Maurice Williams says he wrote “Stay” as a fifteen year old in 1953 after he failed to convince his girl friend of the time not to go home so quickly after a date. Seven years later he put it on a demo cut for his doo wop band The Zodiacs and hiked all around New York trying to arouse interest. Eventually it was picked up by Herald Records and re-cut and released in the Autumn of 1960. By the end of November it was top of the Billboard 100.Subsequent covers by The Four Seasons and the Hollies, amongst others as well as a placement in the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing” have ensured, hopefully, a steady stream of income for Williams and a firmly established niche down Memory Lane.
Oddly enough Williams also penned another classic doo wop number “Little Darlin’”. Released in 1957 it did moderately well in the R & B charts but made little impression on the Billboard 100…unlike The Diamonds cover just a month or so later….
