Little Star (The Elegants song)

"Little Star" is a song recorded by The Elegants. Members Vito Picone and Arthur Venosa co-wrote the lyrics. The music was adapted from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".[2] When released as a single in 1958, it topped both the R&B Best Sellers list and the Billboard Hot 100;[3] however, it was the only song that ever charted for The Elegants. Reportedly, the Elegants refused to pay payola to a prominent New York disc jockey, which inhibited air play of their follow up recordings.

"Little Star"
Single by The Elegants
B-side"Getting Dizzy"
Released1958
Genre
Length2:42
LabelApt
Songwriter(s)Vito Picone, Arthur Venosa

Little Star went on to chart at No.27 on the pop charts, No.2 on rock charts, and No.10 on R&B charts.[4]

"Little Star" remains one of the most popular examples of doo-wop music. Phil Spector described it as an "awful good record".[2] Other artists to record this song include Dion (Runaround Sue), Randy & the Rainbows, The Slades, Vera Lynn, Linda Scott and Bobby Vee.

A small portion of the song was performed by Paul Simon as part of the 1989 Dion song "Written on the Subway Wall."

All-time charts
Chart (1958–2018) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[5] 595

References in culture
  • The title poem of American poet Mark Halliday's collection Little Star (W. Morrow, 1987) is an homage to this song, The Elegants, and Vito Picone. The poem is also available in Allen Grossman (with Mark Halliday), The Sighted Singer: Two Works on Poetry for Readers and Writers (Johns Hopkins UP, 1992), pages 25–27.
  • The song was also used In the pilot episode of HBO series The Sopranos titled "Pilot".

See also

References
  1. Breihan, Tom (January 18, 2018). "The Number Ones: The Elegants' "Little Star"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 3, 2023. It's also not especially well-suited to becoming a pop song. But the Elegants built on its familiarity...There are plenty of better doo-wop songs, but there are plenty of worse ones, too.
  2. Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 14 - Big Rock Candy Mountain: Phil Spector & Frank Zappa review the '50s" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 184.
  4. "Top Elegants Songs - Highest Chart Hit". Playback.fm. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  5. "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved January 28, 2019.



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