Heartbreaker (Dionne Warwick Album)

''Heartbreaker'' is a studio album by American singer Dionne Warwick. It was released by Arista Records on September 28, 1982, in the United States. Her fifth album with the label, it was largely written by the Bee Gees, and produced by band member Barry Gibb along with Karl Richardson and Albhy Galuten; Gibb and Galuten also served as musicians on the album. Warwick recorded the songs on ''Heartbreaker'' during the spring of 1982.

''Heartbreaker'' was released two years after the Bee Gees had written and co-produced the hugely successful album '' Guilty'' for Barbra Streisand. While their own careers as a band was now in decline (following the poorly received '' Living Eyes'' album in 1981), the Gibb Brothers employed the same tactics that had made Streisand's album such a phenomenal success but this time for Dionne Warwick. They would later go on to further successful collaborations with Kenny Rogers in 1983 and Diana Ross in 1985, before the Bee Gees experienced renewed success as a band themselves in the late 1980s.

The ''Heartbreaker'' album sold an estimated three million copies worldwide and ranks as Warwick's highest-charting album in most international territories. It hit number one on the Norwegian Albums Chart and reached the top five in Sweden, the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands, also entering the top 20 in Austria, Germany, and on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. In the US, ''Heartbreaker'' was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales in excess of 500,000 copies.

The title track, the album's lead single, reached the top of charts around the world and stands as one of Warwick's biggest career hits, reaching number one in Poland, Portugal, Sweden and on the US Adult Contemporary chart. The following two singles were "Take the Short Way Home" and " All the Love in the World", the latter of which reached the top ten on the UK Singles Chart. ''The Heartbreaker Demos'', a collection of Barry Gibb's demos, was released in 2006.

Critical reception

AllMusic editor Rob Theakston found that "while it lacks the genius and soulful grit of Dionne Warwick's earlier classic work, the album was polished and painstakingly produced perfectly for adult pop stations ..Starting off with a bang courtesy of the title track, Warwick and Gibb go through all of the motions ..This is not the most definitive album of Warwick's career, but is definitely one of the few highlights that a pop-heavy '80s afforded her."

Track listing

All tracks produced by Gibb-Galuten-Richardson. All tracks written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, except where noted.

Personnel and credits

Musicians

* Dionne Warwick – lead vocals
* Barry Gibb – acoustic guitar, backing vocals, horn and string arrangements
* George Terry – electric guitar (1)
* Tim Renwick – electric guitar (2-10)
* George Bitzer – pianos, synthesizers
* Albhy Galuten – pianos, synthesizers, horn and string arrangements, conductor
* Richard Tee – pianos
* George "Chocolate" Perry – bass
* Steve Gadd – drums
* Dennis Bryon – percussion
* Joe Lala – percussion
* Anita Lopez – percussion
* Daniel Ben Zebulon – percussion
* Gene Orloff – string contractor
* Gary Brown – saxophone solo
* The Boneroo Horns:
** Dan Bonsanti – saxophones
** Neal Bonsanti – saxophones
** Whit Sidener – saxophones
** Peter Graves – trombone, leader
** Ken Faulk – trumpet
** Brett Murphy – trumpet

Production

* Producers – Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson.
* Engineer – Karl Richardson
* Assistant Engineers – Mike Fuller, Andy Hoffman, Nicky Kalliongis, Neal Kent, Dale Peterson and Sam Taylor-Porter.
* Recorded at Criteria Studios and Middle Ear Studio (Miami, FL); Mediasound (New York, NY).
* Mastered at Criteria Studios
* Project Coordinators – Dick Ashby, Marie Byars, Tom Kennedy Robyn Frye-Kove and Holly Ferguson.
* Art Direction and Design – Donn Davenport
* Photography – Gary Gross

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

See also

* ''The Heartbreaker Demos''

References

External links

*

{{Authority control

Dionne Warwick albums
1982 albums
Arista Records albums
Albums produced by Barry Gibb