Loleatta Holloway would have turned 80 today
The Chicago gospel-to-disco queen behind Love Sensation, Hit and Run and the most sampled female voice in dance music. She died in 2011 at 64.
Loleatta Holloway would have turned 80 today. She was born in Chicago on November 5, 1946, and died there on March 21, 2011, of heart failure, at 64. Billboard later ranked her the 95th most successful dance artist of all time. The Independent called her the most sampled female singer in popular music.
She started in gospel with her mother's Holloway Community Singers, then sang with Albertina Walker in the Caravans from 1967 to 1971. At Aware Records she scored with "Cry to Me", which reached No. 10 R&B and No. 68 on the Hot 100. Norman Harris signed her to Gold Mind / Salsoul, where "Dreamin'", "Hit and Run" and "Only You" with Bunny Sigler (No. 11 R&B) made her a disco force.
- Born
- Nov 5, 1946 · Chicago
- Died
- March 21, 2011 · Chicago · heart failure, age 64
- Signature
- Love Sensation (1980) · No. 1 Dance
- Sampled on
- Black Box — Ride on Time (1989) · UK No. 1 for six weeks
- US No. 1
- Good Vibrations with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (1991)
Dan Hartman wrote and produced "Love Sensation" in 1980. It went to No. 1 on the Dance chart, and those vocals became dance-floor DNA. Black Box's 1989 hit "Ride on Time" used them without permission and spent six weeks at No. 1 in the UK. Holloway was resentful about the credit. Producer Daniele Davoli later said Salsoul, which owned the master, was paid — she felt erased. When Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch used her voice on "Good Vibrations" in 1991, she got full credit and royalties, her first US No. 1, after the Milli Vanilli-era backlash.
Which Loleatta record do you reach for first — "Love Sensation" or "Hit and Run"?
