"Johnny Angel" by Shelley Fabares was Billboard's number one song on April 7 and April 14, 1962.

It was written by Lee Pockriss and Lynn Duddy and produced by Stu Phillips.

The song was featured in a classic Donna Reed episode called "Donna's Primadonna".

In the late 50s-early 60s, one of the most popular family situation comedies was "The Donna Reed Show." Anyone who didn't want to be a part of the Anderson or Cleaver families surely wanted to live with the Stones in Hilldale.

Dr. Alex Stone and his wife Donna had two children, Mary and Jeff. After the show's second season, producer Tony Owen (Reed's then-husband) told the two actors who played the Stone offspring they would record songs that would be written into the series' third season scripts, and Colpix, the record arm of Columbia Pictures, would release those songs.

Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen were not thrilled. "Both Paul and I said it was a great idea, but we couldn't sing. I was adamant. I'm not a singer. I was a very good, very sweet little girl who was not raised to say no, so it took a lot for me to say I can't do that."

Owen wasn't prepared to take no for an answer. He arranged for Stu Phillips to make demos for Shelley and Paul, and Shelley was convinced hers was so bad the idea would be dropped. It wasn't. Shelley recorded two solo songs, "Johnny Angel" and "Where's It Going to Get Me." She recalls being absolutely terrified during the session. What she remembers most is the calibre of the musicians (people like Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine) and the "gorgeous" voices of her backing vocalists, the Blossoms, led by Darlene Love.

"Johnny Angel" was written into a script of "The Donna Reed Show," as was Paul Petersen's song, "She Can't Find Her Keys." Both actors had several follow-ups; Petersen fared best with "My Dad," which went to number six and Shelley's only other hit was "Johnny Loves Me," which peaked at 21.

In June 1964, Shelley married record producer Lou Adler. She departed "The Donna Reed Show" and Paul's sister, Patti, joined the show as an adopted, younger daughter. In 1965, Shelley was the first artist to release a record on the new Dunhill label, which was partly owned by Adler.

After "The Donna Reed Show," Shelley co-starred in three Elvis movies and Ride the Wild Surf with Fabian. In 1971, she starred as the wife of the terminally ill football star Brian Picolo in TV's "Brian's Song." She has since starred in a number of television series: "The Little People" as Brian Keith's doctor-daughter, "The Practice" as Danny Thomas' daughter-in-law, "Forever Fernwood" as Tom Hartman's love interest after Mary left town, "Highcliffe Manor" as Helen Straight Blacke , "One Day at a Time" as Bonnie Franklin's business partner and "Coach," with Craig T. Nelson.

She was born Michele Fabares on January 19, 1944, and her family called her Shelley. Her aunt Nanette suggested she spell her last name Fabray, but she preferred the family spelling despite problems with pronunciation (Fah-bear-ay is correct).

* from The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, an excellent comprehensive volume chronicling every record to hit Number One on the Billboard music chart from 1955 to the present day. The latest edition can be purchased directly from Amazon.com by clicking the link below.