Thurston Harris (July 11, 1931 – April 14, 1990) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1957 hit "

Little Bitty Pretty One "Little Bitty Pretty One" is a 1957 song written and originally recorded by Bobby Day. That same year, the song was popularized by Thurston Harris. Produced by Aladdin Records (located in Los Angeles, Calif.), and featuring the Sharps on backi ...

Career

Harris first appeared on record in 1953. He was the vocalist for South Central Los Angeles R&B band the Lamplighters. He remained with the band as it evolved through several name changes, from the Tenderfoots to the Sharps. In 1954, the Lamplighters appeared at the Tenth Cavalcade of Jazz concert at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

in Los Angeles produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. alongside

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

, Louis Jordon, the Flairs, Perez Prado, Christine Kittrell, and

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a popular music, pop music ...

. In 1957, Harris signed as a solo artist for Aladdin Records. His former band backed him when he released his version of Bobby Day's "

". It reached number 6 on the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

''Billboard'' Hot 100. The track sold over one million records, achieving

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status. The Sharps would go on to another name change to become The Rivingtons, achieving fame with the single " Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow". Unusually, "Little Bitty Pretty One" was released on labels of three different colors: purple, blue and maroon. The song appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

s to

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s or

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

dramas, such as '' Telling Lies in America'', '' Matilda'', '' Lipstick on Your Collar'', and '' Christine''. Harris had a second and final hit in 1958 with "Do What You Did", which reached the Top 20. His other best known song was "Runk Bunk", recorded in 1959 (Aladdin 3452). Harris later recorded on Cub, Dot, Imperial, Intro,

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any re ...

and

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

Death

Harris died in his sleep of a heart attack on April 14, 1990.

Cover versions

* Frankie Lymon's highest charting

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

hit was a cover of "Little Bitty Pretty One", which peaked at number 58 on the US ''

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 ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

in 1960. *

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Ti ...

covered "Little Bitty Pretty One" on their 1972 album '' Lookin' Through the Windows''. * UK 1980's star Shakin' Stevens covered the wild rocker "Do What You Did" on his album, '' Take One!'', in 1980. *A cover of "Runk Bunk" was one of the first songs recorded by the UK pop star Adam Faith. * The Dave Clark 5 had a UK number 24 hit with "Little Bitty Pretty One" in 1965.

References

External links

Complete discography of Thurston Harris
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Thurston 1931 births 1990 deaths Cub Records artists Imperial Records artists Musicians from Indianapolis 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers