DOUG DAVIS | Writing Eddie Rabbit hit was finished in the studio

This week in 1982: United Auto Workers traded wages and benefit concessions for job security in a new contract with Ford Motor Company; 84 workers died as an oil rig sank off Newfound-land; President Ronald Reagan announced plans for incentives to develop the Caribbean; and a Brooklyn-born country singer had his 20th hit record and his 10th No. 1.

Hit songs have been written in just about every place you could imagine and some have even been written in the studio during a recording session. And Eddie Rabbitt's 1982 No. 1 "Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight" was one of the latter.

According to songwriter/producer David Malloy, he actually started writing the song by himself after being inspired by the Eagles' recording of "Heartache Tonight." He and co-writers Eddie Rabbitt and Even Stevens actually finished writing the song in the recording studio - as it was being recorded.

Eddie Rabbitt's Elektra Records single "Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight" was the second single released from his "Step By Step" album and came on the country music charts Nov. 21, 1981, and was at the top of the charts Feb. 13, 1982. His "Step By Step" album came on the LP Charts August 29th, 1981, made it to No. 1 and stayed there for three weeks.

Eddie Rabbitt placed 43 songs on the country music charts between 1974 and 1991, including 17 No. 1s. Fourteen of his 43 country chart singles also placed on the pop charts.

Eddie Rabbitt was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941 and raised in East Orange, New Jersey. He died in 1998 at age 56.

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