Young & Restless Heartthrob Sings a Version of the Soap’s Theme That Has to Be Heard to Be Believed
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021
Universal TV/Courtesy of the Everett Collection, Jill Johnson/JPI
First of all, is that suit velour? Second of all, OMG!
It happened 44 years ago today, on February 2, 1977. David Hasselhoff, aka daytime’s biggest deal at the time, appeared as a guest on The Merv Griffin Show — with no less than Shelley freakin’ Winters! And he wasn’t just there to promote The Young and the Restless, the sizzling sudser on which he was playing Dr. Snapper Foster.
As if!
This was how famous the Hoff was at the time. TV Guide famous!
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No, Hasselhoff — the Hoff to his friends in the decades to come — was there to discuss the new direction of his showbiz life. “I’m trying to work on a singing career and working on my own songs,” he explained. Unfortunately, he’d run into a bigger roadblock than the fact that he wasn’t Michael Damian (who’d eventually play Danny Romalotti and hit No. 1 with his cover of David Essex’s “Rock On”). “It’s very hard to live in an apartment building and sing at 3:30 in the morning.”
So Hasselhoff had moved into a house and begun toiling away on his own compositions. “It’s a good way to get to know yourself and to what not to do and to do,” he said.
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Mind you, he wasn’t going to “wing it” — his words — on one of his originals. For Merv, he was going to perform the Young & Restless theme. And by God, was he committed.
Seriously, you have to see — and hear — it to believe it.
It’s not bad, honestly. Cheesy, as so much ’70s music was, but no worse than, say, Robert Goulet’s version of “MacArthur Park.” Lend an ear below, why don’t ya? You know you want to!
And while you’re here, take a stroll down Memory Lane by reviewing the below photo gallery of The Young and the Restless through the years.
Video: YouTube/ReelingintheYears.com
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Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
1/60
<p>When <em>The Young and the Restless</em> premiered in 1973, its focus was Brad Elliot (Tom Hallick), a doctor running from a tragic past… right into the arms of pianist Leslie Brooks (Janice Lynde).</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
2/60
<p>Leslie set up her jealous sister Lorie (Jaime Lyn Bauer) with filthy-rich Lance Prentiss (John McCook, now Eric on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>), only to get mixed up in a delightfully messy love quadrangle with the couple and his brother, Lucas.</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
3/60
<p>Stuart’s daughter Chris (Trish Stewart) developed palpipations anytime med student Snapper Foster was around. Eventually, her condition was diagnosed as lovesickness. (There remains no cure.)</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
4/60
<p>Snapper’s upwardly-mobile sister Jill (then Brenda Dickson) wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty. In fact, it was her preferred method of social climbing.</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
5/60
<p>We’d mention that Jill’s mother Liz (Julianna McCarthy) disapproved of her willingness to lie, cheat and steal. But we’re pretty confident that you already know, just from looking at this photo.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
6/60
<p>But lonely Katherine Chancellor (the late, great Jeanne Cooper) wanted something besides her jewelry to keep her company. So she made the mistake of hiring Jill to be her companion.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
7/60
<p>Snapper and Jill’s brother Greg (Wings Hauser) didn’t know when he married Nikki Reed (Melody Thomas Scott) that he was just her practice husband. She was only getting started on the marry-go-’round.</p>
Image: TV Guide/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
8/60
<p><em>The Young and the Restless</em> was so hot in the late 1970s that <em>TV Guide</em> put Victoria Mallory (another Leslie), Dickson, Bauer and David Hasselhoff (Snapper) on the cover. But what time is <em>WKRP in Cincinnati</em> on?</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
9/60
<p>As they put the “young” in <em>The Young and the Restless</em> in the early 1980s, Andy Richards (Steven Ford), Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) and Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian) looked like they’d just stepped out of a John Hughes movie.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
10/60
<p>The ’80s ushered onto the soap’s canvas the Abbott family: patriarch John (Jerry Douglas) and his kids, insecure Traci (Beth Maitland), gorgeous Ashley (Eileen Davidson) and scheming Jack (the late Terry Lester).</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
11/60
<p>No woman in Genoa City was safe from Jack’s seductive charms, not when he set his eyes on “bedroom.” Thankfully, here they are only set on “gazebo.”</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
12/60
<p>As much as Jack loved the ladies, the ladies loved him. He couldn’t even pose for a picture without being photo-bombed by the likes of Carol Robbins (Christopher Templeton) and Lindsey Wells (Lauren Koslow, now Kate on <em>Days of Our Lives</em>).</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
13/60
<p>As Danny’s rock career took off, he found himself with as many groupies as Jack did lovers. Among the singer’s entourage were not only Traci but Lauren Fenmore (Tracey E. Bregman), who was a mean girl before there was even a <em>Mean Girls.</em></p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
14/60
<p>As you can see, Lauren wasn’t keen on sharing Danny. She probably wasn’t too eager to share mousse, either, so we have no idea how both she and her boo managed to pull off their amazing ’80s coiffures.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
15/60
<p>Traci was destined for other adventures, like marriage to her family’s former gardener, a successful career as a novelist and becoming Genoa City’s gentle voice of reason.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
16/60
<p>Danny seemed to go from one love triangle to the next. After vying with Jill’s son Phillip Chancellor (Thom Bierdz) for the affections of teenage Jabot model Cricket Blair (Lauralee Bell), Genoa City’s answer to Rick Springfield wound up battling Paul for her.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
17/60
<p>We only wish we looked, never mind <em>were</em>, half as excited about dusting as Katherine’s housekeeper, Esther Valentine (Kate Linder).</p>
Image: CBS
18/60
<p>Did somebody order a doppelganger? Somehow diner waitress Marge Cotroke convinced everyone — for a while, anyway — that she wasn’t Flo from <em>Alice</em> but the inimitable Katherine.</p>
Image: Columbia Tristar/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
19/60
<p>… is another woman’s treasure. Jill thought that she was sticking it to Katherine by dressing up Danny’s no-good father Rex Sterling (Quinn Redeker) as an appropriately fancypants beau. But the couple overcame the lie to find true love.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
20/60
<p>After getting an eyeful of Nikki going all Gypsy Rose Lee at the Bayou, new mogul in town Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) decided to turn her into a society dame. At the same time, his heart was slowly realizing that it had no choice but to also make her his bride.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
21/60
<p>They say that you never forget your first time — and in Victor and Nikki’s case, they mean the first time you marry each other. Mind you, it wouldn’t be the last, not by a long shot.</p>
Image: Courtesy Everett Collection
22/60
<p>For years, <em>The Young and the Restless</em> played Victor’s push/pull between his favorite wives, Ashley and Nikki. How could the show not? It would take a <em>lot</em> of shampoo for either of them to wash that man right outta their hair.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
23/60
<p>As he built up Newman Enterprises, Victor earned a reputation as one of… OK, <em>the</em> most cutthroat tycoon in town. No wonder Jack dubbed him the Black Knight and not, say, Prince Smiles-a-Lot.</p>
Image: Geraldine Overton/CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
24/60
<p>While presumed dead by his loved ones back in Genoa City, Victor did what any sensible person would — and began a new life for himself in Kansas with blind farmer Hope Wilson (Signy Coleman).</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
25/60
<p>Once future Emmy winner Heather Tom (now Katie on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>) joined the cast as Victor and Nikki’s daughter, Victoria made herself comfortable in her new permanent home: the front burner.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
26/60
<p>Victoria was smitten from the start with baby-faced would-be businessman Ryan McNeil (Scott Reeves). But not only couldn’t he tie a tie, he couldn’t commit — and kept gravitating back toward Nina Chancellor, a “widow” with as much money as Victoria and <em>way</em> fewer hang-ups.</p>
Image: Columbia Tristar/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
27/60
<p>Brad Carlton (Don Diamont, now Bill on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>) went from tending to John’s garden to marrying his daughters to occupying a corner office at his cosmetics company.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
28/60
<p>Victor went apoplectic when Victoria (now Amelia Heinle) took up with archenemy Jack’s kid brother, Billy (then Billy Miller). The Mustache even went so far as to have his own daughter arrested on her wedding day!</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
29/60
<p>There was no fooling Victor. He didn’t like Victoria being with Billy any more with Jason Thompson playing the part than he had when Billy Miller was.</p>
Image: Monty Brinton/CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
30/60
<p>Fine, fine, Victor. We’ll move along…</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
31/60
<p>While Victoria was marrying her way through one Billy after another, brother Nick (Joshua Morrow) seemed to have eyes for only one young woman. And she was…</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
32/60
<p>When rich boy Nick fell for poor girl Sharon Collins (Sharon Case), it was all over for him. He was in it for life. Well, except for one thing…</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
33/60
<p>After Nick and Sharon lost daughter Cassie, their marriage frayed… to the point that he didn’t stop at just having eye sex with Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford).</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
34/60
<p>Though introduced as a beach-going himbo, Paul matured into one of the most honorable fellas in Genoa City. And during his time as a private eye, there wasn’t a case that he couldn’t crack like it was a walnut.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
35/60
<p>In 1991, Neil Winters (the late Kristoff St. John) was but an ambitious executive trainee at Jabot. How far he’d go before he was, sadly, gone.</p>
Image: Monty Brinton/CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
36/60
<p>When feisty Drucilla Barber (Victoria Rowell) needed to manufacture a boyfriend as part of a harebrained plot to steal her sister’s man, she recruited level-headed Neil — and wound up getting the better part of the deal!</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
37/60
<p>Neil wound up with a rival when he was reunited with long-lost sibling Malcolm (Shemar Moore). So into Dru was the hunk that he had sex with her while she was too high on medication to realize that he wasn’t her husband. Not cool, bro.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
38/60
<p>Though Malcolm turned out to be the father of Dru’s daughter, Lily, they let Neil believe that he was the one who needed to go to all of the girl’s parent/teacher nights. Also not cool, bro.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
39/60
<p>Lily (Christel Khalil) turned out to have a knack for attracting trouble, whether it was Internet predator Kevin Fisher, porn addict Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) or…</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
40/60
<p>Fans rooted like crazy for Lily to make it work with Cane Ashby (Daniel Goddard). But when the Aussie wasn’t being duped (by everyone from Amber Moore to Chloe Mitchell), lying about his identity (Phillip Chancellor… as if!) or playing dead, he was locking lips and then some with a host of women who were not his wife.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
41/60
<p>As big a handful as Lily may have been, she had nothing on her adopted brother, Devon Hamilton (Bryton James), who carried on with ill-fated true love Hilary Curtis (Mishael Morgan) behind the back of her husband — his dad, Neil. Did we mention that Neil was <em>blind</em> at the time? Insert face-palm here.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
42/60
<p>“Evil” wasn’t actually a part of Nurse Sheila Carter’s name, but that was how everyone referred to Kimberlin Brown’s she-devil after she stole both Lauren’s husband and son and attempted to overcook her.</p>
Image: Cliff Lipson/CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
43/60
<p>Or the offense. Either way. Once the erstwhile Cricket dealt with legal mentor Michael Baldwin’s sexual harassment and subsequent obsession, she became a respected attorney. And also, at one point, Michael’s fiancée. We didn’t get it, either. </p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
44/60
<p>Keeping a cake from melting in the heat looked a lot easier for Danny and Christine on their wedding day than it ever does on <em>The Great British Baking Show.</em></p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
45/60
<p>Years (<em>and</em> years) before making hay with Nick, Phyllis was introduced to the canvas as the Danny superfan who went so far as to switch paternity tests to make the happily-hitched rocker believe that he was the father of her son, Daniel. (You remember, the porn junkie on the beach with Lily a few images ago… )</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
46/60
<p>Phyllis was so enraged by the way that the Bug, as she always called Cricket, assumed she was guilty of everything — which, um, she was — that the troublemaker attempted to make roadkill of Christine and subsequent fiancé Paul. Note: This is not a picture of that; all Paul and Chris were in danger of here was getting sand in their nether regions.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
47/60
<p>As part of his sick plan to earn a second chance with Christine, Michael turned loose on Paul seductress Isabella Brana (future <em>Desperate Housewives</em> star Eva Longoria), who turned out to be as mad as a hatter. Assuming that that hatter has serious mental issues.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
48/60
<p>The romance of Billy (then David Tom) and Mackenzie Browning (Kelly Kruger) outraged his mother, Jill, as much as it delighted Mac’s grandma, Katherine. Of course, everyone was mortified during the hot second that it was believed that the sweethearts were related.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
49/60
<p>That is, unless you’re Keemo Volien (Philip Moon), the son of Jack and his Vietnam War-era sweetheart. Then, you’re just kinda forgotten in favor of flashy new relatives like Theo Vanderway.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
50/60
<p>Maybe all these years, Jack (now Peter Bergman) has been too busy waging war with Victor — and sleeping his way up one side of Genoa City and down the other — to keep in touch with Keemo. Heck, for all we know, they Zoom weekly.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
51/60
<p>Taking after dad Jack, Kyle (Michael Mealor) went from being married to Nick and Phyllis’ daughter Summer Newman (Hunter King) to being married to Lola Rosales to being married to Summer again so fast, he was practically roommates with his divorce attorney.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
52/60
<p>Paul’s poor sister Patty (Stacy Haiduk, now Kristen on <em>Days of Our Lives</em>) was so wrecked by Jack’s betrayal in the 1980s that she let Victor buy her plastic surgery in order to resemble her shrink and return to Genoa City to upend her ex-husband’s life.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
53/60
<p>Nah. It’s just another casual moment at home for the Baldwins, mostly reformed bad girl Lauren and semi-reformed pot-stirrer Michael (Christian Jules LeBlanc). We’ll… uh… we’ll close the door on our way to the next photo…</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
54/60
<p>Since Michael was reunited with half brother Kevin (Greg Rikaart), he’s done his damnedest to do right by the guy. In turn, Kevin has mostly cleaned up his act and formed a family of his own with occasional scheme queen Chloe (Elizabeth Hendrickson).</p>
Image: Jesse Grant/JPI
55/60
<p>The feud between Jill (Jess Walton) and Katherine spanned decades. Yet, in the end, it turned out that beneath all that hatred was… Who’da think it? A lotta love.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
56/60
<p>It’s always been tough for the Newmans to get this close for a family photo without someone getting stabbed in the back. In this 2012 effort, we’d say that Nick and Sharon’s son Noah (Robert Adamson) and Victor and Ashley’s daughter Abby (then Emme Rylan, now Lulu on <em>General Hospital</em>) were probably safe… and just out of reach were Victor and Hope’s son Adam (then Michael Muhney) and his then-wife Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan).</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
57/60