questionable visuals and private jokes aside; "the little girl with the big voice" created strong material and held her ground amid a roster already crowded with ability.

Akron-born Rachel Sweet started performing at age six, moving from commercial jingles to tours alongside Mickey Rooney and an opening slot for Bill Cosby's Las Vegas show. Between 1976 and 1978 she cut several unsuccessful straight-ahead country singles for the local Derrick label ("Any Port in a Storm," "Paper Airplane," and "The Ballad of Mable Ruth Miller and John Wesley Pritchett") along with demos for songwriter Liam Sternberg, who brought them to Stiff Records. The label signed her and featured her on The Akron Compilation. In 1978 she recorded her debut album, Fool Around, backed by the Rumour and promoted it on the Stiff package tour known as The Be Stiff Tour, this time using the Records as her band. Sales remained modest, yet the record earned solid critical notice.

The momentum faded quickly, however, and Protect the Innocent, issued on Stiff/Columbia, drew almost no attention the next year. She moved to Columbia in 1981 for ...And Then He Kissed Me, an uneven set that still yielded the Top 40 hit "Everlasting Love," a duet with Rex Smith. After releasing one further album, 1982's Blame It on Love, Sweet left the music industry to concentrate on her education, returning now and then for projects such as the title track to John Waters' Hairspray and the soundtrack for Cry-Baby. Her attention eventually turned to acting.