Thelma Houston, Kim Carnes, and Rupert Holmes to Guest on New Podcast Hosted By Billboard Chart Veterans

Longtime Billboard contributor Fred Bronson and former Billboard director of charts Michael Ellis have launched a podcast called A Heart for the Charts.

The music chart reference company Record Research Inc. released the series on Tuesday (Oct. 6). The podcast combines chart history with firsthand accounts from artists, utilizing a rotating lineup of hosts and guests to discuss career-defining records.

Bronson spent more than a decade writing Billboard’s Chart Beat column, and Ellis spent years overseeing the publication’s charts as director of charts.

The first episode, titled “The Day I Went to Number One,” features Thelma Houston and Gretchen Christopher of The Fleetwoods. Houston talks about the path to her 1977 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” while Christopher reflects on The Fleetwoods advancing from high school origins to the top of the Hot 100 with “Come Softly to Me” in 1959.

Bronson began writing Chart Beat in 1993, succeeding Paul Grein, who introduced the column in 1981. Bronson also wrote The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Ellis managed weekly tallies such as the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 during his tenure.

Additional hosts and contributors on A Heart for the Charts include Record Research Head Researcher Paul Haney, Second Disc founder Joe Marchese, and Motown historian Andy Skurow.

The podcast explores the details behind notable chart runs alongside stories from the people who experienced them.

Record Research Publisher Kim Bloxdorf will appear on the Oct. 20 episode to discuss her late father, chart historian and Record Research founder Joel Whitburn. Kim Carnes is scheduled for Nov. 3 to talk about her 1981 Hot 100-topping track “Bette Davis Eyes,” and Rupert Holmes will appear Nov. 17 to discuss “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1979 as the final Hot 100 No. 1 of that decade.

The first season concludes Dec. 1.

Listen to the first episode below.