Heartbreaker (Dionne Warwick song)


"Heartbreaker" is a single by American pop and soul singer Dionne Warwick from her album Heartbreaker. The song was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, with Barry Gibb's backing vocal being heard on the chorus.

Background

Warwick admitted in The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits by Wesley Hyatt that she was not fond of "Heartbreaker", but recorded it because she trusted the Bee Gees' judgment that it would be a hit. It turned out to be Warwick's most successful solo hit of the 1980s. The Bee Gees recorded a version, with Barry Gibb on lead vocals, which was featured on the album , as well as their Love Songs album.
Maurice Gibb, who co-wrote the song, commented, "I cried my eyes out after we wrote it. I drove home and thought, 'We should be doing this one', and when she did it, it was brilliant. We sang on it, and it still became like a duet between the Bee Gees and Dionne Warwick".

Outcome

The song reached the top of charts around the world and stands as one of Warwick's biggest career hits, selling an estimated 4 million copies worldwide. It made the Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1983. The track was Warwick's eighth #1 Adult Contemporary hit and reached #14 on the Soul chart. In the UK Singles Chart, the track reached #2 for two weeks in November 1982 behind I Don't Wanna Dance by Eddy Grant.
It was ranked as Billboard magazine's 80th-biggest US hit of 1983.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Rank
Australia18
US American Top 4060
US Billboard Hot 10080

Cover versions

Bee Gees version

The Bee Gees' own version was recorded in 1994. It was originally planned for an album called Love Songs to be released in 1995, but was eventually released in 2001 on .

Barry Gibb version

"Heartbreaker" was originally recorded by Barry Gibb for Dionne Warwick, for her album Heartbreaker released in 1982. This demo version was not released until 2006.
This song blended the Gibb brothers' two schools of songwriting: it has the clear verse and chorus structure favored by Robin and Maurice, yet also has the longer spun-out verses Barry now preferred, both well balanced, so that it has instant appeal but takes repeated listenings to fully appreciate. The melody is reminiscent of "Living Eyes", but the song has a much stronger forward motion. Maurice said later that he wished they had saved it for themselves.
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