Sherrie Austin Fansite

Sure, you know Sherrie Austin for her music. But did you know that, before she ever got into the recording business, she was famous for something else entirely?

It’s true. And it’s something relatively big, as well, and something she was known for even in the United States: Sherrie Austin (at the time Sherrie Krenn) was on the television show The Facts of Life. She starred in the last two seasons of the show as Australian exchange student Pippa McKenna.

Unfortunately for Austin (but perhaps fortunately for fans of her music; who knows, if the show had kept up its pace maybe she would never have gotten into singing) The Facts of Life was on its last legs by the time she showed up. Having been on since 1979, its 1987 season (in which McKenna was introduced) lacked steady ratings and was plagued with attempts to keep the show fresh and vital. That didn’t happen, though, and by 1988 it faced the inevitable cancellation.

Tragic. But all good things must come to an end; it’s just a shame that McKenna wasn’t introduced during the show’s heyday.