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Maurice Williams, who wrote and performed the shortest #1 hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 with the 1960 doo-wop classic “Stay,” has died. Ron Henderson, Williams’ former bandmate in the the Zodiacs, confirmed to the New York Times that Williams died on Aug. 6 in the hospital in Charlotte. He was 86.
Williams is best known for “Stay,” which soared to the top of the charts for his own group Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs in 1960 then became a standard performed by artists such as the Four Seasons, the Hollies, Jackson Browne, Cyndi Lauper, and Rufus And Chaka Khan. The original Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs version made a high-profile appearance in the 1987 blockbuster Dirty Dancing, cementing it in the memories of a new generation.
In a 2018 video interview, he explained the song’s origin: “This young lady I was going with, she was over to my house, and this particular night, her brother was supposed to pick her up at 10. So he came, and I said, ‘Well, you can stay a little longer.’ And she said, ‘No, I gotta go.’” Their exchange inspired lyrics such as the refrain, “Oh, won’t you stay, just a little bit longer.” Ironically, at just over 90 seconds, the song did not stick around for long.