Starlight Starbright - LONNIE LEE & THE LEEMEN (1960) - Pop Archives - Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s

LONNIE LEE & THE LEEMEN
Starlight Starbright
(John Marascalco)
Australia 1960
#3 Sydney #1 Melbourne #8 Brisbane #3 Adelaide

Single on Lee Gordon label.

Rock'n'roll star Lonnie Lee, born David Lawrence Rix in western New South Wales in 1940, had his first hit in 1959, Ain't It So, written with Johnny O'Keefe. With his backing band The Leemen, he followed this with a number of national hits. In Sydney, for example, he charted eight times from 1959 to 1962, notably with I Found A New Love (#2 1960). Like many early Aussie rockers, he moved on to country music.

In 2005 Lonnie Lee released a new John Marascalco co-composition, Can't You See It In My Eyes.

← Lonnie Lee with John Marascalco in Hollywood, 2004.

Photo © Lonnie Lee and Starlite International Pty Ltd.

Further reading: 1. LonnieLee.com. 2. Lonnie Lee page at Howlspace.

Thanks to Colin Purssey and Graeme Freeland for research. Thanks also to Gary Myers and Mike Rashkow.

PORTUGUESE JOE WITH THE TENNESSEE ROCKABILLYS
Star Light Star Bright
(John Marascalco)
USA 1957
Original version

Single on Surf label, B-side of Teen Age Riot. Produced by the writer of Starlight Starbright, John Marascalco. Rockin' Country Style dates the release at November 1957 and has a label shot and audio clip of the 45. Lonnie Lee rearranged the song considerably for his Australian hit version.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other songs by John Marascalco (b.1931) include the Little Richard hits Good Golly Miss Molly and Rip It Up, both written with Robert 'Bumps' Blackwell, and he wrote Fats Domino's hit Be My Guest with Fats and Tommy Boyce.

John Marascalco wrote Johnny O'Keefe's 1960 hit Don't You Know (Pretty Baby). Surprisingly, Lonnie Lee's 1962 recording with that title was a different song.

Further reading: Joslyn Lane's outline of John Marascalco's career at All Music Guide.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

These days, Portuguese Joe seems to be best known for the A-side, Teen Age Riot, written by Joe S. Alves and Joe East. Alves looks to be a Portuguese surname, so maybe that's Portuguese Joe's name.

There is very little about Portuguese Joe on the Web, and just about all of that is at Catalog of Cool's Screen section. There he's noted as a "rockabilly cult cat" who appears singing Teenage Riot in a 1955 "super grade-z laugh-fest" movie, Martian Crime Wave.

Portuguese Joe released another John Marascalco song on Surf in 1957, Miss Ping Pong. RCS has an audio clip and label shot.

[NURSERY RHYME]
Star Light Star Bright
Traditional

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
- Baring-Gould & Baring-Gould, The Annotated Mother Goose, 1962

Clearly the source of the title, though not the lyrics, of Starlight Starbright.

The phrase has often been used in popular music, and there are numerous pop songs entitled Starlight Starbright or Star Light Star Bright, notably Linda Scott's Starlight Starbright which charted somewhat in Australia (see below).

NAN CASTLE
Starlight Starbright
(Sylvia Hicks - Nan Castleberry*)
USA 1957
Red herring

Same title but not the same song as 'Starlight Starbright' by Lonnie Lee.

Single on RCA-Victor, June 1957. See details and audio clip at Rockin' Country Style.

*The single apparently credits Sylvia Hicks alone but Nan Castle (Castleberry) is co-credited at BMI. But Peter Miller emails:
My grandmother (Sylvia Hicks) wrote that many years ago in the middle of the night about her soon-to-be husband, Jack. Nan Castle lives in Greenville, TX (a half hour drive from where our family lives). Nan Castle sang but did not write it. It was so popular locally there was an article in the paper I have stored somewhere.

JIMMY DEAN
Starlight Starbright
(Norman Blagman - Joe Sauter)
USA 1958
Red herring

Same title but not the same song as 'Starlight Starbright' by Lonnie Lee.

Pop single on Columbia label, January 1958, by country singer, TV host and actor who crossed over to the pop charts several times, notably with the hits Big Bad John and PT 109. He later formed The Jimmy Dean Meat Company.

For more about Jimmy Dean see Born To Be By Your Side.