Actor Al Corley with "Square Rooms," 1984

The three-album, Mercury-Polygram Records career of Al Corley.

As with fellow U.S actor-musicians Kim Milford (best know for the film Laserblast) and Roger Wilson (best known for his back alley throw down with Leonardo DiCaprio over a woman than his films) before him: Al Corley is what is known in the industry as a “triple threat”: he could sing, dance, and act — with an added bonus: he could write songs. While the American actor went unnoticed on the U.S charts, in Europe, Corley forged a respected, still-revered career where his songs transport fans back to their youth . . . as any good songs, should.

The Wichita, Kansas-born Corley got his start as a doorman at New York’s famed Studio 54 in the late ’70s and appeared in a U.S cable television, VH 1 Behind the Music special about the venue to recount his experiences. The contacts Corley made at the club transitioned him into an acting career; he was soon cast as the first “Steven Carrington” for 37 episodes during the 1981 to 1982 season of the popular, U.S ABC-TV prime time soap opera, Dynasty.

During those years, Corley was in a relationship with international pop star Carly Simon. So deep was the love that he appears on one of her album covers; that’s his back to the camera on the album artwork for 1981’s Torch (this Carly Simon blog regarding her album covers chronicles Corley’s involvement). You know Simon from the ’70s song “Anticipation” and her James Bond theme song “The Spy Who Loved Me.”

First and foremost: Al Corley was a musician and he, like American television actors David Hasselhoff, Don Johnson, David Soul, and Rick Springfield before him, embarked on a successful European singing career across three albums: Square Rooms (1984), Riot of Color (1986), and Big Picture (1988). His debut album produced two European “Top 20” singles/videos: “Square Rooms” and “Cold Dresses,” with the title cut single reaching number one in France. His other “Top 100” Euro-hits were “After the Fall” and “Land of the Giants” from his respective, final two albums.

Those European hits, in turn, netted Al Corley the lead in the 1989 West Germany-produced feature film, Hard Days, Hard Nights, aka Beat Boys: a very loose, pseudo-Beatles bio-flick about a Liverpudlian rock band’s quest for stardom in Hamburg.

Still currently active as an actor and producer, Corley directed the feature film, Bigger Than the Sky, in 2005.