"Venus" is a song written by Ed Marshall. The most successful and best-known recording of the track was by Frankie Avalon and released in 1959, when it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
| "Venus" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 1959 US single | ||||
| Single by Frankie Avalon | ||||
| B-side | "I'm Broke" | |||
| Released | January 1959 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 2:20 | |||
| Label | Chancellor | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ed Marshall | |||
| Frankie Avalon singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| "Venus" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US single of Avalon's 1976 re-recording | ||||
| Single by Frankie Avalon | ||||
| Released | 1976 | |||
| Genre | Pop, disco | |||
| Length | 3:34 | |||
| Label | De-Lite, Polydor | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ed Marshall | |||
| Frankie Avalon singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
edit"Venus" became Avalon's first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it spent five weeks atop the survey. The song also reached No. 10 on the R&B chart. The lyrics detail a man's plea to Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, to send him a girl to love and one who will love him as well. Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song for 1959.[1]
The song was covered in the United Kingdom by Dickie Valentine, and it spent a week at No. 20 in the Singles Chart in May 1959, the week before Frankie Avalon reached the Top 20 with his original version.[citation needed]
In 1976, Avalon released a new disco version of "Venus". That helped revive the singer's career, because it had been waning prior to its release, but it was Avalon's last Billboard Hot 100 hit. The re-recording of "Venus" peaked at No. 46 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] and at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart.[3] Avalon was quoted as saying of the remake: "It was all right, but I still prefer the original."[4]
Other charting versions
edit- Johnny Mathis reached No. 23 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart[5] "bubbled under" the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 111.[6]
- Jamie Redfern in 1973 entered the Go-Set - Australian charts at No. 27.[7]
In popular culture
editAvalon's recording of the song was used a number of times in the Showtime series Dexter, it being the favourite song of Arthur Mitchell's sister Vera.
"Venus" was also featured in Cranium Command (1989–2005), an attraction at Epcot's Wonders of Life Pavilion (now closed) at Walt Disney World. In the attraction, a 12-year-old boy named Bobby (Scott Curtis), tries to survive the pressures of life and falls in love with a beautiful girl named Annie (Natalie Gregory) at school.
Priscilla Presley references "Venus" in her autobiography Elvis and Me as having played when she first met Currie Grant, the man who orchestrated her introduction to Elvis Presley.
The song was also present on the soundtrack of the book's film adaptation Priscilla, released in 2023.
Charts
editWeekly charts
edit| Chart (1959) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8] | 2 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[9] | 1 |
| UK New Musical Express[10] | 16 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[11] | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot R&B Sides[12] | 10 |
All-time charts
edit| Chart (1958–2018) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[13] | 154 |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1959
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100", Billboard, March 3, 1976. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 25.
- ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
- ^ "Easy Listening", Billboard, June 22, 1968. p. 52. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- ^ "Bubbling Under the Hot 100", Billboard, June 22, 1968. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- ^ Go-Set Singles", Retrieved June 11, 2020.
- ^ "Frankie Avalon – Venus" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
- ^ "Frankie Avalon – Venus" (in French). Ultratop 50.
- ^ Frankie Avalon - Full Official Chart History, Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- ^ "Frankie Avalon Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- ^ Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - Frankie Avalon Venus Chart History, Billboard.com. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.