Tears on My Pillow
Single by Little Anthony and the Imperials
from the album We Are the Imperials Featuring Little Anthony
Released 1958
Format 7″ single
Genre Doo wop
Length 2:20
Label End
1027
Songwriter(s)
Sylvester Bradford Al Lewis
“Tears on My Pillow” is a doo-wop song written by Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis in 1958. The composition was first recorded by Little Anthony and the Imperials on End Records and was that group’s debut recording under that name. Their original recording of the song became a Billboard Top 10 Pop smash, peaking at #4, and was The Imperials’ first million-seller. It was also a two-sided hit, with its flip side, “Two People in the World,” also becoming a major hit. Although it remains one of the Imperials’ signature songs, “Tears on My Pillow” has been extensively covered, including a No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart version by Kylie Minogue in January 1990.
Early copies of the single were credited simply to “The Imperials,” a group which had previously been known as “The Duponts” and “The Chesters.” Brooklyn, New York deejay Alan Freed gave the group’s lead singer, Anthony Gourdine, top billing while introducing the single over the air and the moniker of “Little Anthony and the Imperials” stuck.
“Tears on My Pillow” was a #4 hit single in the United States. Selling over a million copies, “Tears on My Pillow” was the most successful single of the Imperials’ doo wop period. Its success would be matched only by the Imperials’ 1964 single “Goin’ Out of My Head.” The Imperials (“Little Anthony” Gourdine, Clarence Collins, Ernest Wright,Tracy Lord, and Nate Rogers – the last two of whom were later replaced by Sammy Strain) performed the song on numerous TV programs, including The Dick Clark Show and on the PBS Oldies special, Rock, Rhythm, and Doo-Wop in 1958 and 2002 respectively. They also performed the tune on the American Bandstand 40th Anniversary Special (also in 2002).
Released by Australian singer Kylie Minogue as the final single from her second studio album, Enjoy Yourself. It was released in November 1989 in Australia and on January 8, 1990 in Europe. Minogue’s cover was also included on the soundtrack of the film The Delinquents, which she also starred in. The song was the #1 single on the UK Singles Chart for one week in January 1990, and reached #35 in Canada. The B-side, “We Know the Meaning of Love,” reached #1 in its own right in Sweden.