Player who could give strippers new heart (5)
I believe the answer is:
piper
'player' is the definition.
(I know that piper is a type of player)
'give strippers new heart' is the wordplay.
'give strippers' becomes 'pipe' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'new' becomes 'early' (similar in meaning).
'heart' indicates the central letters.
The centre of 'early' is 'r'.
'pipe'+'r'='PIPER'
'who could' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for piper that I've seen before include "eg Flautist" , "Artist known for his stained glass in Coventry Cathedral, d. 1992" , "Musician sometimes paid (or pied!)" , "Scots musician" , "Bagpipes player" .)