Let's Hear It for the Boy

"Let's Hear It for the Boy" is a song by Deniece Williams that appeared on the soundtrack to the feature film Footloose. The song was released as a single from both the soundtrack and her album of the song's same name on February 14, 1984, by Columbia Records. It was written by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford and produced by George Duke. The song became Williams' second number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on May 26, 1984, also topping the dance and R&B charts, and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, behind "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and was certified platinum in the US and gold in Canada and the UK by the Recording Industry Association of America, Music Canada and the British Phonographic Industry, respectively. The music video was released in mid-April 1984. The song features background vocals from George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who would go on to form the duo Boy Meets Girl.

In 2011, country singer Jana Kramer covered the song for the remake of Footloose. In 2017 the song was covered by UK hi-NRG dance artist Allan Jay in aid of the Retired Greyhound Trust and their Let's Hear It for the Boy campaign.

Music video
The music video for the song features Williams along with several young men, one of them being the singer Aaron Lohr as the young boy who is the first person to appear in the video.

Credits and personnel

 * Tom Snow – composition
 * Dean Pitchford – composition
 * Deniece Williams – lead vocals, backing vocals
 * George Merrill – backing vocals
 * Shannon Rubicam – backing vocals
 * George Duke – producer, Memorymoog (synth bass), Prophet-5, Roland Jupiter-8, LinnDrum programming
 * Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitars
 * Paulinho da Costa – percussion