Thirty-nine years ago this week, a soaring power ballad handed Heart the biggest hit of their career. What most fans never realized is that “Alone” was not really Heart’s song at all.
On July 11, 1987, “Alone” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks. The lead single from Heart’s ninth album, Bad Animals, it became the band’s second and final chart-topper, and the biggest song sisters Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson ever recorded. Ann’s towering vocal is the reason it is still an audition and karaoke staple decades later.
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It Started as Someone Else’s Song
“Alone” was written by Billy Steinberg, who died earlier this year, and Tom Kelly, the hitmaking duo behind Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” The pair also wrote Cyndi Lauper‘s “True Colors,” Whitney Houston‘s “So Emotional” and the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame,” among many others. They first recorded it themselves in 1983 under the name i-Ten. Then, before Heart ever touched it, the song was cut by a young John Stamos for the soundtrack of a short-lived 1984 CBSsitcom, years before Full House made him a household name.
Related: ‘Full House’ Star John Stamos Explains Why He Refuses to Join ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Heart Made It Unforgettable
When Heart finally recorded it in 1987, everything fell into place, from Ann Wilson’s explosive delivery to Kelly’s own high harmonies on the track. It outlasted nearly everything around it on the chart.
Almost four decades later, the Wilson sisters are still going strong as Heart marks 50 years, and “Alone” remains one of the definitive power ballads of the 1980s.
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