Heartbeat

Album: single release (1981)
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Songfacts®:

  • Written by Kenton Nix and arranged by Dennis Weeden, this post-disco dance track became a hot single after it was mixed by DJ Larry Levan. Known as the "club version," it peaked at #10 on the R&B chart and #6 on the dance chart.
  • Levan wasn't happy with the original record and brought in pal Michael "Mafia" de Benedictus, his Peech Boys bandmate and fellow resident at the New York club hotspot Paradise Garage, for advice. de Benedictus explained to New Musical Express in 1983: "Levan said to me, come on this record needs something. I don't know what it is but come on let's go. We messed around with it and it came out like that. Slightly out of tune and out of time. No way did we expect it to be such a success but the public, because they had been used to all this sterilized stuff, just said, 'Oh, what a refreshing record.'"
  • Dance-pop/urban contemporary trio Seduction covered this in 1990 for their debut album, Nothing Matters Without Love. Their version peaked at #13 on the pop chart and #21 on the soul chart.
  • Gardner's version has been sampled by several artists, including Eazy-E in "Radio" (1988), De La Soul in "Buddy" (1989), and DMX "It's All Good (Love My Niggas)" (1998).
  • This was featured in the 2000 comedy 3 strikes, starring Brian Hooks.

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