Its most popular line-up featured Americans Johnnie Wilder Jr. and Keith Wilder (vocals) of Dayton, Ohio; Englishmen Rod Temperton (keyboards) and Roy Carter (guitar); Swiss Mario Mantese (bass); Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger (drums); and Jamaican Eric Johns (guitar).

By mid-year, he decided to relocate to the United Kingdom and through an ad placed in a local paper he linked up with songwriter/keyboardist Rod Temperton.

[3] Touring the London nightclub circuit billed as Chicago's Heatwave during the mid-1970s allowed them to refine their sound, adding a funk groove to disco beats.

[3] Despite these changes, Heatwave were about to return to the studio when Mantese attended a party at Elton John's house in London.

[3] Adding keyboardist Calvin Duke to the group, and now working with new producer Phil Ramone, Heatwave cut Hot Property, released in May 1979.

Composed by Barry Blue and written by Rod Temperton with some orchestrations by Christodoulous, the song is considered by some to be one of the group's best but never got a wide release due to the rights being locked up with Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.

[6] During the winter of 1979, Johnnie Wilder, Jr., suffered injuries in an auto accident while visiting family and friends in Dayton, Ohio.

[4] Derek Bramble quit the band at the end of 1982, like Roy Carter, for a career in production[3] (he would go on to work with David Bowie on 1984s Tonight LP, and later masterminded Jaki Graham's breakthrough).

[4] In approximately 1986, Keith Wilder and Roy Carter sought the services of Central Line guitarists/songwriters Henri Defoe and Michael Finbarr Murphy (the latter having also recently produced Unknown Quantity, consisting of the 3 backing vocalists and dancers in the "Chain Reaction" hit music video by Diana Ross, which also featured Michael on guitar).

Michael's distant cousin, Alan Murphy, the now-deceased one-time guitarist for Kate Bush, Go West, and Level 42 also expressed interest in working with Heatwave as a band, though it would never materialize.

None of these late 1980s albums sold well, but Heatwave's recognition was revitalized in 1991, when a remix version of their "Mind Blowing Decisions" charted in the UK.

By the mid to late 1980s, Keith Wilder was joined by bassist Dave Williamson and vocalist Donovan Blackwood and in the 1990s had again reformed the band.

Joined by keyboardists Kevin Sutherland and Byron Byrd, guitarist Bill Jones, and original drummer Ernest Berger, the reborn Heatwave launched an American tour with a live album recorded at the Greek Theater in Hollywood, arriving in 1997.

[11][12][13] Drummer Ernest "Bilbo" Berger died of heart attack on 1 March 2024, at the age of 73,[14] leaving bassist Mario Mantese as the sole living original member of Heatwave.