First released by Juice Newton (MEX #3 1977 |US #86 1978).
Other hit versions by Bonnie Tyler (US #3/UK #4/CAN #1/AUS #1 1978), Dave & Sugar (C&W #32 1981), Trick Pony (C&W #22 2005).
Also recorded by Rod Stewart (2006).
From the wiki: “‘It’s a Heartache’ was written by Ronnie Scott & Steve Wolfe. Scott was working with Wolfe as a songwriting and producing team when they spotted Bonnie Tyler in ‘The Townsman Club’ in Swansea, Wales in 1976, and they became Tyler’s managers, songwriters, and producers, writing and producing eight out of the ten songs on Tyler’s first album, The World Starts Tonight (1977). The album included Tyler’s first two UK Top-30 hits, ‘Lost in France’ and ‘More Than a Lover’.
“Tyler’s second album, Natural Force (released in the US as It’s a Heartache in 1978) included five Scott/Wolfe songs including the track ‘It’s a Heartache’ which reached #4 in the UK, and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song had already been recorded and first released by Juice Newton almost a year earlier, in 1977.
“Newton’s version of ‘It’s A Heartache’ was first released in 1977 on select non-US releases of her Come to Me album. When released as a single in Mexico (co-titled ‘Corazón Herido’), the song there garnered a gold record. (Tyler’s recording was not released in Mexico as a single.) Newton’s version was belatedly released in the United States the following year, after Tyler’s version was released, and peaked at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Country singers Dave & Sugar covered the song in 1981, charting it on the US Country singles chart; Trick Pony also charted it there, too, in 2005.
“Rod Stewart (whose voice Bonnie Tyler strongly resembled) covered ‘It’s a Heartache’ for his 2006 album Still the Same … Great Rock Classics of Our Time.”
Bonnie Tyler, “Its a Heartache” (1978):
Dave & Sugar, “It’s a Heartache” (1981):
Trick Pony, “It’s a Heartache” (2005):
Rod Stewart, “It’s a Heartache” (2006):