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Miami Vice star Don Johnson got his song on with 'Heartbeat'

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11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Question: in 1986, actor don johnson reached no. 5 on the billboard hot 100 with his debut title track...

The 1980’s featured no shortage of actors who made the popularity-crossover to the recording studio . . . with varying results of success.

Ranging from Eddie Murphy to Bruce Willis to John Schneider, Jack Wagner, Tracy Ullman, Lisa Whelchel, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Patrick Swayze, Alyssa Milano and Steven Seagal, the fame game shone brighter on some more than others when replacing the camera with a microphone.

Building upon his Miami Vice stardom, actor Don Johnson was right among the fray, putting out a pair of studio albums in the ‘80’s.  His first, 1986’s Heartbeat, proved far more “Sonny” than the latter effort, Let It Roll, which came out three years’ later.

The eponymous, title track, “Heartbeat,” was originally released in ’82 by the song’s co-writer, Wendy Waldman, and then recorded/released again the following year by famed Helen Reddy (“I Am Woman”).  But neither found the heart beating as rapidly as Johnson’s version, which rose all the way to No. 5 on that year’s Billboard charts (despite Johnson being panned by Rolling Stone readers as “the worst new vocalist” of 1986).

Featuring some seriously ‘80’s drum and synth, the tune finds lovable cheese from the outset, with Johnson crooning, “I’ve been standing by the fire, But I just can’t feel the heat” in the lead to the song’s chorus debut.

As for the video version accompaniment, Johnson works the stage (sans fans) donning all-black attire, shown between (confusing) cuts of the actor apparently working his day job as actor/director/editor on a faux film set seemingly taking place in a Vietcong jungle.

While Johnson’s crooning career concluded heading into the next decade, he didn’t go down quietly, recording a late-1980’s duet, “Till I Loved You,” with then gal pal Barbra Streisand; the title-track song of Bab’s 25th studio album proved a success for both parties, making Billboard’s Hot 100 list as a top-40 hit.

And though Johnson set down the mic, his acting career continued to flourish after Vice wrapped-up production in 1990.  Six years’ later, Johnson played the title character in Nash Bridges, which ran for six seasons on CBS, and the veteran actor has myriad film credits in well-received movies, ranging from Tin Cup (1996) to Django Unchained (2012) to Knives Out (2019).

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