"Johnny Angel"
Song by The Carpenters from the album Now & Then
Released	May 16, 1973
Recorded	1973
Genre	Pop
Length	1:30
Label	A&M
Writer(s)	Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss
Producer(s)	Richard and Karen Carpenter

"Johnny Angel" is a song written and composed by Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss. The song was originally recorded by both Laurie Loman and Georgia Lee, however these two versions were not successful. It first became a popular hit single in 1962 when covered by Shelley Fabares who took it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. British singer Patti Lynn had a moderate hit with her cover of "Johnny Angel" the same year on the UK Singles Chart. The American pop music duo The Carpenters also covered "Johnny Angel" in 1973 as part of a medley of oldies on side two of their album Now & Then.

"Johnny Angel" is the debut pop single by Shelley Fabares. Her cover version of the song was released in 1962 on the Colpix label. The track was the first single taken from Fabares' debut solo album Shelley!, which was produced and arranged by Stu Phillips.

The single premiered on an episode, "Donna's Prima Donna" of Fabares' sitcom, The Donna Reed Show, during the fourth season (episode 20). It also has a sequel song entitled "Johnny Loves Me", which tells the story of how the girl won Johnny's heart.

Darlene Love and her group, the Blossoms, sang backup vocals on the track. Fabares is quoted in The Billboard Book of Number One Singles by Fred Bronson as saying she was intimidated by Love's group and their "beautiful" voices and was terrified at the prospect of becoming a recording artist, as she did not consider herself a singer, but was expected to sing on the show anyway. The song also featured an echo chamber, where the intro of the repeated title words: "Johnny Angel, Johnny Angel" was used by Fabares and the backup singers.

The song is an expression of a teenage girl's romantic longing for a boy who doesn't know she exists, to the point where she declines other boys' propositions for dates because she would rather concentrate on the boy she loves.

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Wikipedia