R.I.P. LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY

Disco singer Loleatta Holloway has died at the age of 64 after a brief illness. She was mainly known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation", as well as many others. In the early 1970s, Holloway signed with the Atlanta-based label Aware, where she recorded two albums for the label, both of them produced by Floyd Smith—Loleatta (1973) and Cry to Me (1975). Her first single from the second album, the ballad "Cry to Me" rose to #10 Billboard R&B and #68 on the Hot 100, but before the label could really establish Holloway, it went out of business. In 1976, Philadelphia arranger and producer Norman Harris signed Holloway 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 #25 R&B, but the B-side, "Dreaming," climbed to #72 on the pop chart and launched her as a disco act. She contributed vocals to "Re-Light My Fire" for Dan Hartman, who then wrote and produced the title track of her fourth and final album for Gold Mind, Love Sensation (1980). Eighteen songs of hers charted on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, including four #1s. However, it was a ballad that proved to be another big R&B hit for her. "Only You" was written and produced by Bunny Sigler, who also sang with Holloway on the track, and it reached #11 in 1978.

Albums
Loleatta (Aware 1973)
Cry To Me (Aware 1975)
Loleatta (Gold Mind 1976)
Queen of the Night (Gold Mind 1978)
Loleatta Holloway (Gold Mind 1979)
Love Sensation (Gold Mind 1980)
Greatest Hits (The Right Stuff/EMI, 1996)
Queen of the Night: the Ultimate Club Collection (The Right Stuff/EMI, 2001)
Loleatta Holloway: The Anthology (Salsoul, 2005)

Songs
"Cry to Me" (#10 R&B, #68, US Billboard Hot 100)
 "Worn-out Broken Heart" (#25 R&B)
 "Only You" with Bunny Sigler (#87 US, Billboard Hot 100, #11 US R&B)
 "Dreamin'" (US #72), (US Dance #3)(1977)
 "Love Sensation" (#1 US Dance, #5 UK) (1980)
 "Vertigo/Relight My Fire" (with Dan Hartman)
 "Hit and Run" (#3 US Dance), (#56 US R&B)(1977)
 "Catch Me on the Rebound" (#16 US Dance)
 "Crash Goes Love" (#5 US Dance), (#86 US R&B)(1984)
 "Runaway" by The Salsoul Orchestra
 "All About the Paper"
 "The Greatest Performance of My Life"
 "Catch Me on the Rebound"
 "Seconds"
 "I May Not be there When You Want Me (But I'm Right on Time)"
 "Shout it to The Top", Fire Island feat Lolleata Holoway
 Black Box - "Ride On Time" (#1 UK; contains vocal samples from "Love Sensation" - Holloway's vocals are also the only vocals on the track; also Britain's best selling single of 1989)
 Gotta Be #1 (#2, US Dance)
 Marky Mark (aka Mark Wahlberg) & The Funky Bunch - "Good Vibrations" (#1 US, #14 UK; prominently features Holloway's vocals sampled from "Love Sensation." This was Holloway's only US #1 on the Billboard Hot 100; 1991)
 "Dreamin'" (remix) (#1, US Dance)(2000)
 "What Goes Around Comes Around" GTS featuring Loleatta Holloway
 "Don't Leave Me this Way - 2007" (2007 Deep Influence Mix)
 "A Better World" by AgeHa featuring Loleatta Holloway & Jocelyn Brown
 "I-N-S-I-D-E" by CJ TOBA feat Loleatta Holloway (2009 DJ Remix of "Dreamin'," which reached success in DJ/Club Charts)

Holloway died on March 21, 2011 after slipping into a coma. She was 64 years old