48 Facts About Dan Hartman

Daniel Earl Hartman was an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter and original frontman for several bands, including The Soploids, Mak and the Turnarounds, Our Wringer, Last Wing, and Orion.

The James Brown song "Living in America", which Hartman co-wrote and produced, reached No 4 on March 1,1986.

Dan Hartman co-wrote the 1980 disco song "Love Sensation" recorded by Loleatta Holloway, which has been sampled on numerous records, including the 1989 Black Box track "Ride on Time".

Dan Hartman was born on December 8,1950, to Carl Dan Hartman and Pauline Angeloff near Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, in West Hanover Township, Dauphin County.

Dan Hartman's father served as an aerial gunner during World War II before eventually working for the US Postal Service.

Dan Hartman attended John Harris High School, where he sang for the John Harris Choir and partook in journalism and theater as extracurricular activities.

Dan Hartman joined his first band the Legends at the age of 13 in 1964 at the request of his older brother David who asked him to play keyboards.

Dan Hartman was initially reluctant to join, as he gravitated towards Motown rather than the Beatles-esque sound that the band members favored.

Dan Hartman began sending demo tapes of the Legends' original material to gain national attention.

Dan Hartman enlisted the help of Ronnie G Shaeffer, a major radio personality in Central Pennsylvania who not only listened to the works and provided honest criticism to Hartman but offered record label connections.

Dan Hartman subsequently spent a period of time backing the Johnny Winter Band and left the Legends to join Edgar Winter's lineup.

Dan Hartman wrote and sang the band's second biggest pop hit, "Free Ride", in 1972.

Dan Hartman wrote the band's charting singles "Easy Street" and "River's Risin" from the Shock Treatment album.

Dan Hartman became known for wearing the Guitar Suit, which he designed with Los Angeles couturier Bill Witten out of a rubbery fabric that allowed Hartman to insert an electric guitar in a pelvic pocket.

In late 1978, partly due to being introduced by the Studio 54 sound system, Hartman reached No 1 on the Dance Charts with the disco single "Instant Replay" which crossed over to No 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979 and reached the Top 10 on the UK charts.

Musicians Hartman worked with on the associated album included Vinnie Vincent and G E Smith.

Dan Hartman was back on the charts again with the single "I Can Dream About You", which was featured on his album of the same name, as well as the Streets of Fire soundtrack in 1984.

Dan Hartman was featured as a bartender in one of the two videos that were released for the single, which received heavy rotation on MTV.

In 1985, Hartman scored a third Number 1 single on the Dance Music charts, "We Are the Young".

In 1985 and 1986, Dan Hartman worked on what was planned as his subsequent studio album, White Boy; he wanted the album to have a darker and more mature sound than his previous work.

Around 1976, Dan Hartman began using one of the rooms of a colonial home in Westport, Connecticut to serve as a recording studio.

Dan Hartman did not charge exorbitant rates, so that new acts at the time such as the Outsets could record demos.

Dan Hartman ran the recording board for the sessions and Johnny Winter served as the producer.

In 1971, Dan Hartman produced the Hydraulic Peach for Arpeggio Records.

Dan Hartman wrote and produced the 1980 disco hit "Love Sensation" performed by Holloway.

In 1981, Dan Hartman was among the lineup for Hilly Michaels' albums Calling All Girls and Lumia.

Dan Hartman wrote the song "It's Never Too Late", which was sung by Diana Ross and featured on her 1981 album Why Do Fools Fall in Love.

In 1982, Dan Hartman produced Average White Band's album Cupid's in Fashion.

Dan Hartman worked with him on some of his other commercial work.

In 1983, Dan Hartman played bass on the song "Speechless" featured on Ian Hunter's album All of the Good Ones Are Taken.

Dan Hartman co-wrote the song "Heart Skip Too Many Beats" with Janis Ian and it was featured on her 1984 album Uncle Wonderful.

Dan Hartman last worked as an engineer for Sedaka on the musician's 1981 album Neil Sedaka: Now.

Dan Hartman produced the song "I Won't Steal Away" for the band Time Bandits, which appeared on their 1985 album Fiction.

Dan Hartman produced Time Bandits' B-side track "Cool World", which was unreleased on any album.

In 1986, Dan Hartman was reported to be producing Lou Gramm's first solo album, though the opportunity did not materialize.

In 1984, Dan Hartman performed "Heart of the Beat" under the band name 3V with Charlie Midnight for the soundtrack of Breakin'.

The song resulted in Midnight receiving a publishing deal, and he and Dan Hartman even performed the song during a spring break festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In 1985, Dan Hartman's song "Talking To The Wall" was featured on the soundtrack to the film Perfect starring Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta.

Dan Hartman's song "Get Outta Town" was featured on the Fletch soundtrack.

Dan Hartman co-produced a version of the song "Great Gosh O Mighty" for the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

Dan Hartman produced and co-wrote "Living in America", a No 4 hit for James Brown which appeared on the soundtrack of the feature film Rocky IV.

In 1991, Dan Hartman recorded " Consciousness" for the soundtrack to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.

Dan Hartman died on March 22,1994, at his Westport, Connecticut, home from a brain tumor, at the age of 43.

Dan Hartman kept his HIV status a secret and did not seek treatment, even after friend and intermittent collaborator Holly Johnson announced his own HIV status in 1991.

Dan Hartman's remains were cremated; he was survived by both parents, his brother Dave, and sister Kathy.

Dan Hartman has released the song "Bad Movies", which she had co-wrote with her late brother.

At the time of his death, Dan Hartman's music was enjoying a revival of sorts: a cover version of "Relight My Fire" became a British number-one hit for Take That and Lulu in 1993.

In 2020, Dan Hartman was inducted into the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame with Kathy Dan Hartman accepting the honor on his behalf.