Two of hearts / Two hearts that beat as one/ Two of hearts / I need you, I need you, plays Stacey Q’s 1986 hit, “Two of Hearts.” The iconic dance-pop track, bombarded by a persistent beat à la ’80s drum machine and washed in breathless vocals, put the singer on the map if only for one song.
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Replaying the song sure makes one wonder, where is Stacey Q now?
Stacey Q Then
The pop singing-dancing icon Stacey Q – born Stacey Lynn Swain – quickly joined the ranks of the beloved ’80s ladies after “Two of Hearts” was released as the lead single from her debut studio album, Better Than Heaven.
Before the breakthrough single, she had been recruited by producer Jon St. James to sing lead for the synthpop group he was forming, simply called Q. All members took on Q as a surname, hence Stacey Q. According to her agency, the group was forced to change their name due to a copyright issue and were later dubbed SSQ. The project was short-lived and the outfit only produced one EP under the moniker Q and one album as SSQ.
When she went on the pursue solo endeavors, the soon-to-be pop star kept the Stacey Q name. Around 1985, she dropped a self-titled solo album to limited release, which featured an early version of “Two of Hearts.” When the song began to sell, an official debut album was in order.
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She signed a major label deal with Atlantic Records, taking St. James along with her as her manager and the rest of SSQ members became her backup band. Her debut studio album, Better Than Heaven, saw a decent chart performance overall, but it was “Two of Hearts” that would cement her stardom.
“Two of Hearts” quickly began to climb the charts, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming a Top 10 hit in several countries. The song’s follow-up single “We Connect” also did well, but only peaked in the Top 40.
The success of the lead single led to an international club tour and to appearances on a variety of hit television shows at the time. She made a cameo as herself in Full House, made two appearances as a character named Cinnamon on The Facts of Life, and was welcomed onto various talk shows and special guested on a handful of game shows.
She would go on to release two more albums under Atlantic–Hard Machine in 1988 and Nights Like This in 1989. A few singles would just break the Hot 100, but none saw the success of “Two of Hearts.”
Stacey Q Now
Stacey Q has continued to make music and tour her songs since the success of “Two of Hearts.” The 1990s saw her independently release the dance-pop single, “Two Hot For Love,” along with a greatest hits compilation album that featured modernized versions of her solo songs and her work with Q / SSQ.
It was during that time that she traveled to Tibet where she experienced the ritualistic art of cham, a monastic dance performed by Buddhist monks and nuns. The practices there informed her 1997 album, Boomerang.
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Since the 2000s, she has released a number of singles and in 2010, she dropped her fifth and latest solo album, Color Me Cinnamon. SSQ regrouped in 2020 to release their first full-length album in nearly four decades, titled Jet Town Je t’aime.
Stacey Q is still recording and performing.
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
