Queen of Hearts (song)

"Queen of Hearts" is the title of a country-pop song written by Hank DeVito, who was the pedal steel guitarist in Emmylou Harris' backing group The Hot Band in the early '80s.

The song first appeared on Dave Edmunds's 1979 album Repeat When Necessary, and it was released as a single that reached #11 in the UK that year. Following an appearance of the 1980 Rodney Crowell album But What Will the Neighbors Think - on which the song's composer Hank DeVito played guitar - "Queen of Hearts" had its highest profile incarnation via inclusion on the 1981 album Juice by Juice Newton; the last-named album's second single release, "Queen of Hearts" would afford Newton her career record.

In September 1981, Newton's "Queen of Hearts" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the top spot being held by the Diana Ross and Lionel Richie juggernaut "Endless Love"). Newton's version sold more than a million copies in the United States and achieved Top Ten hit status in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland with more moderate success in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. The song originally appeared on Newton's 1981 album Juice. For her recording of the song, Juice Newton earned a 1982 Grammy nomination for Best Female Vocalist in the C&W category, "Queen of Hearts" having been a #14 C&W hit.

"Queen of Hearts" is also featured prominently in Oliver Stone's 1986 film Salvador,...
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