The Wild Story Of The Real "My Sharona" And The Knack's Doug Fieger

By | September 27, 2021

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The Real Sharona. (WTOP)

Sometimes, beautiful relationships develop out of strange, even weird, situations. Doug Fieger, lead singer of The Knack, and Sharona Alperin of “My Sharona” fame may rank as the greatest example of such a coupling. Rarely do love stories that begin with a rock star meeting a teenager in a clothing store end well. Throw in the fact that both were in serious relationships at the time and you’ve got a real moral conundrum. However, Doug and Sharona’s relationship mirrored the rise of one of music’s underrated bands, endlessly thrilling both participants. This is the story of The Knack’s “My Sharona.”

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"From the time Doug and I first met, both of our lives changed forever. It’s very rare for two people to have such an impact on each other. The bond we shared is something that I will treasure as long as I live, he will always have a special place

The Inspiration

At the time, The Knack lead singer Fieger was in an eight-year relationship with his girlfriend, Julia Halpert. Halpert was friends with Sharona Alperin and suggested to her that, “You oughta meet my boyfriend. He’s a musician.”

When Fieger walked into her place of employment, a clothing store on West Third Street in Beverly Grove, he immediately fell in love. Alperin told NPR host Guy Raz, "I was about 16 or 17 at the time. He was nine years older than me. And within a month or two later, he told me that, 'I'm in love with you, you're my soulmate, you're my other half, we're going to be together one day.' And I was madly in love with my boyfriend at the time, and so it took a year for me to leave my boyfriend."