Belinda Carlisle – Heaven Is a Place on Earth

About The Song

It was written by the San Francisco songwriter Rick Nowels (who wrote and produced Stevie Nicks’ “I Can’t Wait”) and the New York-based Ellen Shipley. The initial idea came to Shipley at a Brooklyn gas station where she spotted a greeting card that said “Heaven On Earth.” When she and Nowels started working on a song for Belinda Carlisle, Shipley wrote that phrase on the blackboard as an idea. Nowels wrote in the words “Is A” to make it “Heaven Is A Place On Earth.”

Rick Nowels recalled in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, “We started brainstorming concepts. Ellen mentioned the title Heaven On Earth and I thought it was a good concept for Belinda. I started singing ‘Heaven is a place on earth,’ which I thought was a fresher title and before long we had finished the song.”
After a month of recording, Rick Nowels was very happy with the hook but was uncomfortable with the verse, so he asked Ellen back to Los Angeles to re-write the song. The new version was played to Belinda who loved it. Belinda said, “‘Heaven is a Place on Earth is a kind of hopeful song. I think it’s saying you can create your own piece of heaven on your own patch. It’s a song about peace of mind and it’s also partly a love song.”

This was the first single from Carlisle’s second solo album. After her group The Go-Go’s split in 1985, she remained signed to their label, I.R.S., and issued her self titled debut in 1986. The Go-Go’s had some squabbles that led to their breakup, but Carlisle remained close to her bandmate Charlotte Caffey, who worked on those first two solo albums as a songwriter and guitarist. The Go-Go’s other guitarist, Jane Wiedlin, had modest success early on with her solo career, but Carlisle had an instant hit with her first single, “Mad About You,” and became a superstar when “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” became a global smash, topping the charts in several countries, including the UK, US and Ireland.