Never Surrender – Corey Heart | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#3) and Adult Contemporary (#8); 1985
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
In 1971, nine-year-old Corey Hart bought his first record: Rod Stewart’s #1 single, Maggie May. Just three years later, the Canadian teen met Tom Jones who referred him to Paul Anka, who reportedly financed Corey’s first recordings.
By age 19, Corey was in Long Island; hanging out with Billy Joel and working on a demo tape. All that young-age activity paid off when First Offense appeared in 1983 along with the single Sunglasses At Night.
The New Wave rave rose to #7 on the Hot 100 in September of 1984 and helped Hart earn a Best New Artist Grammy nomination.
By mid-1985 Corey was back with Boy In The Box and an even bigger hit single, Never Surrender, which won Canada’s Juno award for Single of the Year.
Coincidentally, when Never Surrender was at #3, Huey Lewis and The News sat at #1 with The Power Of Love from Back To The Future starring Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly: a role also offered to Corey.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Phil Chapman
- Jon Astley
- Corey Hart
Lyrics Written by:
- Corey Hart
Awards:
- “Never Surrender” won the Single of the Year award at the 1985 JUNO Awards, according to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).