Breakdown Dead Ahead

"Breakdown Dead Ahead"
Single by Boz Scaggs
from the album Middle Man
B-side	"Isn't It Time"
Released	March 1980
Recorded	1979
Genre	Rock
Length	4:06 (radio edit) 4:35 (LP version)
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Boz Scaggs David Foster
Producer(s)	Bill Schnee
Boz Scaggs singles chronology
"Hollywood" (1978) "Breakdown Dead Ahead" (1980) "Jojo" (1980)

"Breakdown Dead Ahead" is a 1980 song recorded by Boz Scaggs, and composed by Scaggs and David Foster. It was the lead single of two released from Scaggs's album Middle Man .

During May, the song reached number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the Cash Box Top 100. ^[1] The song was a bigger hit in Canada, where it spent two weeks at number eight on the Pop chart. ^[2]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [3]	64
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [4]	8
US Billboard Hot 100 [5]	15
US Cash Box Top 100 [6]	12

Year-end charts

Chart (1980)	Rank
Canada [7]	67
US Billboard Hot 100 [8]	97
US Cash Box Top 100 [9]	93

Personnel

• Rick Marotta – drums
• Boz Scaggs – lead vocals, guitar
• David Foster – acoustic piano
• Don Grolnick – electric piano
• Lenny Castro – percussion
• David Hungate – bass
• Steve Lukather – additional guitars, guitar solo
• Ray Parker Jr. – guitar
• Paulette K Brown – background vocals
• Venetta Fields – background vocals
• Bill Thedford – background vocals

References

1. "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles". Tropicalglen.com. May 31, 1980. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
2. "Image : RPM Weekly". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
3. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 266. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
4. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0189a." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
5. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN   0-89820-089-X
6. "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles, May 24, 1980". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
7. "Chart". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
8. "Pop Singles" Billboard December 20, 1980: TIA-10
9. "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1980 Top 100 Pop Singles, December 27, 1980". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2017.

External links

• Listen to "Breakdown Dead Ahead" on YouTube