Tears On My Pillow

"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 #1 version by Kylie Minogue in 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."

One of the earlist covers was by the The McGuire Sisters in 1961, reaching #12 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

A cover of "Tears on My Pillow" by Sha Na Na was featured on the soundtrack to Grease. They played it also on their 1973 concert "Musikladen".

In 1986, New Edition released a Motown-covers album Under the Blue Moon that included a cover of "Tears on My Pillow." In the New Edition version, Little Anthony Gourdine himself appeared as a guest vocalist.

S Club 8 did a cover version as a B-Track on their second album, Sundown.

Clem Snide recorded a cover for the Stubbs the Zombie soundtrack.

"Tears on My Pillow" has also been covered by Timi Yuro, Chuck Jackson, Bobby Vee, Lou Christie, Martha and the Vandellas, Bobby Vinton, Johnny Tillotson, Neil Sedaka, Reba McEntire, Jodeci, Lorrie Morgan, Derrick Morgan with Lyn Tait & The Jets, Neils Children, and The Fleetwoods.

The song was also used in the season one seventh episode of Sliders entitled "The Weaker Sex," which originally aired as episode six. The character Rembrandt Brown (played by Cleavant Derricks) sings the song repeatedly on the street in an effort to raise money for a motel room.