"Heartbeat" is a song by Scottish pop singer-songwriter

Jimmy Somerville James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961) is a Scottish pop singer and songwriter. He sang in the 1980s with the pop groups Bronski Beat and The Communards, and has also had a solo career. He is known in particular for his powerful and sou ...

, formerly the lead vocalist of the bands Bronski Beat and

Communards The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards w ...

. Released in January 1995 as the first single from his second solo album, ''Dare to Love'' (1995), it peaked at #24 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in February of that year and at #15 in his native Scotland. The song also topped the US '' Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

for one week in April 1995, becoming Somerville's first (and, to date, only) solo #1 on that chart. Backing vocals on the song are performed by American

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

singers

Shawn Christopher Shawn Christopher is a female African-American house-music singer from Chicago, Illinois. Career She was a touring backing vocalist for R&B singer Chaka Khan, from 1982 to 1985. She was also a member of the industrial dance band known as My L ...

and

Yvonne Gage Yvonne Gage (born December 20, 1959) is an American singer from Chicago, Illinois. Active since the late 1970s, she has done background vocals for artists prior to and after her own solo success. As a session musician, she has provided vocals for ...

Critical reception

In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "This new single marks his re-emergence from a musical lay-off with an inoffensive piece of

Hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the ...

pop but not a record that is destined to make major waves on the chart."

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Heartbeat" was filmed in black-and-white. It was later published on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

in January 2019.

Credits and personnel

lead vocal The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

- back vocal *

- back vocal * Richard Stannard - writer * Matt Rowe - writer *

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, mix *

Gianfranco Bortolotti Gianfranco Bortolotti (; born 2 May 1959) is an Italian electronic music producer and manager of Media Records and Media Studio. He was a member of Cappella, and 49ers who had several hits, and Fits of Gloom, who had a UK No. 47 hit with "Heave ...

- producer * Danny Weatherspoon -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Eric Miller Eric, Erik, or Erick Miller may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Eric Miller (record producer) (c. 1941–2017), American record producer and Norman Granz's protégé *Eric Miller (photographer) (born 1951), South African photographer during and ...

- remix, arranger * Luca Lauri - mix, arranger * Massimo Braghieri - arranger * Mike Drake - remix * DJ R.A.F. - remix * Plus Staples - remix * George Maniatis -

edit Edit may refer to: Concepts * an action that is part of an editing process (including of images, video, and film) * a particular version that is the result of editing, especially of film (for example, fan edit), or music (for example, radi ...

* Jeff Luif -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, mix * Tiziano Giupponi - mix *

Mauro Picotto Mauro Picotto (born December 25, 1966) is an Italian electronic music producer and DJ, and previously a member of the Italian Euro house group "R.A.F.". He became well known as a solo artist with songs including "Komodo (Save a Soul)", "Puls ...

- arranger * Massimo Castrezzati - arranger * Roberto Cipro - arranger * Gary Butcher - writer, producer, (B-side) * Gary Wilkinson - producer, mix (B-side)

Charts

References

External links

Jimmy Somerville > Discography > Singles & EPs > "Heartbeat"
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...