"Heat of the Night" is a song written by Canadian rock musician Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance 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 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.
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.
It was also notable for being the first song to be released as a cassette single in North America.
Background The song was partly inspired by the film noir classic The Third Man, starring the actor-director Orson Welles. The darkness of the lyrics was further influenced by a trip Bryan and Jim Vallance 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 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.
Personnel Personnel taken from Into the Fire liner notes.
Bryan Adams – lead and gang vocals, lead and rhythm guitar Keith Scott – guitar harmonics, gang vocals Dave Taylor – bass Mickey Curry – drums
Additional musicians Robbie King – organ Jim Vallance – piano, percussion
Chart positions Chart (1987)PeakpositionAustralia (ARIA)25Canada RPM Top Singles7Canada (The Record)4Europe (European Top 100)79Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)20UK Singles Chart (The Official Charts Company)50US Billboard Hot 1006US Billboard Rock Tracks2 Year-end chart (1987)PositionUS Top Pop Singles (Billboard)84
References