Ann Wilson: vocal
Nancy Wilson: lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Howard Leese: lead guitar, keyboards
Mark Andes: bass
Denny Carmassi: drums
Backing vocals: Mickey Thomas, Grace Slick

Produced and recorded by Ron Nevison.  Recorded January-April 1985 at The Record Plant, Los Angeles and The Plant Studios, Sausalito, California.

Also recorded by "Toronto"

In March 1982 I spent several weeks working with the group "Toronto". I was initially hired by producer Steve Smith to help with musical arrangements, but I ended up co-writing some songs as well ... an unexpected bonus.

In the 1970's Steve Smith had been a staff producer with Island Records, working with artists like Robert Palmer and Bob Marley.

I've always been a fan of producers who do their own arranging -- like George Martin and Mutt Lange -- but Steve wasn't that kind of producer, so I basically served as his arranger and production assistant on the "Toronto" project. 

For the songwriting portion I paired up with band members Brian Allen and Scott Kreyer.  I also collaborated with Brian and his partner Sheron Alton, the other guitarist in the band.

Brian and Sheron had a small studio in their basement. One night after dinner the three of us wrote a ballad based on a title I had ... "What About Love".

It took two or three hours to complete the song, each of us contributing equal portions of music and lyric.  I came away thinking we'd really "clicked" as a songwriting team.

A few weeks later "Toronto" went in the studio and recorded 14 or 15 songs for their "Get It On Credit" album, including "What About Love".

In my opinion, Toronto's drummer, Barry Connors, is an excellent player, but for some reason the band wanted me to play drums on "What About Love". Maybe I jinxed it, because when it came time for the record company to choose 12 songs for the finished album, "What About Love" didn't make the final cut!

I actually forgot about the song until three years later when I got a call from my friend Don Grierson at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. He was thrilled to tell me that "Heart" had just recorded "What About Love"  --  and it was going to be the first single from their upcoming album.

It took a while to discover how this all came about.  I knew that Solid Gold, Toronto's label, had gone bankrupt (in 1984?) - but I didn't know Solid Gold's catalogue had been acquired by ATV Music. ATV's Canadian publisher Michael McCarty actually took the time to listen to every song in the Solid Gold catalogue, including unreleased demo recordings. "What About Love" caught his ear, and he sent a copy to Don Grierson, who in turn played the song for Heart.

Heart's version of "What About Love" became a top-ten hit in the US and Canada, selling about 15-million copies world-wide.  Twenty years too late -- but better late than never -- Solid Gold Records finally included the original "Toronto" version of "What About Love" on the October 2002 release "Toronto: The Greatest Hits".

Postscript:  I was so impressed with Michael McCarty's efforts in getting my song to Heart, that I promised myself, one day I would "sign" with him.  When my publishing agreement with Rondor Music expired in 2000, I moved my contract to EMI Music Canada, where Michael is now president.