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Cover of "Greatest Stars on 45"

Stars on 45 (known in some countries as Starsound) were a Dutch novelty pop act that was briefly very popular in the UK, Europe and the U.S. in the very early 1980s. The band, which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of Golden Earring, popularised the medley, by recreating hit songs as faithfully as possible and stringing them together, with a common tempo and relentless underlying drum track. The point was to provide a danceable disco record which used familiar tunes. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... This article cites very few or no references or sources. ... Golden Earring is a Dutch rock/pop group that was founded in 1961 in The Hague as the Golden Earrings (the s was later dropped). ... Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that blends elements of funk and soul music that was first popularized in dance clubs (discothèques) in the mid-1970s. ...

Eggermont originally created the "Stars on 45" concept after hearing a bootleg 12-inch dance record called "Let's Do It In the 80's" and credited to the band Passion. The record actually used original recordings of songs by the Beatles, the Buggles, the Archies and Madness, and used a segment of "Venus," a recording by Shocking Blue, for which Eggermont held a copyright. With the bootleg recording circulating in dance clubs, Eggermont decided to create a licensed version of the medley by using soundalike artists to replicate the original hits. An assortment of bootleg recordings A bootleg recording (or simply bootleg or boot) is an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist, or under other legal authority. ... The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ... The Age of Plastic The Buggles were a New Wave band formed in 1977 consisting of Geoff Downes (percussion, keyboards), Trevor Horn (bass guitar, guitar, percussion, vocals) and Bruce Woolley. ... The Archies, ca. ... Look up madness in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band from The Hague that existed from 1967 to 1974. ...

The Beatles soundalikes were established Dutch singers. John Lennon's parts were sung by Bas Muys of the 70s Dutch pop group, Smyle. The other two singers were the famous Sandy Coast frontman Hans Vermeulen and Okkie Huysdens who worked with Vermeulen in Rainbow Train.

Apart from the recreated songs, an original chorus and hook was added at intervals to help string differing sections together. The lyrics and a MIDI rendition of the most successful single can be read/heard here. Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...

The first such release, "Stars on 45 Medley", mostly featuring songs from The Beatles, went to Number 1 in the US, and Number 2 in the UK, and several follow up records did well too. Another album followed, featuring medleys using the songs of ABBA, a #2 hit in the UK and Motown, US #55. A third album featured medleys of The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder. The single "Stars on 45 III: A Tribute to Stevie Wonder", peaked at US #28 in 1982, but reached #14 in the UK, where it was called "Stars on Stevie". The Stars on 45 Medley was a song issued in 1981 by the studio group Stars on 45. ... The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. ... ABBA was a Swedish pop music group active from 1972 until 1982, and are the most successful act ever to come out of Scandinavia. ... Motown Records, Inc. ... “Rolling Stones” redirects here. ... Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950, name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris),[1] is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. ...

There was a touring company also called Stars on 45 that promoted their albums (although not using the same studio session musicians as on the record).

In 1982, there was a staged musical show at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Hollywood, CA and a video of that show was released in 1983 by MCA Home Video.

The '45' in the title refers to the playback speed of a vinyl record single — 45 rpm. Such singles are often simply called "45s". A gramophone record, (also phonograph record - often simply record) is an analog sound recording medium: a flat disc rotating at a constant angular velocity, with inscribed spiral grooves in which a stylus or needle rides. ... Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, r/min, or min-1) is a unit of frequency, commonly used to measure rotational speed, in particular in the case of rotation around a fixed axis. ...

Their first album was Stars on Long Play. Followups included Stars on Long Play II, Stars on Long Play III, and Soul Revue, the latter paying tribute to Sam and Dave and James Brown. Stars on Long Play was the first album by the studio group Stars on 45 and credited to Stars on. Side One was the 12 version of the Stars on 45 Medley without Venus, and Sugar Sugar. ... Sam & Dave were an American soul duo, known as one of the best and earliest soul groups. ... James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933[2] – December 25, 2006), commonly referred to as The Godfather of Soul and The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, was an American entertainer recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music. ...

A spinoff group called The Star Sisters had a hit in Europe with an Andrews Sisters medley. The albums were released under the moniker of Stars on 45 Presents The Star Sisters. The Star Sisters were a female Dance/Pop trio from The Netherlands that were very popular during the 1980s, most notably as the ladies who performed the chorus as members of Japp Eggermonts studio act Stars on 45 and in a spinoff in which they performed as The Andrews...

Track list for the "Stars on 45 Medley" was the name of the songs that make up the medley:

Intro Venus / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want to Know a Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You're Going to Lose That Girl / Stars on 45

This single continues to hold the record for a #1 single with the longest name on the Billboard charts, due to the legalities requiring each song title be listed.

Other similar acts

With the development of recording technology, similar subsequent efforts have used the actual recordings combined together rather than re-recordings with session musicians. The best-known example was probably Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, as well as a series of "Hit Mix" albums (e.g. "Hit Mix 86", a medley of many hits from that year). Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were a novelty pop act who were the third band to have their first three releases go to number 1 on the UK singles chart, a feat they achieved between July and December 1989. ...

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded several albums (as well as singles) called Hooked on Classics, while Larry Elgart and his Manhattan Swing Orchestra recorded a series of Hooked on Swing tracks. Hooked on Classics was subsequently parodied by the Portsmouth Sinfonia as Classical Muddly. The single, "Hooked On Classics," peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Larry Elgart & His Manhattan Swing Orchestra peaked at #32 with "Hooked On Swing." The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is an English orchestra based in London. ... Introduced in 1981, Hooked on Classics was one of the earliest successful remixes. ... Introduced in 1981, Hooked on Classics was one of the earliest successful remixes. ... The Portsmouth Sinfonia was a musical group founded by English composer Gavin Bryars, while teaching at Portsmouth School of Art in the early 1970s. ...

In the spring of 1982, the Beatles hit the charts with their own medley. They peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "The Beatles Movie Medley," highlighting their hits from the various motion pictures they appeared in throughout their popularity.

In 1982, The Beach Boys had their own minor hit with "The Beach Boys Medley," peaking at #12 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Polkas on 45" parodies the Stars on 45 format, except that the entire song is done in the style of a polka. "Polkas on 45" was included in Weird Al's second album, and with the exception of Even Worse and Alapalooza (the latter of which has a polka version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" rather than a medley), a similar polka compilation has been included in each of his albums since. This article is about the musician himself. ... Street musicians in Prague playing a polka Polka is a type of dance, and also a genre of dance music. ... Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D, sometimes referred to simply as In 3-D, is the second album by Weird Al Yankovic, released in 1984. ... Even Worse is the fifth album by Weird Al Yankovic, released in 1988. ... Alapalooza is the eighth album by Weird Al Yankovic, released in 1993. ... Queen are an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, with John Deacon joining the following year. ... Bohemian Rhapsody is a song written by Freddie Mercury and originally recorded by the band Queen for their 1975 album A Night at the Opera. ...

In the early 1980s, Ivor Biggun released "Bras on 45" (a.k.a. "Bra Size 45"), a novelty song about a woman with huge breasts, which was very close to sounding like a Stars-on-45-stlye medley of recognizable songs, including Gary Numan's "Cars." This article cites very few or no references or sources. ... Doc Cox is a television personality best known for his appearances on the BBC TV programme Thats Life!. However he is also known as Ivor Biggun and fronts a humorous band known as Ivor Biggun and the Red-nosed Burglars, whose specialty is innuendo-laden smutty songs. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Cars is a 1979 song by Gary Numan, released as a single and on the album The Pleasure Principle. ...

Also in the '80s, Stevens & Grdnic released "Commercials on 45," which was a compilation of that duo's parodies of commercials set to music. Stevens & Grdnic (Ron Stevens and Joy Grdnic) are comedians having worked as major market radio morning hosts, written for network TV comedies, and released two Grammy-nominated comedy albums. ...

The rock band Squeeze recorded a medley of their own classic hits, calling it "Squabs on Forty Fab," and releasing it as the B-side to their single "Labelled With Love." Squeeze was a British rock music band that came to prominence in the New Wave period of the late 1970s. ... Labelled With Love was the third single released from Squeezes fourth album, East Side Story. ...

The Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice also recorded a Stars on 45-like medley of their earliest singles called "Blokes on 45" for John Peel's BBC show. It was released on The Glasgow School, a compilation of their early work recorded for Postcard Records. Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... Orange juice is sometimes artificially colored to match the color of orange rinds. ... “Peel Sessions” redirects here. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Independent record label founded by Alan Horne in Glasgow, 1979. ...

For their 1981 release, "Christmas Jamboree Bag", the Cockney musical act Chas & Dave recorded a medley parodying the "Stars on 45" format. Entitled "Stars Over 45", the song featured a selection of traditional London songs. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

The later Urusei Yatsura OAVs also had a similar medley titled "Urusei Yatsura Stars On", arranged by Anzai Fumitaka and performed by Satomi. This was basically a medly, done in the same style, of the opening and closing themes to the Urusei Yatsura TV series. [1] Serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday Original run 1978 – 1987 No. ... OAV is a three letter acronym that may stand for: Original animated video (See Original Video Animation) Österreichische Alpenverein (Austrian Alpine Club) OpenAntiVirus Ordre des Avocats Vaudois (oav. ... Satomi is a Japanese given name for females. ...

See also