Superstar (Delaney and Bonnie song)

"Superstar" is a 1969 song written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell with a songwriting credit also given to Delaney Bramlett^[1] that has been a hit for many artists in different genres and interpretations in the years since; the best-known version is by the Carpenters in 1971.

Original Delaney and Bonnie version

In its first recorded incarnation, the song was called "Groupie (Superstar)," and was recorded and released as a B-side to the Delaney & Bonnie single "Comin' Home" in December 1969. Released by Atlantic Records, the full credit on the single was to Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Featuring Eric Clapton.

"Comin' Home" reached number 84 on the US pop singles chart, although it achieved a peak of sixteen on the UK Singles Chart.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen version

In August 1970, the live album Mad Dogs and Englishmen by Joe Cocker was released, using performances of the song under the title "Superstar," recorded in March and June of that year. The Mad Dogs album became a hit, reaching number 2 on the Billboard pop albums chart and number 23 on the Billboard Black Albums chart.

Bette Midler version

Bette Midler's recording of the song appeared on her 1972 debut album, The Divine Miss M.

Other versions

In 1970, Cher recorded "Superstar" as a single for Atco Records.

Australian rock-group McPhee recorded the song for their eponymous first album in 1970. Vikki Carr used the song as the title track of a 1971 album. Also in 1971, ex-Smith singer Gayle McCormick recorded the song on her self-titled debut solo album on Dunhill Records. The following year, Peggy Lee included the song on her album Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota. In Australia, Colleen Hewett's recording of "Superstar" was released by May 1971.

Carpenters version

"Superstar"
Picture sleeve for U.S. vinyl single
Single by Carpenters
from the album Carpenters
B-side	"Bless the Beasts and Children"
Released	August 12, 1971
Format	7" single
Recorded	1971
Genre	Soft rock[2]
Length	3:46
Label	A&M 1289
Songwriter(s)	Leon Russell Bonnie Bramlett
Producer(s)	Jack Daugherty
Carpenters singles chronology
"Rainy Days and Mondays" (1971) "Superstar" (1971) "Bless the Beasts and Children" (1971)
"Rainy Days and Mondays" (1971) "Superstar" (1971) "Bless the Beasts and Children" (1971)
Carpenters track listing
Side one "Rainy Days and Mondays" "Saturday" "Let Me Be the One" "(A Place to) Hideaway" "For All We Know" Side two "Superstar" "Druscilla Penny" "One Love" "Bacharach/David Medley" "Sometimes"

The song "Superstar" became most popular after its treatment by the Carpenters. Richard Carpenter became aware of the song after hearing it sung by Bette Midler on late night television. He remembered, "I came home from the studio one night and heard a then relatively unknown Bette Midler perform it on The Tonight Show. I could barely wait to arrange and record it. It remains one of my favorites."

Produced by Richard Carpenter with Jack Daugherty, it was recorded with members of "The Wrecking Crew," a famed collection of Los Angeles area session musicians. As the song's storyline was originally more risqué than what was typical for the Carpenters, Richard changed a lyric in the second verse from

And I can hardly wait

To sleep with you again

to the somewhat less suggestive

And I can hardly wait

To be with you again.^[3]

Upon hearing the final recording, Karen Carpenter later noted: "For some reason that tune didn't hit me in the beginning. It's the only one. Richard looked at me like I had three heads. He said: 'Are you out of your mind?' When I heard his arrangement of it I fell over, and now it's one of my favorites too."^[4]

Karen Carpenter's vocal was praised for its intensity and emotional nature. When asked in a 1972 interview how she could communicate the heart of the song while lacking the personal experience it depicted, Karen replied, "I've seen enough groupies hanging around to sense their loneliness, even though they usually don't show it. I can't really understand them, but I just tried to feel empathy and I guess that's what came across in the song." In truth, Karen struggled with loneliness herself, and the personal implications of the song made it one of the three she found most emotionally difficult to sing, the other two being the previous "Rainy Days and Mondays" and the subsequent "I Need to Be in Love."^[4]

The duo's rendition was included on the May 1971 album Carpenters, and then released as a single in August 1971, rising to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart (held out of the top spot by Rod Stewart's "Maggie May"), and spending two weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart that autumn and earned gold record status.^[5] It also reached number 18 on the UK pop singles chart and did well in Australia and New Zealand as well.

Richard would be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist for his efforts. "Superstar" would go on to appear on two mid-1970s Carpenters live albums as well as innumerable compilation albums. For instance, it appeared on the Carpenters's 2004 SACD compilation, The Singles: 1969–1981 (not to be confused with the regular CD, The Singles: 1969–1981), as a remix of the original 1973 mix on the similarly titled compilation The Singles: 1969–1973.

The song has been featured in films:

• In the 1995 comedy film Tommy Boy.
• The song was also used in the 2007 film Ghost Rider.

Chart performance

Trivia

• Released as a double A-side with "For All We Know" in the UK

Original version

The original Delaney and Bonnie version would finally surface on an album in 1972 when D&B Together was released, shortly before their marriage and collaboration ended. This version was also included as a bonus track on a 2006 reissue of the 1970 album Eric Clapton.

Bonnie Bramlett would later re-record the song on her 2002 solo album I'm Still the Same. Now using just the "Superstar" title, she rendered it this time as a very slow, piano-based torch song.

Luther Vandross version

In the early 1980s, American R&B singer Luther Vandross had "Superstar" in his stage act, sometimes in a rendition that stretched to 12 minutes, with vocal interpolations and an interpretive dancer.

Vandross then recorded "Superstar" in 1983 in a slower, more soulful fashion, as part of a medley with Stevie Wonder's "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" on his album Busy Body. Released as a single the following year, it became an R&B hit, reaching number 5 on the Billboard Top R&B Singles chart.^[12] It did not have much pop crossover effect, however, only reaching number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Ruben Studdard version

Second-season American Idol contestant Ruben Studdard found his melismatic, R&B groove early in the Final 12 rounds when he performed a Vandross-influenced "Superstar". It got rave reviews from the judges and established Studdard as one of the early leaders in the competition, a position he held through his narrow May 2003 win over second-place finisher Clay Aiken.

By now his signature song, Studdard recorded "Superstar" as the B-side of his June 2003 first single and number two hit, "Flying Without Wings". Studdard earned a 2004 Grammy Award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Superstar", but he lost to his own idol, Vandross, who won for "Dance with My Father". Studdard's treatment was also included on his December 2003 debut album, Soulful.

Other later versions

• On the soundtrack of Wayne's World 2 (1993), the band "Superfan" performs "Superstar." Superfan is a collective including Chrissie Hynde (from the Pretenders) on vocals and the musicians from Urge Overkill.
• Joi Cardwell covered the song and released it as the second single of her third album Deliverance (1999).
• The Salsa musician and arranger Andy Harlow covered the song in tempo of bolero, with the vocals of Johnny Vasquez. This cover is the third track from his first studio album Sorpresa La Flauta recorded in 1972 for the label Vaya Records and produced by his brother, the Salsa pianist Larry Harlow. The Spanish translation was made by Ismael Miranda. ^[14]
• The musical team Sonic Youth, which had always found unlikely inspiration from the Carpenters,^[15] recorded a version of the selection for the 1994 tribute album If I Were a Carpenter. This version was later included on the soundtrack for the 2007 film Juno. It was also featured in the film The Frighteners and in the theatrical trailer for High Tension. It likewise appeared in professional skateboarder Jerry Hsu's part in Bag of Suck. On a November 28, 2009 transmission of the National Public Radio program Fresh Air, Richard Carpenter expressed his distaste for this version.^[16]
• Usher Raymond IV performed the selection, in homage to the now-late Vandross's version, on the 2005 album So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross; for his version, he received a Grammy nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
• On the April 24, 1976 episode of the first season of Saturday Night Live, John Belushi (imitating Joe Cocker) and episode host Raquel Welch sang the song as a duet.
• The song's refrain is featured in the song "It's Alright," on American rapper Saigon's debut album The Greatest Story Never Told, released in 2011.
• The band Dogstar, whose bassist is actor Keanu Reeves, recorded a cover in 2000.
• Actor Trai Byers did the late Luther Vandross's version of the song for the show Empire in 2017.

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1971 (U.S.)

References

Sources

• October 2002 Blender magazine article by Johnny Black
• Allmusic discussion of song's origins
• Randy L. Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter, Chicago Review Press, 2010, ISBN 1-55652-976-7, pp. 77–78.
• IMDB listing of Bette Midler television appearances
• Australian PopArchives entry
• Australian Countdown entry

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics