Daniel Earl "Dan" Hartman (December 8, 1950—March 22, 1994) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer,
songwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and
record producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, best known for such songs as: "
Free RideFree Ride is a song written by Dan Hartman and performed by The Edgar Winter Group. The single, engineered by Jim Reeves, was a top 20 U.S. hit in 1973, hitting number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The song is sometimes mistakenly attributed to The Doobie Brothers or Boston, perhaps because of...
", "
I Can Dream About You"I Can Dream About You" is a song performed by Dan Hartman on the soundtrack album Streets of Fire from the movie of the same name. Originally released in 1984 as a single off Hartman's album I Can Dream About You, it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was performed by Winston Ford in...
", "
Instant Replay"Instant Replay" is a disco song performed by Dan Hartman from the album of the same name. All the tracks on Hartman's album topped the US Dance Chart for five weeks. It reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, while topping out on the R&B chart at number 44. In the UK, the...
", "
Love Sensation"Love Sensation" is the title of a 1980 song performed by American R&B singer Loleatta Holloway, taken from her album of the same name. The song was produced and written by Dan Hartman, arranged by Norman Harris, and mixed by Tom Moulton. It was a hit on the U.S...
", and "
Relight My Fire"Relight My Fire" is a popular song which was written and released by Dan Hartman in 1979, when it topped the U.S. dance-music charts for six weeks...
", all of which had world-wide success.
Career
Born in
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
's capital, Harrisburg, Dan Hartman joined, with his brother Dave, his first band, The Legends, at the age of 13. He played keyboards and wrote much of the band's music, but despite the release of a number of recordings, none turned out to be hits. He subsequently spent a period of time backing the
Johnny WinterJohn Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
Band and then joined the Edgar Winter Group where he played bass on three of their albums and wrote the band's second biggest pop hit "
Free RideFree Ride is a song written by Dan Hartman and performed by The Edgar Winter Group. The single, engineered by Jim Reeves, was a top 20 U.S. hit in 1973, hitting number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The song is sometimes mistakenly attributed to The Doobie Brothers or Boston, perhaps because of...
" in 1972. Upon launching a solo career in 1976, he released a promotional album which had, as its full title,
Who Is Dan Hartman and Why Is Everyone Saying Wonderful Things About Him?. It was a compilation disc including songs from Johnny Winter and the Edgar Winter Group. His second release,
ImagesImages is Dan Hartman's second full-length release but his first album of new material. It features an interesting mix of players to assist the multi-instrumentalist continue his pop rock themes featured in his tenure with the Edgar Winter Group and fittingly has Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer and...
, was his first true album and featured ex-Edgar Winter Group members Edgar Winter,
Ronnie MontroseRonnie Montrose, is an Amercian rock guitarist who has headed his own bands as well as performing with a variety of musicians, including Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, The Beau Brummels, Boz Scaggs, Beaver & Krause, Gary Wright, Tony Williams, The Neville Brothers, Dan Hartman, Edgar...
and
Rick DerringerRick Derringer is an American guitarist, vocalist, and entertainer.-1960s:When he was seventeen years old, his band The McCoys recorded "Hang on Sloopy" in the summer of 1965, which became the number one song in America before "Yesterday" by The Beatles knocked it out of the top spot. The song was...
and guests
Clarence ClemonsClarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. , also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with "You're a...
and
Randy BreckerRandal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
.
In late 1978, Hartman reached #1 on the
Dance ChartsThe Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
with the disco
singleIn music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "
Instant Replay"Instant Replay" is a disco song performed by Dan Hartman from the album of the same name. All the tracks on Hartman's album topped the US Dance Chart for five weeks. It reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, while topping out on the R&B chart at number 44. In the UK, the...
," which crossed over to #29 on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in 1979 and also reached the top 10 on the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sales charts. Musicians Hartman worked with on the associated album included
Vinnie VincentVincent John Cusano, better known as Vinnie Vincent, is an American guitarist from Bridgeport, Connecticut and songwriter known for his brief membership in the band Kiss.-Replacing Ace Frehley in Kiss:...
and
G. E. SmithGeorge Edward "G. E." Smith is an American guitarist. He was the lead guitarist in the band Hall & Oates and the musical director of Saturday Night Live. Smith was lead guitarist of Bob Dylan's touring band from June 7, 1988 to October 19, 1990...
. This was followed by his second chart topper, 1979's "
Relight My Fire"Relight My Fire" is a popular song which was written and released by Dan Hartman in 1979, when it topped the U.S. dance-music charts for six weeks...
," which featured friend
Loleatta HollowayLoleatta Holloway was an American singer, mainly known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation", both of which have been sampled extensively.-Biography:...
on vocals. This song later became the theme for the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
talk show
TomorrowTomorrow was an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder...
and in 1993 became a hit single for British boy band
Take ThatTake That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
featuring
LuluLulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
. There was also a
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Instant Replay" recorded by the
duoA duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
Yell! (Paul Varney and Daniel James) in January 1990.
He was back on the
chartsA record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
again with the Top 10 single "
I Can Dream About You"I Can Dream About You" is a song performed by Dan Hartman on the soundtrack album Streets of Fire from the movie of the same name. Originally released in 1984 as a single off Hartman's album I Can Dream About You, it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was performed by Winston Ford in...
," which was featured on his new album of the same name as well as the
Streets of FireStreets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
in 1984. The tune reached #6 on the U.S. charts, and (on rerelease in 1985) #12 in the UK. Hartman was featured as a bartender in one of the two videos that were released for the single, which received heavy rotation on
MTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. In the movie
Streets of Fire, the single "I Can Dream About You" was actually sung by Winston Ford, whose vocals were convincingly lip-synched by a group led by African-American actor
Stoney JacksonStonewall W. "Stoney" Jackson is an American character actor. Jackson was born in Richmond, Virginia.-Career:He was featured in numerous teen magazines in the 1970s and 1980s, including Right On, Teen Beat, and Tiger Beat.He portrayed high school basketball player Jesse Mitchell on the ensemble...
, and included among its members future actor/director Robert Townsend.
In 1984, Hartman also performed "Heart of the Beat" under the band name 3V with
Charlie MidnightCharlie Midnight is an American songwriter and record producer who has been nominated for a Grammy Award , two Golden Globe Awards; and has been a producer and/or writer on several Grammy-winning albums, including:The Bodyguard Soundtrack Album ; Turbulent Indigo Charlie Midnight is an American...
for the soundtrack of
Breakin'Breakin', released as Breakdance: The Movie in some countries, is a 1984 breakdancing-themed film directed by Joel Silberg. The film setting was inspired by a German documentary entitled Breakin' and Enterin set in the Los Angeles multi-racial hip hop club Radiotron, based out of Macarthur Park in...
, directed by Joel Silberg and, in 1985, scored a third number-one single on the Dance Music charts, "
We Are The Young"We Are the Young" is a 1984 crossover single by Dan Hartman. The single was his third and last to hit number one on the dance chart in the U.S...
." The single "Second Nature" also charted during this period. In 1988, he co-wrote the song "Why Should I Worry?" with
Charlie MidnightCharlie Midnight is an American songwriter and record producer who has been nominated for a Grammy Award , two Golden Globe Awards; and has been a producer and/or writer on several Grammy-winning albums, including:The Bodyguard Soundtrack Album ; Turbulent Indigo Charlie Midnight is an American...
, for the Walt Disney Animation Studios film
Oliver and Company. His other film contribution was the song
Waiting To See You, which was used in the film
Ruthless PeopleRuthless People is a 1986 black comedy written by Dale Launer, starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater. It also features Bill Pullman as a supporting role in his film debut....
and its accompanying soundtrack album.
During the next decade he worked as a songwriter and producer, and collaborated with such artists as
Tina TurnerTina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
,
Dusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
,
Joe CockerJohn Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
,
Bonnie TylerBonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...
,
Paul YoungPaul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
, James Brown,
Nona HendryxNona Hendryx is an American vocalist, producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress.Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, dance, and R&B to hard rock, art...
,
Holly JohnsonHolly Johnson is an English artist, writer and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and former bassist for Big in Japan.- Big in Japan :...
,
Living in a BoxLiving in a Box were a British band from the 1980s and early 1990s. They are best known for their eponymous debut single, produced by Richard James Burgess.-Formation and split up:...
, the
PlasmaticsThe Plasmatics were an American heavy metal and punk band formed by Yale University art school graduate Rod Swenson with Wendy O. Williams. The band was a controversial group known for wild live shows that broke countless taboos...
and
Steve WinwoodStephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
. Hartman produced and co-wrote
"Living In America""Living in America" is a 1985 song composed by Dan Hartman and Charlie Midnight, and performed by James Brown. It was released as a single in 1985 and reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart...
, a #4 hit for James Brown which appeared on the soundtrack of 1985's
Rocky IVRocky IV is a 1985 American film written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the fourth and most financially successful entry in the Rocky franchise...
. The song was the last of Brown's 44 hit recordings to appear on the Billboard Top 40 charts.
Death
Three and a half months past his 43rd birthday, Dan Hartman died at his
Westport-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
home of an
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
-related brain tumor. His remains were cremated. At the time of his death, his music was enjoying a revival of sorts; a cover version of "
Relight My Fire"Relight My Fire" is a popular song which was written and released by Dan Hartman in 1979, when it topped the U.S. dance-music charts for six weeks...
" became a British number-one hit for
Take ThatTake That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
and
LuluLulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
. Sales of Hartman's solo recordings, group efforts, production, songwriting and compilation inclusions exceed 50 million records worldwide.
Hartman's solo cover of the Edgar Winter Group's "Free Ride" was featured in
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The MovieMighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie is a 1995 American superhero action fantasy based on the television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Fox Kids. It featured the characters and actors from the series itself, and used the zords from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger...
the year after his death.
In 2006, twelve years after his death, "
I Can Dream About You"I Can Dream About You" is a song performed by Dan Hartman on the soundtrack album Streets of Fire from the movie of the same name. Originally released in 1984 as a single off Hartman's album I Can Dream About You, it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was performed by Winston Ford in...
" was featured in the video game
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City StoriesGrand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a 2006 sandbox-style action video game developed by Rockstar Leeds in association with Rockstar North. It was published by Rockstar Games for the PlayStation Portable in late 2006 and later for the PlayStation 2 in March 2007. The game is the eighth...
and "
Relight My Fire"Relight My Fire" is a popular song which was written and released by Dan Hartman in 1979, when it topped the U.S. dance-music charts for six weeks...
" was also featured in the video game
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay TonyGrand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony is the second of the two episodic expansion packs available to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, which was developed by Rockstar North and first released for the Xbox 360 on 29 October 2009. It was then released for both...
.
Albums
- Who Is Dan Hartman? (1976)
- Images
Images is Dan Hartman's second full-length release but his first album of new material. It features an interesting mix of players to assist the multi-instrumentalist continue his pop rock themes featured in his tenure with the Edgar Winter Group and fittingly has Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer and...
(1976)
- Instant Replay
Instant Replay is the third full-length album from singer-songwriter Dan Hartman. Released in 1978, all the album reached number 1 in the American dance chart, also it features the title track as the first single which it reached a peak of number 29 on the Hot 100 in the U.S. & number 8 in the U.K....
(1978) #80 U.S.The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
- Relight My Fire (1979) #189 U.S.
- April Music Recorded Music Library (1981)
- It Hurts to Be in Love (1982)
- I Can Dream About You (1984) #55 U.S.
- White Boy (1986) Never Released
- New Green Clear Blue (1989)
- Keep The Fire Burnin (1994)
- Super Hits (2004)
Singles
| Year |
Song |
U.S. Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
|
U.S. R&B |
U.S. A.C. |
U.S. Dance |
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
|
Australian Singles Chart The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
|
Album |
| 1978 |
"Instant Replay "Instant Replay" is a disco song performed by Dan Hartman from the album of the same name. All the tracks on Hartman's album topped the US Dance Chart for five weeks. It reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, while topping out on the R&B chart at number 44. In the UK, the...
" |
29 |
44 |
- |
1 |
8 |
- |
Instant Replay |
| 1979 |
"This Is It" |
91 |
- |
- |
- |
17 |
- |
| 1979 |
"Hands Down" |
- |
- |
- |
26 |
- |
- |
Relight My Fire |
| 1980 |
"Vertigo"/"Relight My Fire "Relight My Fire" is a popular song which was written and released by Dan Hartman in 1979, when it topped the U.S. dance-music charts for six weeks...
" (With Loleatta HollowayLoleatta Holloway was an American singer, mainly known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation", both of which have been sampled extensively.-Biography:...
)" |
105 |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
| 1981 |
"Heaven in Your Arms" |
86 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
It Hurts To Be In Love |
| 1982 |
"It Hurts to Be in Love" |
72 |
- |
- |
48 |
- |
- |
| 1983 |
"All I Need" |
- |
- |
41 |
- |
- |
- |
| 1984 |
"I Can Dream About You "I Can Dream About You" is a song performed by Dan Hartman on the soundtrack album Streets of Fire from the movie of the same name. Originally released in 1984 as a single off Hartman's album I Can Dream About You, it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was performed by Winston Ford in...
" 1 |
6 |
60 |
7 |
8 |
12 |
3 |
I Can Dream About You |
| 1984 |
"We Are the Young "We Are the Young" is a 1984 crossover single by Dan Hartman. The single was his third and last to hit number one on the dance chart in the U.S...
" |
25 |
58 |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
| 1985 |
"Second Nature" |
39 |
- |
19 |
40 |
66 |
- |
| 1986 |
"Get Outta Town" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Fletch Fletch is a 1985 comedy film about a wisecracking investigative newspaper reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher , who writes under the name of Jane Doe...
(soundtrack) |
| 1994 |
"Keep the Fire Burnin'" (with Loleatta Holloway) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
49 |
- |
Keep the Fire Burnin |
- 1 Also on the soundtrack for Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
- 2 1985 re-release; originally peaked at #78
See also
External links