Song:Heartbeat
Album:Dance For Life
Taana Gardner scored a couple of dance hits from 1979-81. Heartbeat was a top ten R&B hit in 1981 and it's one of those songs that is frequently sampled by hip hop guys. It was released by the popular dance music label West End Records. Taana was born Sept. 3, 1960 in Newark, NJ. She was taught to sing by her opera singer grandmother. As a teen, she got into the New York theater scene. She wrote a couple of plays that were performed. She got involved with West End Records by accident. Producer Kenton Nix was recording Work That Body. But the singer who was supposed to record the vocal got sick. So he needed a singer. Nix's brother worked for Taana's father. He invited her to the studio. She was spotted by members of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. They were working on a side project Aural Exciters and they needed a singer. Taana was lead vocal on the 1979 Aural Exciters single Spooks In Space. It did well enough to get Taana a longer look at West End. She recorded a few more songs with Nix. Heartbeat was the biggest hit. It reached #10 on the R&B Singles chart. Heartbeat has been frequently sampled by hip hop guys, most notably on the 1995 #1 hit Here Comes The Hotstepper by Ini Kamoze. It has been sampled a lot. You can get Heartbeat on this various artists budget comp. Taana could have been a big star. But she didn't want that. She does make occasional guest vocal appearances. But mostly she raised her family and was happy to be a backup singer in the studio. Kenton Nix went on to produce Gwen MacRae's 80s Atlantic recordings. Heartbeat is sampled so much he makes a good living from royalty cheques. Here's a video for Heartbeat by Taana Gardner.
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