When they heard the finished product they panicked and hid it away at the halfway point of the closing credits, not realising what a worldwide smash they had on their hands. Originally the film producers wanted a period appropriate song with lutes and lyres. Kamen decided that Adams’ gravelly voice and hastily penned (cobbled together in less than an hour) romantic lyrics, incorporating lines of dialogue from the film worked best with his self proclaimed ‘sweet melodies’. Eventually it was whittled down to two possibilities: A duet between Julia Fordham with Chicago frontman Peter Cetera (who had provided the syrupy ballad Glory Of Love for The Karate Kid Part II) and Bryan Adams with his long time songwriting partner and producer R.J. These included Kate Bush, Lisa Stansfield and Annie Lennox. When Michael Kamen was putting the soundtrack for Robin Hood: Prince Of Thievestogether, several big music stars of the time were approached to collaborate on a pop song based on his Maid Marian theme. Everything I Do (I Do It For You) (from Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, 1991) Avildsen would follow it up a year later with the much more well received The Karate Kid. It received widespread hostility from audiences and critics alike and failed to make back it’s $6 million budget.

These days A Night In Heaven is relatively unknown, having been largely overshadowed by the very similar (and far superior) Flashdance (a student working as a dancer by night seduces a much older college professor and has to face the consequences). Luckily, the gamble paid off as it went on to become his first number 1 single in the US. A last minute change of heart on Adams’ part saved the track. It almost didn’t make the shortlist for Reckless as it was a lot lighter in tone than the rest of the album. Until Reckless came out a year later, the soundtrack album was the only place where this song could be found. Originally written as a tribute to Journey while he was touring as their support act, it was picked to become the love theme to John G. However, it’s Heaven which has gone on to become one of Adams’ most covered songs. Bryan Adams’ Reckless album produced some stone cold classic rock tracks including Summer Of ‘69, Kids Wanna Rock, It’s Only Love (with Tina Turner) and Run To You.

Heaven by bryan adams