Ballerina (Prima Donna)
| "Ballerina (Prima Donna)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Single by Steve Harley (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel) | ||||
| B-side | "Face to Face" (7") "Sebastian" (12") |
|||
| Released | 17 June 1983 | |||
| Format | 7", 12" | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 4:57 | |||
| Label |
RCA Records Stiletto Records |
|||
| Songwriter(s) | Mike Batt | |||
| Producer(s) | Mike Batt | |||
| Steve Harley (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel) singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Alternative Cover | ||||
12" cover of "Ballerina (Prima Donna)"
|
||||
"Ballerina (Prima Donna)" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released as a non-album single in 1983. It was written and produced by Mike Batt. The song reached No. 51 in the UK.
"Ballerina (Prima Donna)" was Harley's first release since the 1982 single "I Can't Even Touch You". In 1983, Batt approached Harley with the newly-written song. After playing and singing it to him on the piano, Harley took a liking to the song and agreed to record it. It was recorded in the spring of 1983 at Lansdowne Studios and Abbey Road Studios, London. Released in June through RCA/Stiletto Records, the song gave Harley his first UK chart action in four years. It peaked at No. 51 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining in the Top 100 for six weeks. It had originally debuted at No. 91 in early August 1983.
During promotion for the single, Harley appeared for an interview on the TV show Scotland Today. On the show, he was asked why he had chosen to 'come back' to the music scene, to which he replied:
"Well, there's probably a lot of reasons. I never really left it. I've been very busy, I just haven't toured much or released many records, because I don't want to be known for putting out a string of flops. You have to wait for the right time. I'd like to think that I have some degree of integrity, I don't need to jump on bandwagons and release lots of them, just to try and get success for successes' sake. I have to wait for the right song."
In response to the song not being written by Harley or being a song of his usual style, he responded:
"I still obviously write nearly everything I record, but Mike wrote this song, came to me and my record company and said 'I've got this for Steve, I've known him a few years, never working with him though', and he sang it. And when he sang it to me on the piano, he's a very talented boy Mike Batt, and he sang it like me, and I fell for it. I couldn't help it, and so we recorded it yeah." In response to a possible new tour, Harley said: "We're doing the Reading Festival at the end of August, and when "Ballerina" is in the Top 10 then I can get all around the country again."
Later in 2013, the song received its first live performance by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel since 1983. In a January 2013 online diary entry, Harley spoke of the song:
"We're rehearsing "Ballerina (Prima Donna)" – I actually agree that it's a bit cheesey, but we've had lots of requests for it, all from women, to be honest. It has a bitter, accusing air, written by my good mate Mike Batt at a time of low self-esteem (wouldn't have lasted long!), but maybe we can give it a one-off night out at Buxton, then shelve it again."
...
Wikipedia