Loleatta Holloway

November 5, 1946 - March 21, 2011

Loleatta Holloway was born in Chicago, Illinois in November 1946, and began her career singing gospel music with the Queen of Gospel, Albertina Walker and the Caravans.
In 1976 she began singing on Disco productions (mainly on Salsoul Records) and was responsible for some classics like "Love Sensation" and "Relight My Fire" by Dan Hartman.
In 1984, Holloway left Salsoul Records and began to work on an album, "Crash Goes Love". Unfortunately it was never completed and only two singles were released for Streetwise, the title track and "Sweet Thing", a song co-written by Chaka Khan & Tony Maiden of "Rufus"... She recorded "Heartstealer" whilst in London for Ian Levine (the day after she played "Heaven" night club 10th anniversary)!
During the following years, many of her old hits were adapted by House producers like Black Box who sampled her vocals from 1980 disco hit "Love Sensation" to their track "Ride On Time". Her vocals were originally used without credit, but she successfully sued the band and received an undisclosed share of the royalties. The only time she was properly paid and credited was on the Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch song "Good Vibrations" (1991), which also sampled some of her vocals from "Love Sensation".