Songfacts®:

• Bowie wrote this for his future wife, Angela 'Angie' Barnett. Bowie reportedly played it to Barnett over the phone when he proposed to her. Writing in The Mail On Sunday February 9, 2013, Angie recalled: "David wrote many of the songs for Aladdin Sane on his 1972 tour of America but 'The Prettiest Star' dates back to Christmas 1969. I was staying with my parents in Cyprus when he phoned and sang it down the phone to me. Two days later, I was back in London and our first stop was the recording studio, where Marc Bolan was adding the guitar solo. I was crazy about Aladdin Sane, loved the songs, especially 'The Prettiest Star.' That was the most personal. He wrote it for me."
• This was released as a single in 1970, but it flopped, shifting just 800 copies. In 1973, a glammed up version was recorded and released on Aladdin Sane, with Mick Ronson recreating Bolan's original guitar part.
• Marc Bolan of T. Rex played guitar on this track.