"Never Surrender," Boy in The Box and Fields of Fire
Hart's second album was Boy in the Box, released in June 1985, which reached Diamond status in Canada (one million copies sold) by February 1986. It was only the second album by a Canadian artist ever to do so. The album featured the hit single "Never Surrender" which spent nine consecutive weeks at number No. 1 in Canada and peaked at No. 3 on the US Billboard Top 40, also earning Hart an ASCAP Award as one of the most played songs of 1985. "Never Surrender" was the No. 2 song in the year-end Canadian charts in 1985, finishing second only to the Northern Lights charity single "Tears Are Not Enough" in which Hart had also participated, alongside veteran Canadian artists like Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and 1980s chart rival Bryan Adams. Subsequent singles all charted in the Canadian and US Top 40 ("Boy in the Box," "Everything in My Heart" and "Eurasian Eyes"). In the US, Boy in the Box peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went platinum.
Boy in the Box gained Hart a raft of accolades, nominations and honors. The album was nominated for a Juno Award as well as an ADISQ Award for Best Album, taking home a Félix for Hart in this category. "Never Surrender" was nominated for (and won) the Juno for Best Selling Single of 1985. Hart was also nominated alongside veteran Canadian musicians for the coveted Composer of the Year award at both the Junos and the ADISQ awards, winning a Félix in this field. He also received nods in the Juno categories of Best Video for "Never Surrender" and Best Male Vocalist of the Year, as well an ADISQ nomination for Concert of the Year. Hart also won the Félix for the Quebec artist achieving the most success outside Quebec in the Anglophone market, along with Best Male Artist. Accolades carried over into the following year's Juno nominations with nods for Composer of the Year and Best Selling Single for "Everything in My Heart".
As in 1984, 1985 saw Hart touring extensively in North America and Japan in support of Boy in the Box. By the end of the year he was filling stadium-sized arenas like the Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, the Budokan in Tokyo, the Boston Orpheum and the Forum in Montreal. His frequent media appearances on such popular TV programs as "Good Rockin' Tonite" (Canada), "Friday Night Videos" and MTV (US), and "Music Life" (Japan), along with promotional tours in Europe and Australasia, garnered Hart an audience of enthusiastic supporters and at one point he was receiving over 1,000 pieces of fan mail per week.
Fields of Fire, Hart's third album release, came out in fall 1986 and promptly went double platinum in Canada and achieved gold status in the US. It featured the US Top 20 hit single "I Am By Your Side," as well as the Canadian No. 1 single "Can't Help Falling in Love", originally performed by Elvis Presley. This was the first recorded cover version of a song Hart had released to date. The song was also a top 10 hit in the Philippines and Japan. Critics generally agreed that Fields of Fire displayed a new, more mature direction in Hart's songwriting.
"With his third album, this young Canadian exhibits a growing maturity...He's come a long way from singing about wearing 'Sunglasses At Night'." (Boston Globe, September 1986)
Fields of Fire earned Hart several nods at the 1987 Juno Awards, in the categories of Best Male Vocalist of the Year, Best Album Graphics (done by Hart's partner Erika Gagnon), and Single of the Year for "Can't Help Falling in Love". The singer was also nominated for Best Male Artist and Album of the Year at that year's ADISQ Awards.
As in previous years Hart launched a world tour in support of the record. He performed sold-out concerts in Japan and made numerous promotional appearances in Europe from fall 1986 through mid-1987. However, Hart's tour had to be halted prematurely in July 1987 after the then 25-year-old singer collapsed backstage from exhaustion after a concert in Canada. The nearly four-year cycle of constant touring and recording had caught up with Hart, forcing him into a period of rest and recuperation.
Read more about this topic: Corey Hart (singer), Recording Career