Loleatta Holloway born 5 November 1946

The biggest-selling pop record in Britain in 1989 was Ride On Time by Black Box. The highlight of the track was the piercing vocal sound, sampled by its Italian producers from a recording by the African American singer Loleatta Holloway. She joined the Holloway Community Singers, a 100-strong gospel choir led by her mother, as a child. From the age of five, Holloway was a featured soloist, although she later said: "I hated my voice because I sounded like a grown woman, not a child."

After graduating from high school, she worked at various jobs, including bookbinding, while continuing singing gospel. After her mother's death in 1966, Holloway recorded with Albertina Walker in the Caravans gospel group between 1967 and 1971. Holloway was also a cast member of the Chicago troupe of Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope. Around this time, she met her future producer, manager, and husband Floyd Smith, and recorded "Rainbow ’71" in 1971, a Curtis Mayfield song that Gene Chandler had recorded in 1963. It was initially released on the Apache label, but was picked up for national distribution by Galaxy Records.

Smith took her to the Aware label in Atlanta, Georgia, where she recorded two albums, Loleatta Holloway (1973) and Cry to Me (1975). The title track of the latter, composed by Sam Dees, is a soul classic with impassioned vocals, as is her recording of another Dees song, Worn Out Broken Heart. Her first single from the second album, the ballad, "Cry to Me" rose to No. 10 Billboard R&B and No. 68 on the Hot 100, but before the label could really establish Holloway, it went out of business.

Top Philadelphia arranger and producer Norman Harris signed Holloway in 1976 for his new label, Gold Mind, a subsidiary of New York's Salsoul Records. The first release from the album Loleatta was another Sam Dees ballad, "Worn Out Broken Heart," which reached No. 25 R&B, but the B-side, "Dreaming," climbed to No. 72 on the pop chart and launched her as a disco act.

In the late 1970s, with the Philadelphia producer Norman Harris, she recorded for Gold Mind. Among her disco hits were Run Away, Hit and Run (both 1977), Seconds (1982) and Love Sensation (1980), written and produced by Dan Hartman. Holloway said of the 1980 recording session that "it was the hardest song I ever sang, I had to do it so many times, I lost my voice. I couldn't even talk the second day, so I told him to get me some Vicks vapour rub. I swallowed it with some coffee and that's how I was able to hold the notes so long."

18 of her songs charted on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, including four #1s. She performed frequently at New York clubs, but also recorded soul ballads, enjoying a top 20 US hit in 1978 with Only You, a duet with Bunny Sigler.

In the early 1980s, she had another dance hit with "Crash Goes Love" (#5 on the U.S. Dance chart, No. 86 on the US R&B Chart).She also recorded one single, "So Sweet," for the fledgling house-music label DJ International Records. In the late 1980s, her vocals from "Love Sensation" were used in the UK No. 1 hit "Ride on Time" by Black Box. Holloway, however, was uncredited for her vocals. She successfully sued the group, which led to an undisclosed court settlement in her favour.

The success of Ride On Time encouraged legitimate sampling of Holloway. In 1991, Love Sensation was again mined for the US No 1, and UK top 20, hit Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, with the future actor Mark Wahlberg.

In 1996, Holloway had a quadruple bypass operation, but returned to her musical career the following year. The disco diva was in more demand than ever, riding the momentum of a number one pop hit. Holloway occasionally toured thereafter and resided in Chicago. After a short illness, on March 21, 2011 Loleatta Holloway suffered heart failure and died at the age of 64, leading to a wave of tributes and condolences from across the globe.

 (Edited from The Guardian & Wikipedia)