Fierce Heart is the eighth solo album by British musician Jim Capaldi. The album has a far more synth-heavy approach than any of his previous albums, though the songs are mostly in the same aggressive rock/pop vein that Capaldi had long been associated with. This synth-heavy pop sound was exactly what 1980s audiences were looking for, and the songs "That's Love"(which broke the top 40 in the USA) and "Living on the Edge" became hit singles. The album itself reached number 91 in the Billboard 200.

Capaldi was not as fond of Fierce Heart as his other works, and as little as five years after its release he was publicly professing that he thought it fell too much into the adult alternative vein.

The album is dedicated to the memory of Rebop Kwaku Baah, Jim Capaldi's former bandmate in Traffic, who died in January of the year the album was released.

As with Capaldi's two previous albums, The Sweet Smell of... Success and Let the Thunder Cry, a significant portion of Fierce Heart drew inspiration from his new second home, Brazil. At least three of the songs ("Tonight You're Mine", "Back at My Place", and "That's Love") were mostly composed in Brazil and finished in England, and "Don't Let Them Control You" is actually a cover of a Brazilian song originally recorded by Sandra Ca, with new lyrics by Capaldi. In addition, the lyrics to "Gifts of Unknown Things" were inspired by the book of the same name, which in Capaldi's words "deals with the mysteries of life in Brazil."

The minor hit "Living on the Edge" was written while on tour in Germany, with a lyric based on the Nagual Don Juan.

"I'll Always be Your Fool" dates back to Capaldi's time with Traffic. He says that the original idea for the song was "laid down with rhythm box and piano in 1972."

Capaldi and Steve Winwood had maintained a working partnership since Traffic's dissolution; Winwood played on at least one track on all of Capaldi's albums save Electric Nights. With Fierce Heart, Capaldi enlisted his old partner as a major collaborator. Winwood co-produced the album with Capaldi, co-engineered it, played on every track (including solos on four of the tracks), and even arranged three of the songs: "Back at my Place", "Don't Let Them Control You", and the hit single "Living on the Edge". In a press release, Capaldi claimed that Winwood also co-wrote the music to "Living on the Edge", though the song is officially credited as solely written by Capaldi.

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