"Heat of the Night" is a song written by Canadian

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

ian

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

and

Jim Vallance James Douglas Vallance (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian songwriter, arranger and producer. He is best known as the songwriting partner of Canadian musician Bryan Adams. Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main song ...

and performed by Adams. The song became the most successful song from Adams's album '' Into the Fire'' in 1987. It was released as the first single from ''Into the Fire'' and reached number 6 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 2 on the U.S.

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart. The song is also featured on Adams's 1988 live concert album '' Live! Live! Live!'' and his greatest hits albums '' So Far So Good'' and ''

Anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

''. The song is very popular among Bryan Adams fans and it won Canadian Music Publisher's Association Rock Song Of The Year Award. According to Billboard magazine, it was the 84th most-listened-to song of the year.

Background

The song was partly inspired by the film noir classic ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten), ...

'', starring the actor-director

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. The darkness of the lyrics was further influenced by a trip Bryan and

took to Berlin in March 1986, before the wall came down."Heat of the Night" - Jim Vallance

Music video

The promo was directed by

Wayne Isham Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958) is an American film director and music video director who has directed films and music videos of many popular artists. Early life and education Isham was born in December 2, 1958. He attended the University ...

and shot in black and white; it was also one of the rare songs/videos where Bryan himself plays lead guitar, instead of Keith Scott to whom he usually leaves the solo work. A shot from recording sessions is used as the cover of Adams's album ''Into the Fire''.

Chart positions

Personnel

: lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals, backing vocals *

: piano, percussion, drum programming * Keith Scott: guitar harmonics, backing vocals * Robbie King: organ * Dave Taylor: bass *

Mickey Curry Michael Timothy Curry (born June 10, 1956) is an American musician. He has collaborated with singer-songwriter Bryan Adams since the early 1980s, but has also worked with Hall & Oates, Cher, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, ...

: drums

References

{{Bryan Adams singles 1987 singles Bryan Adams songs Songs written by Bryan Adams Songs written by Jim Vallance Music videos directed by Wayne Isham A&M Records singles 1986 songs