Written by David Essex and produced by Jeff Wayne, Gonna Make You a Star was Essex's first number one single in the UK, spending three weeks at the top in November 1974.
The record features prominent use of the synthesizer.
In 2007 the single was released again by Lee Mead, winner of the Any Dream Will Do BBC One TV competition, which was then shown in the spring of 2009 in the USA on BBC America; Mead then starred in the title role for 18 months in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. British comedian Peter Kay had his character Marc Park release Gonna Make You a Star as his first single after winning the fictional Talent Trek competition in his 2000 Channel 4 spoof documentary series That Peter Kay Thing. David Essex's song is also featured in his jukebox musical All the Fun of the Fair.