Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Dan started classical piano studies at seven years old, but quit, after getting a taste of the pure pop, coming over his radio. At thirteen he formed his own group, The Legends, began writing songs and was soon producing gospel at a local studio. Upon listening to Dan's demo tape, Steve Paul introduced Hartman to Edgar Winter, who had just disbanded White Trash. The double platinum "They Only Come Out At Night" was the end product of Dan and Edgar's first collaboration, featuring Dan playing bass, guitar, keyboards and singing lead on the hit single, "Free Ride." Hartman also co-wrote half of the album's songs. After three more years with Edgar--which saw the Gold album "Shock Treatment" and "The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer"--Dan left that band and devoted himself to creating his own music."Images" was his first solo outing, released in 1976, followed up with the co-production and engineering of Edgar Winter's solo LP, "Jasmine Nightdreams." He followed that by producing Foghat's "Nightshift," earning a Gold album in the act. And ever the active songwriter, his songs have been covered by Tavares, the Three-Degrees, Derringer, Johnny Winter, Montrose and Sergio Mendes.
In 1978, sensing the rock scene had grown increasingly jaded, Dan decided to experiment with the pop/dance sound. He wrote, sang and produced the Gold single "Instant Replay," included on the album of the same name. After a world-wide tour, Dan scored again with a sizzling duet with Loleatta Holloway "Relight My Fire," which spawned an album featuring Dan jamming with Edgar Winter and Stevie Wonder on the song "Hands Down."
Success returned in 1984 with Dan's collaboration with Charlie Midnight and the release of "I Can Dream About You". The single of the same name appeared in the film "Streets of Fire". Ironically, of all the singles released by Hartman, this is probably the most well known. "We Are The Young" and "Second Nature" were subsequently released from the album but did not make a big impression on the UK charts. "Second Nature" had minor success in the clubs and brought back echoes from the days of "Instant Replay". Indeed, the "Second Nature" 12" single included 12" versions of "Instant Replay" and "This is It" on the B side.
After being diagnosed HIV Positive, Dan's last major production projects included tracks for Holly Johnson and Tina Turner. He died, in 1994, just as his music was being increasingly sampled by dance groups, notably Black Box on their huge hit "Ride On Time," and Take That, who took "Relight My Fire" to UK number 1.
Dan Hartman was a man of great talent, and not fully recognised by the general public. He was a multi-talented musician - a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, (guitar, keyboards, bass, drums) and producer who had a real talent for writing great songs. A sorely missed talent that was able to scale the heights of rock and disco and bridge the two together.......you were awesome! |
