''Hero'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American saxophonist. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. Clemons rel ...

. Known for his

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

work with

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band that has been the primary backing band for rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972. In 2014, the E Street Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the bulk of Springsteen's recordin ...

, Clemons released this pop album at the height of Springsteen's popularity following the success of ''

Born in the U.S.A. ''Born in the U.S.A.'' is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 4, 1984, by Columbia Records. Produced by Springsteen, Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt, and Chuck Plotkin, the album was reco ...

'' It spawned two hit singles, 1985's "

You're a Friend of Mine "You're a Friend of Mine" is a 1985 hit song, written by Narada Michael Walden and Jeffrey Cohen, with lead vocals by Clarence Clemons and Jackson Browne in a duet. At the time of the song's release, Clemons was already well known nationally as t ...

", a duet with

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...

also featuring Browne's then-girlfriend

Daryl Hannah Daryl Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her film debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film ''The Fury (1978 film), The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various films across the ...

on background vocals, and 1986's "I Wanna Be Your Hero".

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

* Clarence Clemons – saxophone, lead vocals (1-3, 6, 8), backing vocals (3, 7, 9), vocals (5), lead rap (8) *

David Sancious David Sancious (born November 30, 1953) is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on '' Human Touch'' (1992), '' Tr ...

– keyboards (1, 2, 6, 9) *

Preston Glass Preston Glass (born January 9, 1960) is an American musician, songwriter and producer. Glass is the winner of six BMI Awards. He has also worked with several famous artists such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Kenny G, Natalie ...

– additional keyboards (1, 2, 6),

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

(4), keyboard vibes (8), keyboards (9), acoustic guitar (9) *

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artis ...

–

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

(1, 2, 6, 9) *

Michael Jonzun Michael Jonzun is a musician and music producer. His specialty genres are electro, electronic dance, and electrofunk. Born in Florida, he formed the Jonzun Crew in Boston with Steve Thorpe and Gordy Worthy. In the early 1980s, the group recorded ...

– keyboards (3), synthesizer programming (3), drums (3),

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

(3), backing vocals (3) * Gordon Worthy –

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(3) * Frank Martin – keyboards (4) * Richard Scher – keyboards (5) * Lloyd Landesman – keyboards (7), LinnDrum programming (7), backing vocals (7) *

Walter Afanasieff Walter Afanasieff (born Vladimir Nikitich Afanasyev; February 10, 1958), formerly nicknamed Baby Love in the 1980s, is an American record producer and songwriter. He was a frequent collaborator of Mariah Carey on her first six studio albums. Af ...

– keyboards (8), keyboard bass sequencer (8), sound effects (8) *

Corrado Rustici Corrado Rustici (born 1957) is an Italian musician, songwriter and producer. Recording career Rustici was a founder member of the Naples-based progressive rock group Cervello. The band recorded the album ''Melos'' in 1973, with Rustici on guitar ...

– guitars (1, 2, 4, 8), electric guitars (9) * Billy Loosigian – lead guitar (3), acoustic guitar (3) * Tony "Rocks" Cowans – rhythm guitar (3) * Carlos Pepper – rhythm guitar (3) * Lewis West – rhythm guitar (3) * Vernon "Ice" Black – guitars (4) * Stuart Kimball – guitars (5) *

Bobby Messano Bobby Messano (born June 23, 1954) is an American artist, guitarist and musician. He has recorded and toured with STARZ, Lou Gramm, Steve Winwood,Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive, television presenter and musician, best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing b ...

– bass (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), electric bass (8), drums (9), percussion (9) *

Maurice Starr Larry Curtis Johnson (born November 19, 1953), better known by his stage name Maurice Starr, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his production work for boy bands New Edition and New Kids on the Block. H ...

– bass (3) *

Doug Wimbish Douglas Arthur Wimbish (born September 22, 1956) is an American bassist, primarily known for being a member of rock band Living Colour and funk/dub/hip hop collective Tackhead, and as a session musician with artists such as Sugarhill Gang, G ...

– bass (5) * John Siegler – bass (7) *

Narada Michael Walden Narada Michael Walden ( ; Michael Walden; born April 23, 1952) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He acquired the nickname Narada from Sri Chinmoy. He began his career as a drummer, working primarily in the jazz ...

– drums (1, 2, 4, 6, 8), percussion (1, 2, 6, 8),

church bells A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

(1), keyboards (4) * Billy Beard – drums (5) *

Anton Fig Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952) is a South African session drummer perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band. David Letterman, for whom the band served as house band on his lat ...

– drums (7) * Greg "Gigi" Gonaway –

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

(1),

electronic percussion Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sound ...

(8) * Bill Sebastian – glockenspiel (3) *

Bashiri Johnson Bashiri Johnson (born May 12, 1955) is an American percussionist, whose work has appeared on many records, as well as in commercials, films, television, video games, and concert performances. He is known to be one of the most recorded percussio ...

– percussion (5) * Premik McFly – baritone saxophone (1) * Michael Rado –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

(1) * David Frazer – sound effects (8) * Stuart "Satoshi" Hirotsu – sound effects (8) *

– lead vocals (1) *

– backing vocals (1) * Craig Thomas – backing vocals (1, 7, 9), additional vocals (2, 6), additional saxophone (4), lead vocals (7, 9) * Hangsa – backing vocals (1) * Sundan – backing vocals (1) * Princess Loria – backing vocals (3) * Charles Robins – backing vocals (3) *

Richard "Hock" Walsh Richard "Hock" Walsh (December 19, 1948 – December 31, 1999) was one of the first professional blues singers in Canada. He is particularly notable as the co-founder of the Downchild Blues Band and was the original singer of that band's best-kn ...

– backing vocals (3) * Mark Weiner – spiritual advisor (3) *

Darlene Love Darlene Wright (born July 26, 1941), also known by the stage name Darlene Love, is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She was the lead singer of the girl group the Blossoms and also a solo recording artist. She began singing as a ch ...

– vocals (5) * Tina B. – backing vocals (5) *

Lotti Golden Lotti Golden (born November 27, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, poet and artist. Golden is best known for her 1969 debut album ''Motor-Cycle (album), Motor-Cycle'', on Atlantic Records. Winner of the American Society of ...

– backing vocals (5) * B.J. Nelson – backing vocals (5) * Norman Mershon – backing vocals (7) * Kitty Beethoven – backing vocals (8) * Jennifer Hall – backing vocals (8) * Liz Jackson – backing vocals (8)

Production

* Narada Michael Walden – producer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), arrangements (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), reducing (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Michael Jonzun – producer (3), arrangements (3), engineer (3) * Gordon Worthy – associate producer (3) * Arthur Baker – producer (5) * Morrie Brown – producer (7), arrangements (7) * Lloyd Landesman - co-producer (7), arrangements (7) * Michael H. Brauer – chief engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * David Frazer – chief engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Sidney Burton – engineer (3) * Frank Heller – engineer (3) * Tom Moore – engineer (3) *

Ed Stasium Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead, the Smithereens and Living Colour. Early life and education Raised in Green Brook Township, New Jersey, and gradua ...

– mix engineer (3) * Alvin Meyerson – engineer (5) * Rob Taustin – engineer (5) * Andy Wallace – engineer (5) *

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

– mixing (5) * Steve Goldman – engineer (7) * Dana Jon Chappelle – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Tim Hatfield – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Stuart "Satoshi" Hirotsu – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Michael Hommel – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Geoff Keehn – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Gordon Lyon – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Arthur Payson – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) * Scott Yetka – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) *

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...

– mastering at Sterling Sound (New York, NY) * Clarence Clemons – cover concept * Caroline Greyshock – photography * Christopher Austopchuk – art direction

Notes

References

External links

Clarence Clemon's official web site
{{Authority control 1985 albums Clarence Clemons albums Albums produced by Narada Michael Walden Albums produced by Arthur Baker (musician) Albums produced by Michael Jonzun Columbia Records albums