Songoftheday 12/23/14 - Can you ride the rhythm of this human wave? caught up in the music and the space you save...

Device - "Hanging On A Heart Attack"
from the album 22B3 (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 4

Today's Song of the Day is by the rock trio Device, fronted by Holly Knight, one of the most sought-after "song doctor" songwriters in pop music in the 80s. Originally a keyboardist in the group Spider, she had a top-40 hit with them in 1980 with "New Romance (It's A Mystery)". Leaving that band to become a full-time songwriter, she churned out hit after hit, including Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield", Scandal's "The Warrior", Heart's "Never", and Rod Stewart's "Love Touch". Those last two she wrote with guitarist Gene Black, who she formed a new group with in 1985 called Device. With lead singer Paul Engemann on board, they released their debut album 22B3 in 1986. The first single from the project, "Hanging On A Heart Attack", was co-written by Knight with producer and long-time collaborator Mike Chapman...

While "Hanging On A Heart Attack" made it into the top 40 on the pop chart in America in August of 1986, Holly's clout didn't extend as much to raise the song as high as some of her other compositions. The 12" single did make it to #26 on the Dance Club Play chart in Billboard magazine.

After a second single, "Who Says", that stalled down at #79 on the Hot 100, Device called it a day. Knight would go on to work solo, going to #59 with "Heart Don't Fail Me Now" in 1988. Meanwhile, Engemann joined the new-wave group Animotion, and had even bigger success, scoring a top-ten pop hit with "Room To Move".

Fun fact: Paul's sister Shawn is television interviewer Larry King's seventh and current wife.

Up tomorrow: a band of Angelino girls need their romance supersized.