"Hot Child in the City" is a song by English-Canadian musician

Nick Gilder Nicholas George Gilder (born 21 December 1951) is a British-Canadian musician who first came to prominence as the frontman for the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. He later had a successful solo career as a singer/songwriter. Biography Born in Lo ...

. It was released in June 1978 as a single from the album '' City Nights''. It went to No. 1 both in Canada (October 14, 1978) and in the United States (October 28, 1978). It was not his first No. 1 single: as the lead singer of

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial ''The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London urban legend, legend. A barber fr ...

, he had hit No. 1 in Canada on June 26, 1976 (in the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' listing) with the single "Roxy Roller", which remained at the top for three weeks. He won 2

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

in Canada and a

People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

in the US. According to ''The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits ''it held the record for taking the longest amount of time to reach No. 1. The song became a

platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

Content

Despite the song's innocent and catchy pop stylings, the tune is based on Gilder's experiences witnessing

child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. "I've seen a lot of young girls, 15 and 16, walking down Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. Their home environment drove them to distraction so they ran away, only to be trapped by something even worse. It hurts to see that so I tried writing from the perspective of a lecher – in the guise of an innocent pop song."''Hot Child In The City''
/ref>

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Award successions

References

1978 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Mike Chapman Songs written by Nick Gilder Nick Gilder songs Works about child prostitution 1977 songs Chrysalis Records singles Juno Award for Single of the Year singles {{1970s-pop-song-stub