"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" is a song by American singer

Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist. Raised in ...

from her second studio album, '' Heaven on Earth'' (1987). Written by

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists Ellen Shipley Ellen Shipley (born March 24, 1949 in New York City, New York, United States) is an American musician and songwriter. Career At sixteen years old, Shipley got a NYC Cabaret license. She performed a duo act in Greenwich Village in the early 70's ...

, the song was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from the ''Heaven on Earth'' album on September 14, 1987, and it reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on December 5, 1987, becoming Carlisle's only US chart-topper to date. A month later it peaked at number one in the United Kingdom, where it held the top spot of 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 ...

for two weeks. It is considered to be Carlisle's signature song. The song was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

in 1988, but lost out to

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

's " I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". In 2017,

ShortList A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatest key changes in music history". In 2015, Carlisle re-recorded the song as an acoustic ballad. This version appeared on her album '' Wilder Shores'' (2017), which combines acoustic tracks with

world beat Worldbeat is a music genre that blends pop music or rock music with world music or traditional music. Worldbeat is similar to other cross-pollination labels of contemporary and roots genres, and which suggest a rhythmic, harmonic or textural con ...

s and traditional Sikh chants.

Composition

The song is performed in the key of E major, with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 123 beats per minute in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

. Carlisle's vocals span from E₃ to D₅. In the final chorus of the song, the key shifts up a tone to

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: : F major is the ...

Production

Carlisle's backup vocalists on the song include songwriters Nowels and Shipley as well as

Michelle Phillips Michelle may refer to: People *Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael * Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle" * Michelle (German singer) * Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottish ...

The Mamas & the Papas The Mamas & the Papas were a folk rock vocal group formed in Los Angeles, California, which recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. The group consisted of Am ...

Chynna Phillips Chynna Gilliam Phillips (born February 12, 1968) is an American singer and actress, and a member of the vocal group Wilson Phillips. She is the daughter of the Mamas & the Papas band members John and Michelle Phillips and half-sister of Macken ...

Wilson Phillips Wilson Phillips is an American pop group formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The group consists of Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and Chynna Phillips, the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of t ...

, and songwriter Diane Warren. It also features

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

on synthesizers.

Chart performance

"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number seven on the

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 ...

chart. It was also a number-one hit in the United Kingdom, topping the

for two weeks. The single also reached number one in many other countries, among them Switzerland, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Sweden, South Africa and Norway. It also reached number three in Germany and Canada, number two in Australia, and number six in Italy. It reached gold status in Canada and platinum status in the United Kingdom.

Music video

The promotional

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 the song was directed by actress

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...

and includes an appearance by Carlisle's husband

Morgan Mason Alexander Morgan Mason (born June 26, 1955) is an American film producer, actor and political operative. He was born to actors Pamela Mason and James Mason, and is married to singer Belinda Carlisle. Early life Mason was born June 26, 1955 in ...

.Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth (1987) , IMVDb
/ref> It features children wearing black masks and capes, and holding illuminated plastic globes. Carlisle appears wearing a strapless dress and later changes to a black off-the-shoulder blouse. The video was partially filmed at

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newh ...

theme park in

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California. This area, with major commercial and industrial parks, straddles State Route 126 and the Santa Clara River. Development projects continue to be built in ...

(now Santa Clarita, California), on the now-defunct Spin Out ride.

In popular culture

The song appears in '' Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay'' (2008), ''

Love & Other Drugs ''Love & Other Drugs'' is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film directed, produced and co-written by Edward Zwick and based on Jamie Reidy's 2005 non-fiction book ''Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman''. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal ...

'' (2010) and the ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction ...

'' episode "

San Junipero "San Junipero" is the fourth episode in the third series of the British science fiction anthology television series ''Black Mirror''. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by Owen Harris, it premiered on Netflix o ...

" (2016). The song is referenced in

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...

's 2011 debut single "

Video Games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

". The artist as well as the song are referenced in "Belinda Says", from Canadian band

Alvvays Alvvays (pronounced "always") is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2011, originating from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and currently based in Toronto, Ontario. It consists of Molly Rankin (vocals and guitar), Kerri MacLellan (keyboa ...

' 2022 album ''

Blue Rev ''Blue Rev'' is the third studio album by Canadian indie pop band Alvvays, released on October 7, 2022, via Polyvinyl, Transgressive, and Celsius Girls. Background Alvvays' second album, ''Antisocialites'' was released in 2017. Afterwards, the ...

''.https://twitter.com/alvvaysband/status/1572949968507502592

Track listing

# "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" – 4:06 # "We Can Change" – 3:45 # "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" (The Heavenly version) – 5:59 # "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" ( a cappella version) – 3:49

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Belinda Carlisle - A Place On Earth
{{Authority control 1987 songs 1987 singles Belinda Carlisle songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles MCA Records singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Number-one singles in Zimbabwe Song recordings produced by Rick Nowels Songs written by Ellen Shipley Songs written by Rick Nowels UK Singles Chart number-one singles American power pop songs