#35: Romancing The Stone by Eddy Grant

City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: August 1984
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #26
YouTube: “Romancing The Stone”
Lyrics: “Romancing The Stone”

Eddy Grant was born in 1948 in Guyana. Edmond “Eddy” Montague Grant’s father, Patrick, was a trumpeter who played in a band called Nello and the Luckies. Grant’s parents moved to England to work. They would send money back to Guyana for Eddy Grant’s education. In 1960, he and his brother joined their parents in the Kentish Town area of London. In 1964, Grant co-founded The Equals which was a bi-racial band in London, UK. At first the Equals performed in London, and gained a following “with their apparently limitless energy and a distinct style fusing pop, blues, and R&B plus elements of ska and bluebeat.” They often opened the bill at shows by visiting American R&B and soul artists such as Bo Diddley, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett. A neighbour of Grant’s, singer Gene Latter, put them in touch with President Records, whose boss Edward Kassner heard them and agreed to sign them.

In 1966, the Equals released “I Won’t Be There” as their debut single. It failed to chart. Their next effort, “Give Love a Try”, reached #52 on the UK pop singles chart. A third single failed to chart, but “I Get So Excited” cracked the Top 50 in the UK climbing to #44. On their second album, “Police on my Back” was later covered by The Clash. However, it was their fifth single release that put The Equals on the radar of pop music listeners around the world. The song was titled “Baby, Come Back” and charted into the Top Ten in a number of nations in 1968.

The Equals had a number of international Top Ten hits between 1968 and 1970. In September 1969, all five group members were injured in a motorway car accident in Germany. Grant was the most severely injured and as a result left the touring version of the Equals while initially continuing to write songs for them. In January 1971, Grant suffered a collapsed lung and heart attack, following which he returned to Guyana. He soon started to pursue a solo career.

Eddy Grant released his debut self-titled album in 1975. In 1979, his single “Walkin’ On Sunshine” was not a hit. But it was covered in 1982 by Rockers’ Revenge reached #4 on the UK pop singles chart. In the winter of 1980-81, Eddy Grant’s single “Do You Feel My Love” reached number-one in Argentina. It made the Top 5 in France, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland. As well, it was a strong seller in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, the UK, West Germany and Zimbabwe. In 1982, “I Don’t Want To Dance” topped the pop charts in Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and the UK. Elsewhere, the single peaked at #2 in Austria and the Netherlands, and #7 in West Germany.

However, it was Eddy Grant’s release of “Electric Avenue” in 1983 that made him an international sensation. In 1984, Eddy Grant recorded the theme song for the film Romancing The Stone. 

Eddy Grant wrote “Romancing The Stone”. The song, though, appears only briefly in Romancing the Stone – starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas – with an instrumental passage playing in a scene where the “bell maker” – a man with a big gun – warms up to the main characters and invites them into his home. The Songfacts website notes “It’s clear that Grant wrote the song on an assignment, as the line “romancing the stone” doesn’t make sense in the lyric, which is filled with disjointed imagery about poor hearts and peaceful waters.:

“Romancing The Stone” peaked at #4 in Detroit, #5 in Hamilton (ON), #6 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Toronto, and Ottawa, #8 in Denver, and Vancouver, #10 in Philadelphia, and Winnipeg (MB), #11 in Washington DC, and Montreal, #12 in Buffalo, #13 in San Diego, and Kansas City (MO), #14 in Tacoma (WA), #15 in Akron (OH), and Providence (RI), and #16 in Boston, Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and Los Angeles.

In 1988, Grant released the anti-apartheid single “Gimme Hope Jo’anna”. It topped the pop charts in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Zimbabwe. It also made the Top 5 across Europe, as well as Austria, Finland, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and West Germany. In 2008, Eddy Grant performed at Nelson Mandala’s 90th birthday celebration. In 2017, Eddy Grant released his 16th studio album titled Plaisance. In 2024, Grant was awarded the Honorary Order of Freedom in Barbados.

November 14, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Jason Heller, “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys: The Story of Pioneering Interracial Rock Band the Equals,” Pitchfork, July 18, 2016.
Eddy Grant, “Do You Feel My Love“, Ensign Records, 1980.
Adam Harris, “Eddy Grant – the Ringbang man and a national icon is a ‘Special Person’,” Kaieteur News, Guyana, March 3, 2013.

CKOC 1150-AM Hamilton (ON) Top 10 | August 22, 1984