Sharon Kane’s STAIRWAY TO PARADISE

By Josh Eliot

The 1978 Alex DeRenzy film Pretty Peaches was made during what many call the golden age of pornography in America. Desiree Cousteau’s performance won her the 1979 AFAA Award for Best Actress, but she wasn’t the only standout in this classic film. A brand new starlet was cast in a scene opposite Joey Silvera and even though it was her first time on-screen, the audience and critics noticed her energy and gave rave reviews of her performance. This rising star with charisma was none other than Sharon Kane. Sharon Kane and Desiree Cousteau were both working as dancers in DeRenzy’s theater, The Screening Room at 220 Jones Street in San Francisco, when he offered her the role. Little did she realize at the time that she embodied the qualities that superstars are made of. With decades of work featuring the inclusion of diverse roles, great performances and the introduction of her original music into the productions, it’s no wonder that her star shines like no other.

In 1991, Sharon Kane began work on her first project as a director on the movie Stairway to Paradise for VCA Studios. The cast was considered A-list, a testament to Sharon’s nurtured relationships within the industry over the years. She cast Nina Hartley, Randy Spears, Aja, Peter North, Victoria Paris, Lee Carroll, Kay Parker and her very first co-star and friend, Joey Silvera. Based on an original story by Sharon, the script was formed by the man responsible for making her directorial debut possible, Jim Holliday. Holliday and Kane met on the set of Sorority Pink (1989) and continued a true friendship and working relationship with each other throughout the years. The movie itself follows Nina Hartley’s other-worldly experience, including a regression into her previous lives. The movie’s mystical edge, added to both the storyline and sex scenes, sets it apart from the more mainstream themed features of the time period. Sharon waited to read the finished script before writing the official theme song so that she could incorporate a good deal of the movie’s content into the piece. The 1991 original theme song, “Stairway to Paradise,” has a holistic feeling and is enhanced with an addicting melody.

She is credited with creating an enduring legacy within the industry, which included working on set in the role of art director, make-up artist, musician, production assistant and producer. She’s won numerous awards for Non-Sexual Performer, as well, including for her role as Joan in my bisexual movie, Cracked! She’s credited with a solid reputation for creating songs and musical scores used by top directors throughout the gay, straight and bisexual industry. In 2011, Sharon Kane left the industry and relocated to a quiet, rural community. In 2022, she was introduced to musician Jimmy Michaels, who was working on a project with adult actor Richard Pacheco.

Jimmy Michaels started making music at a very young age and, as a member of the hard-rock duo, Waco, he produced and recorded the song “Dark Lady” in 1995, which became a local rock hit in Philadelphia. When the band broke up in 1996, Jimmy thought he was done with music. Nearly a decade later in 2007, associates convinced him to open a studio and label to begin producing and recording indie rock bands. By 2009, he was honored with a listing from the Independent Music Guild of America as one of the top ten mix and mastering engineers in the United States. In addition to engineering music from 2007-2014, he released solo albums, including writing and recording with 1970’s Disco icon, D.C. Larue. With the introduction of “at-home” mixing technology, Jimmy closed the doors to his studio in late 2016. He currently manages the worldwide licensing for Dick Hieronymus and his publishing firm, Mumbles Music.

In 2022, Jimmy was producing audio books for adult film star Richard Pacheco’s two novels he had written. They had the idea of finishing the second book with an original song that Jimmy would write about Richard’s life, and they wanted a female in the adult industry to perform it. Richard suggested Sharon Kane as his choice; the problem was that she was retired and living out in the boondocks somewhere, so it turned into a huge challenge to track her down. Finally, success!

To say that Jimmy and Sharon hit it off on their first phone conversation is an understatement. Aside from sharing the same birthdate, they connected on many levels musically and personally. It was like two kindred souls finding each other. When Jimmy noticed that Sharon added background vocals to his original song, and those vocals enhanced it, he was sold on her talent and immediately asked her to come out of retirement and work on a project he was producing. The project involved 1970’s and 80’s pop hits, and once that was complete, they started working on the Stairway to Paradise album.

Jump forward to the present as Sharon Kane and longtime collaborator, Jimmy Michaels, announce the re-imagined version of her song—with an additional third verse added and an expanded running time of 7:23. The completely new recording gives this 35 year old song a big, bright, beautiful new life! Not only was that 1991 classic given the special treatment by Sharon Kane and Jimmy Michaels, it is also just one song of a complete album. The album, also entitled Stairway to Paradise, features an otherworldly cover of both Kane and Michaels and is packed with new recordings and reinterpretations of works from both Sharon and Jimmy.

On the Paradise album, as well as other releases the duo worked on together, Sharon uses the pseudonym Char Char. When I asked her about it, this was her exact reply:

“I used to have chickens. Jimmy and I would be discussing music and I would abruptly mention I had to 'go feed the chickens'. So he started calling me farmer Char Char. At the time the first album was being released, I was debating whether I should use my real name or another name. So I said, 'What about Char Char?' And there you have it! 😁 It was a nickname from Jimmy.”

This album is one awesome collaboration, and I want to thank them both for sharing the songs with me. The full album is now available, for a reasonable $7.99 price, at Bandcamp.com.

A new interview with Sharon Kane was released recently on Barefoot and Independent’s YouTube Channel, where they discuss her directorial debut movie, Stairway to Paradise, and the new release of her song and music video. The interviewer, Jason, does an extensive comparison between the original song and the re-imagined disco version, before screening his PG-Rated cut of the movie and a follow-up chat with Kane. The full uncut, extended interview between Sharon and Jason was also just released.

UPDATE: I’m happy to announce that their newest project was just released as I was finishing up writing this blog! The pair released yet another album, this one called To Josh With Love. This new album is a remastering and re-working of the songs Sharon Kane wrote and performed in movies I directed for Catalina Video. I am very honored by the title, obviously, and am so thrilled to now have the full uncut, remastered versions of these songs available, complete with all the bells and whistles.

I’ve had a lot of people ask where they can find the soundtrack music from many of my movies, and now I can let them know that for $7.99 they can download them. Unfortunately, Sharon was not able to locate “Friends and Lovers” (CatalinaVille), even after going all the way back to her floppy disc collection! That one will be missed.

I’ve added some great links for you, including:
-The new Sharon Kane interview with Barefoot & Independent and their censored Stairway to Paradise cut
-The new “Stairway to Paradise” music video
-The album download page for Stairway to Paradise
-The newest album release, To Josh With Love
-And the most important—The Official Sharon Kane Bandcamp Page, featuring all of Sharon’s (aka Char Char's) musical releases, past, present and future.

She’s also on Spotify, which I also linked, so add her to your playlist! Her legacy continues!

SIDE NOTE: If you still haven’t had your fill for all things Sharon Kane, check out my blog from two and a half years ago, “The Many Faces of Adult Film Star Sharon Kane,” where I wrote about all of the amazing characters she portrayed in my movies.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.