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View Full Version : "Wishing On a Star" -- Rose Royce -- many covers, nothing like the original!

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tsull1
10-14-2011, 07:30 PM
This song sounds good by many different people, it's so great one would have to try and ruin it. However, despite the many covers, there's nothing like the unreal Rose Royce original!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlqMm5sifXs
skooldem1
10-14-2011, 07:53 PM
I agree. This song has been covered many times. That's the mark of a great song. There have been many good versions but nothing compares to the original.
daddyacey
10-15-2011, 02:09 AM
That's classic Norman Whitfield. Can't touch that. !
tamla617
10-15-2011, 02:24 PM
tsull
on the button!accept no immitations
BayouMotownMan
10-15-2011, 02:32 PM
Didn't Billie Calvin write that? She covered it for MotorCity and it's beautiful, one of the few from that company that is of high quality
ms_m
11-06-2011, 03:27 PM
one of the few from that company that is of high quality

…that’s because many of those tracks were demos and not finished product!

But back on the ranch….Wishing On A Star is my fave Rose Royce track…
Glad you posted T.
BobC
11-06-2011, 08:17 PM
I have only heard Rose Royce's version--and hadn't heard it in probably 20 years. The other day I listened to "Unsung--Rose Royce" and heard the song again. Good GOD. Talk about a PERFECT pop single. The simple arrangement, with that crystal clear vocal, well, I'm just in awe. I had forgotten how stellar [[pun intended) that group was--and it seems sad to me that "Car Wash" is how they are remembered for the most part. "love Don't Live Here Anymore" is almost as good--very close--all of these songs shoulda been far bigger than they were
motony
11-06-2011, 08:54 PM
yes, the original is the best version I've heard."Love Don't Live Here Anymore"is a great recording too, as mentioned.I think the era of Rose Royce was the era where the recording companies quit caring about artists & only cared about a finished "hit" product.Norman Whitfield was not a conglomerate.
smark21
11-06-2011, 09:37 PM
Chart wise, the most successful version of Wishing on a Star was the version by freestyle group The Cover Girls in 1992. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlvM4IPoQps
splanky
11-07-2011, 08:29 AM
The Cover Girls to me were like the Pussycat Dolls of their generation and that's not an insult to either group. They did an
gorgeous rendition of Rose Royce's song, indeed. Still personally, there always was something so special, so endearing about
Gwen Dickey. I loved that lady like she was family and I never even met her!:)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5gFAiPJhvI&feature=related
roger
11-07-2011, 10:09 AM
Chart wise, the most successful version of Wishing on a Star was the version by freestyle group The Cover Girls in 1992. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlvM4IPoQps

Yes, I see looking at the chart listings the version by the COVER GIRLS made #9 on Billboard's Hot 100 .. the ROSE ROYCE version didn't even make the Hot 100 and stalled at #52 R&B.

HOWEVER .. in Britain the original by ROSE ROYCE was a huge hit and managed to get to #3 back in 1978, how it never managed to be a big hit in the U.S. at that time also is totally beyond me. As has been mentioned already on this thread .. it is perfect!!

There was a good version of the song by WILL DOWNING as well .. here he is singing it ..

http://vodpod.com/watch/2734366-will-downings-music-videos-wishing-on-a-star

Roger
uptight
11-07-2011, 10:36 AM
I got Beyoncé's version free from Amazon mp3 downloads this past summer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRV-pfti6Ps
BobC
11-07-2011, 11:53 AM
I can't believe that song didn't sell in the US! "Wishing" is the kind of song that just stops you in your tracks. It reminds me of "Don't Speak" by No Doubt. Just a perfect pop song--simple, direct, and it can cut through the background noise at a mall when it come on!
roger
11-07-2011, 01:07 PM
I can't believe that song didn't sell in the US! "Wishing" is the kind of song that just stops you in your tracks. It reminds me of "Don't Speak" by No Doubt. Just a perfect pop song--simple, direct, and it can cut through the background noise at a mall when it come on!

Actually Bob, the LP it was included in "In Full Bloom" was a big seller .. #1 "R&B" and #9 "Pop" on the Billboard charts .. so maybe those who liked it just went out and got the LP?

Roger
BobC
11-07-2011, 04:12 PM
Yeah I remember that they had three or four platinum albums--so they were selling records, but mostly albums. Still, "Wishing" should have been a hit single!
dvdmike
11-07-2011, 04:32 PM
MFSB did a decent version from their "The Gamble-Huff Orchestra" LP in 1978, not long after the original was released.
splanky
11-07-2011, 04:42 PM
Actually Bob, the LP it was included in "In Full Bloom" was a big seller .. #1 "R&B" and #9 "Pop" on the Billboard charts .. so maybe those who liked it just went out and got the LP?

Roger

Just as I did, plus it was a big favorite at at lot of the clubs, cookouts and house parties I attended. This is a perfect example of why I don't put a lot of faith in charts to view a song or groups popularity. Hell, Funkadelic had a national cult
following before they ever scored a top 100 hit. For years!...
ms_m
11-07-2011, 08:04 PM
This is a perfect example of why I don't put a lot of faith in charts to view a song or groups popularity

Good point Splanky. I've actually seen fans manipulate numbers by calling into radio stations to request a song which boost the numbers up the charts. It's an artist own personal fan based street team and it's pretty effective too. Can't honestly say it was done back in the day because I wasn't paying attention all that much to this sort of thing then but I do know it's done now.
tsull1
11-07-2011, 09:30 PM
Thanks to those who responded to this link, I love Rose Royce and like mentioned above, should be known for more than the novelty hit "Car Wash" [[though that's kind of a fun tune).

Also, I'm really glad someone posted the video of "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" showing Gwen and the group's talents [[not a lip sync, right?). Either way, just a great, great song.

But yes, "Wishing On a Star" is practically the perfect single and should've been a chart topper for weeks. It's flat-out awesome.
smark21
11-07-2011, 09:31 PM
Good point Splanky. I've actually seen fans manipulate numbers by calling into radio stations to request a song which boost the numbers up the charts. It's an artist own personal fan based street team and it's pretty effective too. Can't honestly say it was done back in the day because I wasn't paying attention all that much to this sort of thing then but I do know it's done now.

But such fans do have to be careful about this as well. For instance Clay Aiken's fans helped destroy his career by relentlessly calling, faxing and emailing radio stations requesting his latest single. They were so fanatical and obnoxious that stations decided not to add his song.
smark21
11-07-2011, 09:37 PM
Thanks to those who responded to this link, I love Rose Royce and like mentioned above, should be known for more than the novelty hit "Car Wash" [[though that's kind of a fun tune).

Also, I'm really glad someone posted the video of "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" showing Gwen and the group's talents [[not a lip sync, right?). Either way, just a great, great song.

But yes, "Wishing On a Star" is practically the perfect single and should've been a chart topper for weeks. It's flat-out awesome.

The fact that the song Wishing on a Star has lived on over the years despite an initial lackluster performance on the charts in the US is proof that a song can be influential in the culture without necessarily being a big hit on the charts at time of initial release.
ms_m
11-07-2011, 09:42 PM
I feel ya but Clay Aiken fans are somewhat fanatical anyway. LOL..

Too much of anything can be too much.

I know two artists who use this approach quite effectively and I know the team leaders who co-ordinate it. It's all about how it's organized and handled.
pshark
11-07-2011, 11:11 PM
Guess the Aiken fans are not as civilized as the Supremes fans
Oops, did I just open up a can of worms:p
daddyacey
11-09-2011, 02:21 AM
http://soulfuldetroit.com/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by BobC http://soulfuldetroit.com/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png [[http://soulfuldetroit.com/showthread.php?p=75924#post75924)
I can't believe that song didn't sell in the US! "Wishing" is the kind of song that just stops you in your tracks. It reminds me of "Don't Speak" by No Doubt. Just a perfect pop song--simple, direct, and it can cut through the background noise at a mall when it come on!





Actually Bob, the LP it was included in "In Full Bloom" was a big seller .. #1 "R&B" and #9 "Pop" on the Billboard charts .. so maybe those who liked it just went out and got the LP?
Roger

That observation is spot on!!! That was at a time when people did not buy 45's or singles. This was FM radio's hey day ,and a lot of FM stations played album tracks. Record stores [[at least here in urban NYC Tri State area) were plentiful and new lp's were selling at $2.99 if they were on the top 50 of the genres chart. Two tracks that you heard on the radio or in a club off the same album was enough at minimum an excuse to spend $2.99 on a lp oppossed to buying 2 singles. That is why some classic tracks and artists are not considered successful in relation to the charts, but for myself ,I dont know anyone that has never heard the original Whishin or dont know of it and that is not recorded on any chart. I'm sure there's a lot of others that can say that also.


smark21;;;;;;
"The fact that the song Wishing on a Star has lived on over the years despite an initial lackluster performance on the charts in the US is proof that a song can be influential in the culture without necessarily being a big hit on the charts at time of initial release."


You said it---100%