Written by Madonna, this was her first single from her debut album. It went nowhere, but was successfully re-released six months later after "Holiday" became a hit.
The success the second time around was largely because of the video, which MTV put in hot rotation. It was commissioned by Jeff Ayeroff, who was an executive at Madonna's label, Warner Bros. Ayeroff said in the book I Want My MTV: "I made 'Lucky Star' for $14,000 with a friend who was a pot grower from Bolinas, California (Arthur Pierson). We'd released 'Everybody,' 'Burning Up,' 'Holiday' and 'Borderline' as singles. And Madonna didn't want to release 'Lucky Star.' Around the same time, she was getting sued and needed money. I said, 'Let me release 'Lucky Star,' and I guarantee you'll sell enough records to pay that off.' 'Lucky Star' broke the first album wide open."
This entered the charts as Madonna began work on her first movie, Desperately Seeking Susan. She went on to star in many others, including Dick Tracy, A League Of Their Own, Shanghai Surprise, Body Of Evidence, Dangerous Game, Swept Away, and Evita.
Guy Ritchie, Madonna's husband, used this in his 2001 movie, Snatch. It is featured in a scene where a tough-guy is roughing someone up while this plays on the radio.
The lyrics were based on a nursery rhyme: "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight..."
The video introduced Madonna's "Thrift Store" look. Sporting lots of big, colorful accessories, fans who became known as "Madonna-Wannabes" started dressing like her. This look became an icon of '80s culture.
The song was covered in the "Old Dog New Tricks" episode of Glee. Starring actor Chris Colfer, who penned the episode, explained to Billboard magazine: "When we do 'Lucky Star,' it's because Kurt has joined an assisted living home's production of Peter Pan. In the story, he convinces them to update the production. He convinces them to use modern music to tell the story. So when he's singing 'Lucky Star' he's singing about Neverland."
"The only thought I had was I wanted the music to fit. I didn't want anything to seem arbitrary. I wanted it to be there for a reason."
This song was featured in the 1988 drama Running On Empty in a scene where Danny (River Phoenix) is in music class and in the 1995 drama Safe, starring Julianne Moore and Xander Berkeley.
The song is referenced in Pulp Fiction (1994) when Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) tells Butch (Bruce Willis): "I have a bit of a tummy, like Madonna when she did 'Lucky Star.'"
Madonna told Song Talk that she wrote this song on a synthesizer.
Martin Burgoyne, a close friend of Madonna's who lived with the singer before she was famous, designed the cover sleeve for the US release of this song (as well as "Burning Up"). After his death from AIDS at the age of 23, Madonna wrote the 1992 song "In This Life" as a tribute to him and many others she knew who died of the disease.
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