Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr ~ You Don’t Have To Be A Star 1976 Disco Purrfection Version

This was such a lovely song for a lovely couple who really made the Fifth Dimension pop! When they left that band in 1975, they were signed as solo artists to ABC Records. Marilyn was first in the studio with half an album of finished tracks when producer Don Davis was handed this song written by James Dean and John Glover. Written for one voice only, but then arranged for two when Marilyn and Billy felt that an album of duets would fare much better for them. The producer’s instincts were to remove the Fifth Dimension sound and recreate the stately Motown productions without sounding dated. He went and got James Jamerson, bassist for the Motown machine in the 60’s and added a few LA session players to complete the lineup. Once that was done, Davis took the tracks to New York to add strings and horns and released the song in August of 1976. By the end of November it hit #1 R&B for a week and then followed suit by taking the pole position on the Hot 100 in January 1977.