"The Prettiest Star" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, originally released on 6 March 1970 through Mercury Records as the follow-up single to "Space Oddity".

A love song for his soon-to-be wife Angie, it was recorded in January 1970 at Trident Studios in London and featured Marc Bolan on guitar, who was brought on by the producer Tony Visconti.

On this more glam rock influenced take with lyrics matching themes on the album, Mick Ronson recreated Bolan's guitar part almost note-for-note.

David Bowie wrote "The Prettiest Star" as a love song for Angie Barnett, reputedly playing it down the telephone as part of his proposal to her on Christmas 1969.

[2][5][6] Set in the key of F major,[7][6] the song is in the style of the Greek hasapiko dance as a tribute to Angie's Cypriot ethnic origin.

[5] The biographer Chris O'Leary finds the song "hummable, warm and sweet", although felt "its dragging tempo made its sentimentality leaden".

"[6] With the assistance of Space Oddity's photographer Vernon Dewhurst, he sent a promotional copy to French singer Sacha Distel, whose hit "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" was high in the charts, in hopes he would cover "The Prettiest Star", although he declined.

[15] A 1987 stereo mix by Tris Penna first appeared on The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974 in 1997, and was later included on the 2003 reissue of Sound + Vision and the 2009 expanded edition of Space Oddity.

[7] On the album, released on 20 April 1973,[18] the remake appeared as the second track on side two of the original LP, sequenced between "Time" and Bowie's version of the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together".

[17] The more widely-known remake boasts elements of British music hall and 1950s doo-wop backing vocals,[2][23][14] and Ronson recreates Bolan's original guitar part almost note-for-note.

"[2] It is unclear why Bowie rerecorded it for Aladdin Sane, although the track's lyrical references to screen starlets and "the movies in the past" all fit the nostalgic Hollywood themes found throughout the rest of the album.

[25] The British singer Simon Turner covered "The Prettiest Star" in 1973 for his debut album, which went unsuccessful as a single, but later appeared on the 2006 compilation Oh!