Watching daytime re-runs of The Donna Reed Show as a kid during summer vacations made me an admirer of Shelley Fabares.
“Johnny Angel” was recorded a couple of times by others before Shelley turned it into a #1 hit.
“Johnny Angel”, as performed by Shelley and produced by Stu Phillips, is an excellent example of the importance of studio production in capturing the right sound for a song to turn it into a hit record. The effect here seems to almost be a nod to Roy Orbison.
In February of 1962, Shelley, Paul Peterson and I went into United Recording, and together we recorded four sides. “Johnny Angel” with Shelly and “She Can’t Find her Keys” with Paul. The recording engineer was the legendary Bones Howe. — “Stu Who?”, by Stu Phillips, page 125
In 1966, Bones Howe engineered this #1 record by The Mama’s & The Papa’s. It was produced by Lou Adler, Shelley’s first husband.
That same year, Howe was the producer behind this fantastic Turtles single.
Shelley was a Disney girl before starting with Donna Reed. She and Annette were BFF’s.
Gotta admit, the final Shelley recording will always be my favorite. Shelley’s pretty contralto voice is perfect. I think the song always needed background singers, too. But your earlier two versions are excellent, too, especially Lorie Loman.
I did not know that Shelley was married to Lou Adler, plus I’ve never heard that Turtles song before. I always enjoy your musical posts.