Following a successful career leading British rock band Dire Straits and composing a string of critically acclaimed film soundtrack albums, Knopfler recorded his first solo album, drawing upon the various musical influences he'd engaged since emerging as a major recording artist in 1978.

[2] The album reached the top-10 position on charts in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Following the release of Dire Straits' final studio album, On Every Street, and a grueling 15-month world tour of Europe, North America and Australia—a tour seen by 7.1 million people that ended in October 1992—Knopfler quietly dissolved the popular British rock band that had become one of the world's most commercially successful bands, with worldwide album sales of more than 120 million.

It is very similar in sound and structure to the Dire Straits hit single "Walk of Life", also written by Knopfler.

[9] All tracks are written by Mark KnopflerKnopfler supported the release of Golden Heart with the Golden Heart Tour of Europe, which started on 24 April 1996 in Galway, Ireland, and included 84 concerts in 66 cities, ending in Antibes, France, on 4 August 1996.

[2] Ruhlmann set aside any reference to the musical effect of Knopfler's eclectic and newly introduced acoustic bass, string arrangements or traditional Irish accompaniments and concluded: Knopfler hadn't used the opportunity of a solo album to challenge himself, and at the same time he had lost the group identity (however illusory) provided by the Dire Straits name.