Heart & Soul - T'Pau (1987) 7/1/23

When I first heard the name of the group that sang "Heart and Soul," today's Great Song of 1987, I said to myself, "Wasn't T'Pau the name of a Vulcan high priestess on an episode of Star Trek?"

I was right---confirming my status as a Trekker once and for all!

Turns out, Carol Decker, lead singer of T'Pau saw the same episode, and thought it made a great band name.

Carol and her partner Ron Rogers were working on their debut album, "Bridge of Spies," when Ron bought a new keyboard that included a sequencer. He didn't know how it worked, so he was tinkering with it when he accidentally stumbled upon a cool bass riff.

Carol and Ron liked it so much, they built "Heart and Soul" around it!

According to Carol, she then went on a vacation with her parents and was missing Ron, so her lyrics were kind of sappy...sort of a basic "moon/June/spoon/missing you" love song.

In the recording studio, T'Pau's producer, Andy Piercy, thought it was good...but might be even better if Carol could add something to "fill the spaces between the words."

After week or so of experimenting, Carol came up with the background rap...which made "Heart and Soul" sound different, catchy, and fresh.

When the single was released, it became a worldwide hit, reaching #1 in Canada...and #4 in Ireland, The UK, and in the US on Billboard's Hot 100!

Believe it or not, Heart and Soul" actually created a touring dilemma. Since Carol was literally singing a duet with herself on the record, she had to figure out how she could perform it in concert.

Her solution: "I rap the first two verses then cut to the melody for the verse before the chorus. It works well. When I have several backing vocalists we can cover more parts, but the basic version still works."

"Heart and Soul" by T'Pau: a "Great Song that "lived long and prospered" in 1987! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shGFA3esqkY