"Lonely Night (Angel Face)" is a song written by

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

. The song was first recorded by Sedaka and appeared on his 1975 studio album, '' The Hungry Years''. The following year the song was made popular when covered by the pop music duo

Captain & Tennille Captain & Tennille were an American recording duo whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife team were "Captain" Daryl Dragon (1942–2019) and Toni Tennille (born 1940). They have five albums certified gold or platinum a ...

, who took their version to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background

In 1976, "Lonely Night (Angel Face)" was a hit single for

, who had recorded another Sedaka song "

Love Will Keep Us Together "Love Will Keep Us Together" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It was first recorded by Sedaka in 1973. The brother-sister duo Mac and Katie Kissoon also recorded a version in 1973. American pop duo Captain & Tennille cove ...

" a year earlier. Their version of "Lonely Night (Angel Face)" first hit the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart on January 24, 1976, entering at number 69. It rose to number 3 on the Hot 100 and number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Easy Listening chart in March 1976. On the '' Cashbox'' chart, it also reached number 1. The song became a Gold record, and Sedaka's biggest hit as a lyricist (besides this and " That's When the Music Takes Me," Sedaka had generally only written the music to his songs, with

Howard Greenfield Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including o ...

—from whom Sedaka was estranged at the time—or Phil Cody writing the lyrics). In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

the song went to number 1 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' National Top Singles Chart. It hit the pole position on April 17, 1976, and stayed atop the chart for two weeks before bowing out to "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''A Night at the Opera (Queen album), A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by Queen's lead si ...

" by

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. It was their third of fourteen hit singles.

Reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' praised the "tight instrumentals."

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* 1975 songs 1976 singles Neil Sedaka songs Captain & Tennille songs Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by Neil Sedaka A&M Records singles {{1970s-single-stub