Credited as having been written for Roy he recorded a demo of the song in 1987 which would later be completed by Jeff Lynn. According to Roy's official Facebook page Cyndi Lauper phoned him and asked if she could record the song which was released in 1989 but the first artist to record a studio version was John Waite also in 1987. So who was the first artist to record the song? Sounds like a great trivia question.