"Heartbreaker" is a song by American singer Dionne Warwick. It was written by

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

, Robin and

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main lea ...

of the Bee Gees for her 1982 studio album ''

Heartbreaker Heartbreaker(s) or The Heart Breaker(s) may refer to: Film and television *''The Heart Breakers'', a 1916 film starring Andrew Arbuckle *''The Heart Breaker'', a 1925 film directed by Benjamin Stoloff * ''Heartbreaker'' (1983 film), an American f ...

'', while production was helmed by Barry Gibb,

Albhy Galuten Albhy Galuten (born Alan Bruce Galuten; December 27, 1947) is an American technology executive and futurist, Grammy Award-winning record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and conductor. He has numerous inventions and has produced 18 ...

and Karl Richardson under their production moniker

Gibb-Galuten-Richardson Gibb-Galuten-Richardson were a British-American record producing team, consisting of Bee Gees founding member and British singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, American musician and songwriter Albhy Galuten and American sound engineer Karl Richardson. T ...

. Barry Gibb's backing vocal is heard on the chorus.

Background

"Heartbreaker" was written by

, Robin and

of the Bee Gees for singer Dionne Warwick's same-titled album. The 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. The Bee Gees' demo version, sung by Barry, was not released until 2006 when it appeared on '' The Heartbreaker Demos'' (2006), the group's

demo album Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film * Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhe ...

of Warwick's album. Warwick admitted in ''The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits'' by Wesley Hyatt that she was not fond of "Heartbreaker" (regarding the song's international popularity, she quipped, "I cried all the way to the bank"), but recorded it because she trusted the Bee Gees' judgment that it would be a hit. 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 ten over a dozen countries and stands as one of Warwick's biggest career hits, selling an estimated 4 million singles worldwide. In the U.S., it peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in January 1983. The track was Warwick's eighth number one

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

hit and reached number 14 on the

Hot Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart. It was ranked as '' Billboard'' magazine's 80th-biggest US hit of 1983. 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 ...

, the track reached number 2 in November 1982.

Cover versions

The Bee Gees' own version, with Barry Gibb on lead vocals, 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 '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record''. "Heartbreaker" was originally recorded as a single released on the Yep Roc label in 2019. Later it was released on a full length (Walkabout) originally released in Australia to commemorate their tour of the continent. Eventually it was released for the rest of the world as well.

Track listings

All tracks produced by

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

"The Dionne Warwick Channel" – YouTube site containing over 100 Dionne Warwick tunes with rare photos and information on each tune, including "Heartbreaker"
* {{authority control 1982 singles Dionne Warwick songs Barry Gibb songs Bee Gees songs Demis Roussos songs Number-one singles in Sweden Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Songs written by Maurice Gibb Song recordings produced by Albhy Galuten 1982 songs Arista Records singles