How an Emergency Mechanic Helped Create One of the Sappiest One-Hit Wonders of the 1980s

For years, we’ve associated the ultra-lush 1986 track, “Take My Breath Away”, with fighter jets and blue-lit sex scenes between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis. But as it turns out, it might be more appropriate to link Berlin’s best-selling hit and Top Gun soundtrack feature with Ferraris, since that’s what was experiencing brake trouble the day that the song’s composer fatefully met his future collaborator.

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But first, Top Gun. Part of the movie’s allure is that it is as quintessentially 1980s in its sound as in its appearance and dialogue. Heavy synth leads the way throughout the soundtrack, thanks to electronica pioneer Giorgio Moroder contributing several songs to the film. He had already composed the music to “Danger Zone”, which Kenny Loggins would make famous, when the filmmakers approached him about a ballad.

“Jerry [Bruckheimer, producer] said they needed something slow for the romantic scenes,” Moroder explained in a 2020 interview with The Guardian. “I set a click to a slow tempo and made a rough demo playing everything. The components are the five-note motif, the melody, and the distinctive bass sound, with a key change in the middle. I played it as an instrumental from beginning to end, and I loved it.”

From Emergency Mechanic to Lyrical Collaborator on “Take My Breath Away”

Shortly after cutting a demo of “Take My Breath Away”, Giorgio Moroder was at the studio when his Ferrari began experiencing brake trouble. A man named Tom Whitlock told Moroder that he was a “mechanic and could fix it,” the composer recalled. “Later, he said, ‘Oh, by the way. I’m also a lyricist. If you ever need some words…’ I was never good at lyrics, so [I] gave him my demos. He wrote words for ‘Danger Zone’ and ‘Take My Breath Away’ among others, and the imagery was perfect.”

Around the same time Whitlock was helping Moroder out with his car troubles (and composing lyrics for his music), Moroder was working with a rising new-wave synth band featuring Teri Nunn as the lead singer. Berlin had saved up funds to hire Moroder on one song, but they had no idea he would later provide them with their best-selling single. Moroder hired several singers to perform “Take My Breath Away”, and after no one quite fit the bill, he reached out to Berlin to see if they were interested.

“We hadn’t had big hits,” Nunn told The Guardian. “But [Giorgio] could be very convincing and told [the film’s producers], ‘Oh, they’ll be huge.’” And he was right. Berlin’s version of “Take My Breath Away” was a stunning success, the band’s biggest hit of their entire career. It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit the Top 10 in Canada, throughout Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia.

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns