On this day in 1986, today’s Song of the Day, “Sara” by Starship hit the #1 spot on the Billboard charts. The song is from Knee Deep in the Hoopla, the band’s first album under the name Starship. In June 1984, Paul Kantner, the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane, left Jefferson Starship (while Grace Slick put the band on the map in the ’60s, she was not a founding member). After Kantner left, there were lawsuits in place to prevent the band from using the words “Jefferson” or “Airplane” in their name. It didn’t matter. The Knee Deep in the Hoopla album proved to be successful as it certified platinum and generated two #1 hits – “Sara” and “We Built This City“.

Mickey Thomas sang lead on this song. Although written by Peter and Ina Wolf, the song was named for Thomas’s wife at the time. The music video stars Rebecca De Mornay, and was directed by directed by Francis Delia.