I Found Heaven

Background

Written and produced by American singer Billy Griffin and English producer Ian Levine, it was released on 10 August 1992 as the fifth single from the band's debut album, Take That & Party (1992). It became the group's second top twenty single, charting at number fifteen on the UK Singles Chart. "I Found Heaven" is the first song by Take That to feature both Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams on lead vocals, and also the only non-cover written by someone else than the band.

In Gary Barlow's autobiography My Take, he states that the band hates the song: "The song Ian made us sing was truly fucking awful. I still hate it to this day. In fact, we all hate it and absolutely refuse to perform it on stage. It is, by a huge margin, the worst song of Take That's and my career. At the time I said nothing because I felt I didn't have a leg to stand on."

Although often regarded as Robbie Williams' first song on lead vocals, some parts of the song were mixed in with vocals by Billy Griffin because Williams could not reach the high notes. Williams reportedly walked out of the session after an argument with Ian Levine regarding the matter.

Music video

The video for the single was filmed on Sandown Beach on the Isle of Wight, and the yellow car featured is owned by a local resident, and is fairly well known amongst the islanders. The band perform the song on the beach whilst clips of the band relaxing on the beach are intercut with the video. In Gary Barlow's autobiography: 'My Take', he expressed that the band were disappointed with the location on which the video was filmed. They apparently hoped for the video to be shot in an exotic continent.

Personnel