"Young Love" is a popular song, written by Ric Cartey and
Carole Joyner and published in 1956.
The original version was recorded by Ric Cartey With The
Jiva-Tones on November 24, 1956. It was originally released in
1956 by Stars Records as catalog number 539 and one month later
by RCA Records as catalog number 47-6751. Cartey's version
never charted, but better-known versions were released by Sonny
James, Tab Hunter (in a version that did even better on the
charts) and The Crew-Cuts.
The recording by Tab Hunter was released by Dot Records as
catalog number 15533. It first reached the Billboard magazine
charts on January 19, 1957. On the Disk Jockey chart, it peaked
at #1; on the Best Seller chart, at #1; on the Juke Box chart,
at #1; on the composite chart of the top 100 songs, it reached
#1. The success of this record led Warner Bros., where Hunter
was a contract player, to form Warner Bros. Records.
The recording by Sonny James was released by Capitol Records
as catalog number 3602. It first reached the Billboard magazine
charts on January 5, 1957. On the Disk Jockey chart, it peaked
at #1; on the Best Seller chart, at #2; on the Juke Box chart,
at #4; on the composite chart of the top 100 songs, it reached
#2. On
Billboard's country music charts, it was a No. 1 hit for
nine weeks, and remained the longest-reigning of James' 23
chart-topping songs on the chart.
The flip side of James' version was a song called "You're
the Reason I'm In Love." That song was a Top 10 hit on the
Billboard country charts in early 1957. In 1971 – 14 years
after the original — James re-recorded that song in a
faster-tempoed, horn-heavy rendition as "That's Why I Love You
Like I Do" (the original slower-tempoed song featured an
electric guitar solo); the newly recorded, re-titled version
was released as a single and reached No. 1 in June 1972.
The recording by The Crew-Cuts was released by Mercury
Records as catalog number 71022. It first reached the Billboard
magazine charts on January 26, 1957. On the Disk Jockey chart,
it peaked at #17; on the Juke Box chart, at #17; on the
composite chart of the top 100 songs, it reached #24.
In 1964 the song was recorded by The Rolling Stones, and was
issued as a single under the name "Bo and Peep" [1]
In 1966 the song was covered by Lesley Gore, her version
reached number 50.
In 1969 the song was covered by Mary Hopkin, and included on
her LP "Post Card", which was produced by Paul McCartney.
In 1969 a duet version of the song was made by country music
singers Connie Smith and Nat Stuckey. Their version reached #20
on the Country Music charts.
In 1973 the song was revived by teen hearthrob Donny Osmond.
The Mike Curb and Don Costa produced version became a hit on
both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #25 on the Billboard Hot
100 and #1 on the UK singles chart, spending four weeks at the
top in August 1973.
In 1976, Ray Stevens had a minor country and pop hit with
the song.
In 1993 country band Twister Alley covered this song on
their self-titled album and released it as a single. It peaked
at #70 on the US Country singles chart.
Celtic Thunder performed the song. It was released on their
album Celtic Thunder: Act II.