In the 80s, Rosanna Arquette had roles in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Silverado (1985), Nobody’s Fool (1986) and New York Stories (1989). I am not nearly interested in any of that as much as I am her connection to TWO outstanding songs from the 80s.

Arquette briefly dated Steve Porcaro who was the keyboardist and original member of the band Toto. During that time, the band had written the 1982 hit song eventually titled “Rosanna.” Now this song is not actually ABOUT Rosanna Arquette. This has been confirmed. It was written by band-member David Paich and was already finished and just needed a girl’s name that fit well into the chorus. Arquette had been around a lot during their recording sessions, so they tried her name and it stuck. Now it is hard to imagine any other name in that chorus.

The song peaked at #2 for five straight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 1983 Grammy’s, “Rosanna” would be nominated for Song of the Year and would win Record of the Year. The video would not feature Arquette, but does feature dancer Cynthia Rhodes and, if you watch closely, you will also see a young Patrick Swayze as one of the male dancers. Here’s the video for “Rosanna” by Toto…

In an interview back in 1987, Arquette said "The two questions I hate the most are 'What was it like working with Madonna?' and 'Are you the Rosanna in the song "Rosanna"?'" I would think that she would be proud of both. I don't care if she hates those questions, if I had the chance to interview her, I would probably ask them anyways because they both very cool.

After her second marriage ended in divorce in 1986, she rekindled a romance and moved in with none other than Peter Gabriel. He released his outstanding album So in 1986 and that album included three of his most successful singles. The first two are “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” which were immediate pop successes reaching #1 and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. The other song is “In Your Eyes” which would have moderate success at first, but would not become a true hit until it was used in an iconic scene in the 1989 film Say Anything.

It is widely believed that “In Your Eyes” was written about Rosanna Arquette. Can you imagine having an amazing song like that written about you? And to make it even better, Say Anything director Cameron Crowe says that Rosanna Arquette actually encouraged Peter Gabriel to consider allowing the film to use the song. Including it in Say Anything three years after originally released really helped catapult the song's success. In 2005, after 19 years of accumulated sales, the song brought Gabriel finally and surprisingly his first Gold single (certified after selling at least 500,000 copies). It is easily one of my favorite songs of all time. Here’s the music video for “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel…

Rosanna Arquette is the sister of actors Richmond, Alexis, David and Patricia Arquette. Through her brother David, she is the former sister-in-law of actress Courtney Cox and through her sister Patricia she is the former sister-in-law of actor Nicholas Cage. After her mother died of it in 1997, she began actively promoting Breast Cancer Awareness. She continues to act and more recently has expanded into directing and producing as well.

In the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, Madonna’s character says to Rosanna Arquette’s character, “Wouldn’t you just give anything in the world to be me for ten minutes?” Most people would love to be Madonna for ten minutes, but I bet most people would also love to have two amazing songs like “In Your Eyes” and “Rosanna” connected to them, too.