Sharona Talks About Her Knack

During the summer of 1979 the song “My Sharona” dominated rock radio and catapulted The Knack to the top of the charts. With its stuttering refrain of “m…m…m…m…m… my Sharona!” Fieger’s vocal sounded as if he was singing more from real life than just describing another boy-meets-girl pop song fantasy.

As it turns out, Sharona Alperin and Fieger were an item for about four years. They first met when she was still a teen and he was just beginning to write the songs that would appear on his then-fledgling band’s first album – Get The Knack.

What was it like to be immortalized in song, have her face appear on the sleeve to the 45 rpm single as well as on the cover of the band’s second album? In an interview with US Magazine, Alperin, now a real estate agent in Los Angeles, called it “an incredible experience.”

“I saw them play ‘My Sharona’ in many countries and saw people reacting to it,” Alperin told US, adding that she would see people at the band’s concerts dressed as “A Sharona” and that not everyone knew that the “Sharona” in the song title was a girl’s name.

Although the romance between Alperin and Fieger lasted for only four years, the friendship was forever, and she was with him when he died Feb. 14, noting that “some of his favorite idols” visited the ailing frontman during his final days.

“He had a love of music, and the ability to recall the b-side of any 45 and had a gift for making friends and keeping them for decades,” Alperin said. “His incredible optimism remained until the very end.”

Click here to read the complete US Magazine interview with Sharona Alperin, then click here for her official Web site.