''Heart of Stone'' is the nineteenth studio album by American singer-actress

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, released on June 19, 1989 by

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

. As of January 1991, the album has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. The album was supported by her 1989-1990 Heart of Stone Tour.

Background

''Heart of Stone'' was released in 1989 and was her second studio album for

. As with her previous album ''

'',

Peter Asher Peter Asher, (born 22 June 1944) is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and r ...

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Wa ...

, Guy Roche and

Desmond Child John Charles Barrett (born October 28, 1953), known professionally as Desmond Child, is an American songwriter and producer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. His hits as a songwriter include Kiss's " I Was Made for Lo ...

performed songwriting and/or producing duties.

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...

and

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

performed background vocals on the song "Emotional Fire", which was an outtake from Bolton's 1987 album '' The Hunger'', as was "Starting Over" (Demo versions of both songs exist in bootleg form, and have surfaced on YouTube). The album was recorded in late 1988/early 1989, during the third year of Cher's relationship with Rob Camilletti, to whom she dedicated the album. ''Heart of Stone'' reached number ten in the United States, number seven in the United Kingdom, and by topping the charts in Australia, ''Heart of Stone'' became Geffen's first international number one album. It was her first solo album in the United States (Sonny and Cher's debut album '' Look at Us'' reached number two and stayed there for eight weeks) to reach the top 10. Further on in her career, Cher would go on to have five more top ten albums - ''

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

'', '' Living Proof'', ''

The Very Best of Cher ''The Very Best of Cher'' is the eighth compilation album by American singer-actress Cher, released on April 1, 2003. The album includes many of Cher's most popular songs, such as " If I Could Turn Back Time", " Believe", " Gypsies, Tramps and Th ...

'', '' Closer to the Truth'' and ''

Dancing Queen "Dancing Queen" is a Europop and disco song by the Swedish group ABBA, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Arrival'' (1976). It was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson. Andersson and Ulvae ...

''. The album has sold more than 3 million copies in the United States, with 964,000 of those units sold since early 1991, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, which began counting actual sales that same year. The album was first released with artwork and later re-released with more conventional studio photos. The original front cover album art is a painting by

Octavio Ocampo Octavio Ocampo (born 28 February 1943 in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico) is a Mexican surrealist painter. He grew up in a family of designers, and studied art from early childhood. At art school, Ocampo constructed papier mache figures for floats, alta ...

that features Cher sitting beside a stone heart. However, when examined in its entirety and from a distance, it's clear this is also a painting of a

human skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

in profile (note the midriff folds in her dress forming the teeth; see infobox picture). The artwork was changed shortly after its release, making copies with the original artwork collector's items. She recorded two other songs for the album, "Don't Come Cryin' to Me" and "Some Guys", but neither made the final cut. A remixed version of "Don't Come Cryin' to Me" was included on the Geffen

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

'' If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits''. The reissue of that album, per Cher's request, does not include the song. A demo version of "Some Guys" was included on the "

If I Could Turn Back Time "If I Could Turn Back Time" is a song by American singer and actress Cher from her 1989 nineteenth studio album '' Heart of Stone''. It was released as the album's lead single in July 1989, by Geffen Records. The song was written specifically f ...

" 7- and 12-inch singles. " Heart of Stone" and "If I Could Turn Back Time" were both slightly remixed for the single. The "Heart of Stone" remix is available on CD on the compilation '' If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits'' issued by

. " After All" was used as the love theme for the film '' Chances Are''. The album produced three top 10 hits as well as a top 20 hit with the title track.

Track listing

Personnel and production

Adapted taken from CD Booklet, 1989 Geffen Records *Track 1 Produced by Diane Warren & Guy Roche. **Recorded & Mixed by Frank Wolf and Gary S Edwards; assisted by Guy Roche **Drums, Percussion: Mark T. Williams; Bass guitar: John Pierce; Keyboards: Guy Roche,

Alan Pasqua Alan Pasqua (born June 28, 1952) is an American rock and jazz pianist. He studied at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music. His album ''Standards'' with drummer Peter Erskine was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008. As a ...

; Guitar:

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

, Glenn Sciurba, Gene Black; Backing vocals:

, Michael Anthony,

Robin Beck Robin Beck is an American singer. She topped the singles chart in the United Kingdom in 1988, and Austria, Germany, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland in 1989, with her single " First Time", which had come to the public's attention via its use ...

, Jean McClain, Jimmy Demers *Tracks 2, 7 & 9 Produced by Desmond Child and Gary S Edwards **Recorded & mixed by Sir Arthur Payson, with track 2 mixed by Mick Guzauski and Gary Edwards **Drums: Bobby Chouinard; Bass guitar: Hugh McDonald; Keyboards: Alan St. Jon (tracks 2 & 9), Eric Rehl (track 7); **Guitar:

John McCurry John McCurry (born June 24, 1957) is an American musician and composer, a guitarist, songwriter and singer based in New York City. He has worked with many well-known musical artists, including Chicago, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Al ...

, (tracks 2 & 9), John Putnam (track 2), Steve Lukather, Blues Saraceno (both track 7), Ron Mancuso (track 9) *Tracks 3, 5 & 10 Arranged & produced by

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

**Recorded by Frank Wolf; additional engineering by Roger Talkov, Terry Christian, Gary Edwards& Jay Healy. Mixed by Mick Guzauski **Drums: John Keane; Percussion on track 10:

Bashiri Johnson Bashiri Johnson (born May 12, 1955) is a New York City-based percussionist, whose work has appeared on many records, as well as in commercials, films, television, videogames, and concert performances. He is known to be one of the most recorded ...

; Bass guitar: Phillip Ashley (track 10; keyboards on all three tracks),

Neil Stubenhaus Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist. Career He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. He studied at the Berklee College of Music where he graduated in 1975. After graduation, he was re ...

(tracks 3 & 5); Keyboards: Robbie Buchanan (track 10); Guitar:

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mit ...

(tracks 3, 5 & 10),

(track 5) *Tracks 4, 6 & 12 Produced by

; associate producer on track 12: Frank Wolf and Gary Edwards **Recorded & mixed by Frank Wolf **Drums: Carlos Vega; Percussion: Michael Fisher, Peter Asher (both track 6); Bass guitar:

Lee Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

; Guitar:

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...

, Mike Landau, Andrew Gold; Keyboards: Robbie Buchanan, Jon Gilutin;

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

on track 6: Dan Higgins *Tracks 8 & 11 Produced by Jon Lind **Recorded & mixed by Mick Guzauski, with engineering assistance by Gary Edwards, Frank Wolf & Paul Klingberg **Drums: John Keane; Percussion on track 11:

Debra Dobkin Debra Dobkin is an American vocalist, percussionist, music producer, and painter. Biography Early history Music and the fine arts have always played important roles in Dobkin's life. She was selected at age 6 for children's scholarship classe ...

; Bass guitar: John Pierce; Piano, synthesizer on track 8, Keyboards on track 11: John Schreiner; Additional synthesizer on track 8: Jim Lang; Guitar: Michael Thompson *Mastered by Dan Hersch; assisted by David Donnelly

Recording studios and assistant engineers

*The Complex: Duane Seykora, Craig Porteils *Village Recorders: Jeff DeMorris, Charlie Brocco, Rob Hart, Charley Pollard * The Hit Factory: Rich Travali, Joe Pirrera, Dary Sulich, Barbera Milne, Tim Leitner, Paul Logus *Conway Recording: Richard McKernan, Debbie Johnson *Cherokee Studios: Jay Lean *Ocean Way: Stacy Baird, Clark Germaine *Summa Music Group: Ryan Dorn, Robin Laine, Paula "Max" Garcia * Bearsville: George Cowan * Electric Lady: Bridget Daly *Right Track: John Herman *Paradise Studios: Keith Goldstein *RPM Studios: "Iron" Mike Krowiak *

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

: Ben Fowler *Criterion Studios: Mario Luccy *Bill Schnee Studios: Ken Allardyce *Studio Ultima: Tom Biener *Lion Share: Ray Pyle *Ignited Productions: Jeff Welch *Devonshire: Larry Goodwin *Special thanks to the Recording Virtuoso and creative master - Gary S Edwards "You are an amazing artist, incredible engineer and friend. Your patience is always the strength and spirit of anyone who gets to work with you" Cher

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heart Of Stone (Cher Album) 1989 albums Albums produced by Guy Roche Albums produced by Peter Asher Cher albums Geffen Records albums