"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, but those two versions were not successful. It first became a popular hit single when it was recorded by Shelley Fabares in the fall of 1961; she took it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart when the song was released in 1962. In the same year, British singer Patti Lynn had a moderate hit on the UK Singles Chart with her cover of the song. The American pop music duo The Carpenters recorded "Johnny Angel" in 1973 as part of a medley of oldies on side two of their album Now & Then. Shelley Fabares version Background "Johnny Angel" is the debut pop single by Shelley Fabares. Her cover version of the song was recorded in the fall of 1961, and 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. Musicians who played on the track include Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye on bass and Glen Campbell on guitar. 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. Although Fabares' career as an actress stayed strong for three decades, her career as a singer came to an end within a few years