"Little Sheila" is a song by English rock band

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

, released in 1985 as the fourth and final single from the band's twelfth studio album, ''

Rogues Gallery A rogues' gallery (or rogues gallery) is a police collection of mug shots or other images of criminal suspects kept for identification purposes. History In 1855, Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, established ...

''. The song was written by lead vocalist

Noddy Holder Neville John "Noddy" Holder (born 15 June 1946) is an English musician, songwriter and actor. He was the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the English rock band Slade, one of the UK's most successful acts of the 1970s. Known for his disti ...

and bassist Jim Lea, and was produced by

John Punter John Punter (born 27 January 1949) is an English and Canadian former record producer and recording engineer. He has worked with many bands and musicians, such as Spoons, Japan, Procol Harum, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Re-Flex, Doctors of Madness, ...

. In North America, "Little Sheila" was released by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

as the album's only single. The song received strong airplay in the US, and reached number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Top Rock Tracks chart and number 16 on the ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

'' AOR Tracks chart. "Little Sheila" was also the band's last entry on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, where it reached number 86. In Germany, the song was issued by

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

as the fourth and final single from ''Rogues Gallery''.

Music video

The song's music video was directed by Nick Morris and produced by Scott Millaney and Fiona O'Mahoney. It achieved breakout rotation on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. The video features the band performing the song as part of a stage play, ''The Tragedy of Little Sheila'', which follows the story of the titular character. The video is broken down into five acts: * Act one – The Dark and Stormy Night * Act two – Alone in Dollar City * Act three – The Decline of Sheila * Act four – A Strange Encounter * Act five – Saved by the Law Guitarist Dave Hill borrowed his old trademark "Superyob" guitar from

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...

' guitarist

Marco Pirroni Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni (born 27 April 1959) frequently credited simply as Marco, is a British guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others from the la ...

for the video.

Critical reception

Upon its release in the US, Nancy Erlich of ''

'' commented, "Proto-metallists are still bashing away, raucous and good-natured as ever." The radio programming guide '' The Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report'' remarked, "Predictability and consistency typically present themselves in the form of a double-edged sword – thus any new Slade offering required far more intellectualizing than one might initially realize. After much thought and debate, our experts have concluded that when it comes to power pop dynamics Mr. Holder's unique vocal presentation does in fact make the critical difference. We, therefore, unequivocally advocate prompt and thorough rotation for 'Little Sheila'." ''

Creem ''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American rock music magazine and entertainment company, founded in Detroit, whose initial print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor ...

'' noted that Slade "can still knock off the catchy rock ditty, playing hooky as usual with 'Little Sheila'".

Formats

7-inch single (North America) #"Little Sheila" – 3:56 #" Lock Up Your Daughters" – 3:28 7-inch Single (Germany) #"Little Sheila" – 3:54 #"Time to Rock" – 4:08 12-inch Single (Germany) #"Little Sheila" (Extended Version) – 4:31 #"Time to Rock" – 4:08

Personnel

Slade *

– lead vocals * Jim Lea – bass, synthesiser, backing vocals * Dave Hill – lead guitar, backing vocals *

Don Powell Donald George Powell (born 10 September 1946) is an English musician who was the drummer for glam rock and later hard rock group Slade for over fifty years, from 1966 until he was dismissed by Dave Hill in 2020. Early life Powell was born in Bil ...

– drums Production *

– production ("Little Sheila") * Jim Lea – production ("Lock Up Your Daughters", "Time to Rock") Other * Image Bank – photography on RCA sleeve * Mainartery – sleeve design of RCA sleeve

Charts

References

{{authority control 1985 songs 1985 singles Slade songs CBS Records singles RCA Records singles Songs written by Noddy Holder Songs written by Jim Lea Song recordings produced by John Punter Music videos directed by Nick Morris