Disco’s most powerful voice, Loleatta Holloway, dies at 64 [video]
”Another Legendary Angel Loleatta Holloway Gone to soon Rest in Peace Sweet Loleatta..RR”
Note left on Twitter from Ron Richardson who the LA Times credits as Loleatta Holloway‘s manager. (LA Times)
Holloway was known as one of disco’s biggest and most beloved voices. She was also one of dance music’s most remixed artists. Her biggest hit, “Love Sensation,” was released in 1980 and was used many times, in many forms — from “Ride On Time” by Black Box to “Good Vibrations” by Marky Mark, and Cevin Fisher‘s “You Got Me Burnin’ Up!”
WENN.com released a statement from singer Carol Williams about Holloway:
”[I] put her right up at the top as one of the greatest voices in the world. When she recorded in the studio, she would have to stand so far back from the mic. Most singers, you know, go right up to the mic and almost have their lips on it. Loleatta could stand feet away.”
Holloway’s career ran from the 1970s to the 2000s and included many dance floor and house music hits. Her soaring, uplifting, and unique vocal range can be heard on “Dreaming,” “Share My Joy,” “Shout It to the Top,” “A Better World,” with fellow powerhouse Jocelyn Brown, a cover of Madonna‘s “Like a Prayer,” and a version of “Relight My Fire” with Ricky Martin. She also appeared at many gay Pride and nightclub events.
The New York Post reports that Holloway, who was 64, passed away from heart failure on Monday. Disco-Disco.com posted a long interview with Holloway, and in that discussion she revealed that, in 1996, she stopped touring for a while because of an unexpected and “shocking” quadruple bypass operation.
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