"Nothing but a Heartache" is a Pop and Northern Soul hit originally released on the Deram Records label in November 1968 by South Carolina trio The Flirtations. Produced by Wayne Bickerton and co-written by Bickerton and Tony Waddington — the British songwriting/producing duo later responsible for the 1970s successes of The Rubettes — "Nothing But a Heartache" just missed the UK Top 50, peaking at 51. However the track reached the Top 40 in both the Netherlands (#36) and in the US, where it spent two weeks at #34 in late May 1969 during what was then considered a lengthy 14-week run on Billboard's Hot 100 – especially for a hit that did not reach the top 30.[1] The single did, however, reach #31 on Cash Box[2] and #25 on Record World.
In late April 1969, "Nothing but a Heartache" reached #3 in Boston on WRKO-AM.[3] In Canada it reached #31[4] and in Australia it charted at #97. Two promotional videos—one in color and one in black-and-white—were filmed for the song. The colour video was shot at Tintern Abbey in Wales.[5]
In October 2017, American punk rock/hip hop band the Transplants released a cover version of the song on their Take Cover EP.
References
- ^ ”Billboard Hot 100 Charts – The Sixties”, Record Research Inc, 1990
- ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, May 31, 1969". Archived from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
- ^ "WRKO". WRKO.org.
- ^ RPM Top Singles, May 19, 1969
- ^ "Nothing But A Heartache by The Flirtations Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
External links