"Heaven's on Fire" is a song by the American rock band

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

. Written by vocalist/guitarist

Paul Stanley Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who was the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss from the band's inception in 1973 to their retireme ...

and songwriter Desmond Child, it was the first single released from the group's 1984 album '' Animalize''.

Background

The opening "Woo-oo-oo" was a vocal warm-up by Stanley that was accidentally recorded but was later added to the song. Released as a single internationally in 1984, "Heaven's on Fire" charted in several countries, even though it failed to reach the top ten in any of the countries where it was released as a single. It did reach #11 on '' Billboard'''s

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

and #49 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In addition, the song is one of only a select few from the bands' non-makeup era that has been performed live after the band returned to wearing makeup. A video for the single was filmed and played on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, and was directed by David Lewis and produced by John Weaver.KISS Video Information
/ref> It marked the only official promotional performance of the band with lead guitarist

Mark St. John Mark Leslie Norton (February 7, 1956 – April 5, 2007), better known as Mark St. John, was an American guitarist best known for his brief stint with the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss from April to November 1984. His work can be heard on the ...

before he left the group due to problems in his hands caused by a painful, but temporary, form of arthritis called

Reactive arthritis Reactive arthritis, previously known as Reiter's syndrome, is a form of inflammatory arthritis that develops in response to an infection in another part of the body (cross-reactivity). Coming into contact with bacteria and developing an infect ...

.
St. John would be replaced shortly afterwards by Bruce Kulick. A live version of the song was recorded at Cobo Hall on December 8, 1984, as part of the ''Kiss: Animalize Live Uncensored'' video, and was later released on the '' Hear 'n Aid'' album.

Personnel

Kiss *

–

lead vocals 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 ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Eric Carr Paul Charles Caravello (July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991), better known as Eric Carr, was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 until his death in 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer afte ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, backing vocals *

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

Additional musician * Desmond Child – backing vocals

Charts

References

External links

The KISS FAQ – DISCOGRAPHY – Hear 'N Aid
(1985) {{authority control 1984 songs 1984 singles Kiss (band) songs Songs written by Desmond Child Songs written by Paul Stanley Mercury Records singles