Stars on 45

Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was briefly very popular throughout Europe and in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia in 1981. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the U.K. and Ireland it was known as Starsound. The band, which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of Golden Earring, popularized medley recordings made by recreating hit songs as faithfully as possible and joining them together with a common tempo and underlying drum track.

History

Long Play Album

Long Play Album was the first album by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45, released on the CNR Records label in The Netherlands in 1981. In the US the album was retitled Stars On Long Play, released on Atlantic Records' sublabel Radio Records and credited to 'Stars On'. In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand the group was renamed 'Starsound' (on certain releases spelt StarSound or Star Sound) and the album itself was listed as Stars On 45 or Stars On 45 - The Album and released by CBS Records. In Spanish-speaking countries both the group and the album were launched under a fourth name: Estrellas en 45. Stars On 45 was also one of the very few Western pop albums to be officially released in the Soviet Union and large parts of the Eastern Bloc on the state-owned Melodiya label, credited to Stars On 45 but the Russian title of the album translates as Discothèque Stars. In the Philippines, it was released and uses "Stars on 45 Long Play Album" as its title on the label of the LP (Manufactured and printed by Dyna Products, Inc. under license from PhonoGram International B.V., Baarn, the Netherlands, using Mercury label [Violet background, silver foreground]).

Stars on 45 (song)

"Stars on 45" is a song issued in January 1981 by the studio group Stars on 45. In some countries, including the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, the band was credited as 'Starsound' and the medley itself was named "Stars on 45". Its official title in the US (as on the record and in Billboard) where it was credited to 'Stars on 45' was "Medley: Intro 'Venus' / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want to Know a Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You're Going to Lose That Girl / Stars on 45". It is (to date) the longest titled song to ever chart in Billboard, and is conveniently shortened to "Stars on 45 Medley", or "'Medley' by Stars on 45". The reason for the long title was copyright requirements for the use of The Beatles' songs.

It reached number 1 in the Netherlands in February 21, 1981; number 2 in the UK in April 1981; and number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 20, 1981. In the US, the single also peaked at number 18 on the dance chart. In the US, the song's one-week stay at the top of the Hot 100 interrupted the Kim Carnes single "Bette Davis Eyes" run as the number 1 single at five weeks. The next week, Carnes' song regained its number 1 status for an additional four weeks.

Stars on 33

Stars on 33 was the first DJ mix album, mixed by Aim. The album was released in 2002 on the Fat City Recordings label.

Track listing

Stars on 54

Stars on 54 were a supergroup put together to record the song "If You Could Read My Mind" for the soundtrack of the 1998 film, 54, which starred Mike Myers as Steve Rubell, owner of the Studio 54 nightclub. The track was a house music version of the Gordon Lightfoot song, and reached No. 1 in Spain, No. 52 in the United States, No. 3 in Australia and Canada, No. 6 in New Zealand and No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart.

The group's name was a play on the Dutch hitmaking group Stars on 45 from the 1980s.

Members

Discography

Singles

References