Forever No. 1: Shelley Fabares, ‘Johnny Angel’

Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor the late TV star Shelley Fabares, whose “Johnny Angel” reached No. 1 in April 1962.

“Johnny Angel” is so innocent, so chaste, that it immediately conjures a simpler time. It has that in common with such other defining hits of the era as The Chordettes’ “Mr. Sandman” (1954) and The Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him, Is To Love Him” (1958).

“Johnny Angel” is a classic “crush” song, in which the singer pines about a boy who is utterly oblivious:”Johnny Angel, how I love him/ He’s got something that I can’t resist/ But he doesn’t even know that I exist.”

Singer and actress Shelley Fabares, who died on Sunday (Aug. 23) in Los Angeles at age 82, recorded the song in September 1961 when she was just 17. She performed it in her role as daughter Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show in the episode (“Donna’s Prima Donna”) that aired on Feb. 1, 1962 (by which time she had turned 18). The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 two months later.

Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss wrote “Johnny Angel,” which is distinguished by a lilting and lovely pre-chorus: “I’m in heaven, I get carried away/ I dream of him and me/ And how it’s gonna be/ Other fellas call me up for a date/ But I just sit and wait/ I’d rather concentrate/ On Johnny Angel.”

The song also has a nice line in the chorus: “And I pray that someday he’ll love me/ And together we will see/ How lovely Heaven will be.”

Darlene Love and her group, the Blossoms, sang backup vocals on the track. (They also sang, uncredited, on The Crystals’ far earthier “He’s a Rebel,” which likewise topped the Hot 100 later in 1962.) Musicians who played on “Johnny Angel” include Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye on bass and Glen Campbell on guitar – legends all.

It wasn’t Fabares’ idea to make records. The decision was forced on her.

Reed’s husband, Tony Owen, produced The Donna Reed Show, which ran for eight seasons (1958-66). During the 1961-62 season, Owen decided to follow the lead of another long-running family series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966), which saw its ratings jump when younger son Ricky Nelson performed his pop hits on the series. During the run of the show, two of Nelson’s hits, “Poor Little Fool” (1958) and “Travelin’ Man” (1961), reached No. 1 on the Hot 100.

Owen told Fabares and Paul Petersen, who played her younger brother Jeff on the series, that they would record pop tunes to perform on the series. Note that he didn’t ask them if they’d like to do this.

Petersen jumped at the chance. “I was friends with Ricky Nelson,” he told Susan King in a 2011 interview in The Los Angeles Times. “He was having fun. The girls were screaming. He drove a fast car. I was like, give me some of that…”

Fabares wasn’t nearly as sure that this was the right move for her. “I remember saying, ‘Mr. Owen, Paul can do it,” she told King. “He can do anything.’ Maybe a month later, he came up to me one day and said, ‘Hey, kid. Do you like being on the show? Do you want to be on next year?’ Not seeing the train heading directly toward me, I said, ‘Oh, yes, Mr. Owen. I do.’ Then he said, ‘Sing.’”

Both young performers signed contracts with Colpix Records, which was the record arm of Screen Gems, which produced the TV show. Both singers’ debut singles entered the Hot 100 in the week ending March 3, 1962: Fabares’ “Johnny Angel” at No. 81 and Petersen’s “She Can’t Find Her Keys” not far behind at No. 90.

Fabares’ hit quickly surged ahead. It shot to No. 50 in its second week and No. 28 in its third. “Johnny Angel” reached No. 1 for the week ending April 7, 1962, in just its sixth week on the chart. When it dislodged Connie Francis’ “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You” from the top spot, it marked the first time since the Hot 100 launched in 1958 that female artists appeared at No. 1 back-to-back. (Francis, the top female singer of that era, died in July 2025 at age 87.)

“Johnny Angel” remained No. 1 for two weeks before ceding the top spot to Elvis Presley’s “Good Luck Charm.” Fun Fact: Fabares went on to co-star alongside Presley in three films: Girl Happy (1965), Spinout (1966) and Clambake (1967).

Fabares’ recording was also heard in a later episode of the Reed show that aired on May 17, 1962. It soundtracked a scene where the boys are in the malt shop. (It really was a more innocent time.) Fabares lip-synched her hit on American Bandstand during a June 19, 1962 appearance.

Fabares wasn’t much of a singer, but her lack of training may have worked in her favor on “Johnny Angel.” There’s an innocence and guilelessness in her vocal that made it more relatable and accessible.

Lee Pockriss, who co-wrote “Johnny Angel,” had a hand in writing numerous hits from the 1950s to the 1970s, including Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star” (which hit No. 1 on a pre-Hot 100 songs chart in Billboard in 1958), Brian Hyland’s “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini” (No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1960), Anita Bryant’s “In My Little Corner of the World,” The Cuff Links’ “Tracy” and Clint Holmes’ “Playground in My Mind” (No. 2 in 1973).

Stu Phillips produced and arranged Fabares’ recording. Phillips had a long career, producing hits for James Darren, Nina Simone, The Skyliners and The Monkees, in addition to Fabares. He later segued into composing theme songs for TV series including McCloud, Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider. In 2002, Phillips published his autobiography, Stu Who?: Forty Years of Navigating the Minefields of the Music Business. Phillips is currently still living at 96.

Legendary Brill Building songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote Fabares’ follow-up single, “Johnny Loves Me,” which reached No. 21, and a less successful 1963 single “Telephone (Won’t You Ring),” which bubbled under the chart at No. 109.

The cover of Fabares’ 1962 debut album, Shelley!, identified her as “Shelley Fabares of The Donna Reed Show,” which shows how important people thought it was to drive home that connection. The album reached No. 106 on the Billboard 200. Fabares’ highest-charting album was Teen-Age Triangle, a collab with Peterson and James Darren, which reached No. 48. Darren, who made several guest appearances on the Reed show, died last September at 88. Petersen is still living at 80.

Lest we forget, Petersen’s “She Can’t Find Her Keys” peaked at No. 19. Petersen landed a top 10 hit in early 1963 with “My Dad,” which was written by Mann & Weil.

Fabares’ Hot 100 career lasted just a little more than a year. After “Johnny Loves Me,” she never cracked the top 40 again. She scored her final Hot 100 hit, “Ronnie, Call Me When You Get a Chance,” in the spring of 1963.

The Carpenters included “Johnny Angel” in the oldies medley that took up nearly the entire second side of their 1973 album Now & Then. It was a lovely solo showcase for Karen Carpenter. The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

The song was also featured in a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Dyan Cannon, where Johnny Angel turns out to be three Hells Angels all named Johnny. Fabares’ version was featured in Cher’s 1990 film Mermaids, which was set in 1963.

If Fabares didn’t have the vocal chops of a Darlene Love, she was a natural and appealing actress who had a long career in TV.  After leaving Reed’s show in 1963, she played James Caan’s wife in the acclaimed 1971 TV drama Brian’s Song. She may be best known for roles on two long-running sitcoms. She played Francine Webster opposite Bonnie Franklin on CBS’ One Day at a Time and Christine Armstrong opposite Craig T. Nelson on ABC’s Coach. She received two Primetime Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series in 1993-94 for the latter show.

Other performers with a No. 1 Hot 100 hit who had more sustained success in TV include Vicki Lawrence, who topped the chart in 1973 with “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” and David Soul, who hit the top in 1977 with “Don’t Give Up on Us.”

Fabares married producer Lou Adler in 1964. Among his many accomplishments, Adler produced No. 1 Hot 100 hits for The Mamas & the Papas (“Monday, Monday”), Johnny Rivers (“Poor Side of Town”) and Carole King (“It’s Too Late”). They were divorced in 1980. Four years later, Fabares married M*A*S*H* co-star Mike Farrell. They were married until her death. She is also survived by her daughter, Erin.