Born as Uchenna Carol Ikejiani in Nigeria, she moved to Montreal in the mid 1970s to study at Concordia University. Whilst at Concordia, she met another student Joe LaGreca. Joe convinced Uchenna to anglicize her name and shorten her name to Carol Jiani right before the recording of Carol’s debut album Hit'n Run Lover in 1981 released under Matra Records. The albumfeatured the title track that became Carol’s signature song, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Club Play Singles chart in May 1981. The album came to fruition thanks to the overwhelming success of this single (due to the popularity among the gay community and American and Canadian DJs) as Matra requested Carol to record a full length album.
