1955
THE GREAT PRETENDER * THE PLATTERS * MERCURY * G
Released in the US in November 1955, the follow up record to Only You on the Mercury label, was The Great Pretender. According to Jay Warner, this song came about by Buck Ram, the groups manager and musical arranger, announcing to Mercury executives that the groups next record is even better than Only You, and when pressed for its title made one up: The Great Pretender, (a sort of truthful tautology) he then went off and wrote it! The record - when it was finally written and recorded became the groups second number 1 R&B and their first No. 1 Pop, it was released on Mercury 70753 backed with I'm Just A Dancing Partner.
The above German release is a second issue from 1962. The Great Pretender was issued in Britain backed with Only You in August 1956, as a 78 RPM only (although there was a export issue on 45). The record entered the British charts in September that same year and stayed for twelve weeks reaching the number five spot, despite constantly being in the charts they never reached number one until 1959 with Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. The British Mercury label, like Phillips were slow in releasing records on the 45 RPM format, and so apart from being released on various EP's, the first actual UK single of The Great Pretender never came out until 1971, and that was a Maxi!!!! (see below).
THE GREAT PRETENDER * THE PLATTERS * MERCURY 6052 103 * UK