RIP Loleatta Holloway

A true Diva, with a big voice and an even bigger personality. She never quite got the fame she so richly deserved, although ironically her vocals from Love Sensation were made famous when used on a number 1 hit; on Black Box's Ride On Time. But all true music fans know how good she is; enjoy these tracks and read a little more about her here.

Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation (Extended Mix) (1980)

Taken from her album of the same name. The song was produced and written by Dan Hartman, arranged by Norman Harris, and mixed by Tom Moulton. It was a hit on the U.S.Hot Dance Club Play chart, where the song spent a week at number 1 in September 1980.

 Parts of the song have been sampled and re-used in songs such as Ride on Time (Holloway's vocal as well as the Salsoul Orchestra's instrumental portions) by Black Box. Not so much a sample by Black Box as a complete rip off; she nor writer Dan Hartman were not paid any royalties for the samples. They even got Catherine Quinol, a French model to mime the song on TV appearances, something Holloway wasn't happy about. Eventually, they had to pay a large amount of royalties to her and writer Hartman when they sued them.

Others include:

I Wanna Have Some Fun by Samantha Fox
I Don't Know Anybody Else by Black Box/Martha Wash.
Grand Piano by Mixmaster
Good Vibrations
Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
We All Feel Better in the Dark by the Pet Shop Boys
Move by Moby
Take Me Away by Cappella
Take Me Away by 2 in a Room (using the same sample as Cappella)
(You Got Me) Burnin' Up by Cevin Fisher

Fire Island Feat. Loleatta Holloway - Shout To The Top (1998)

A cover of the Style Council song; this takes it in a completely different direction, similar to what the chimes did with U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

A Big Up To Biggie Smalls

R.I.P Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace 21 May, 1972 - 9 March, 1997.

The Notorious B I G feat. Frank Sinatra Juicy, New York (2006)

These two DJs were behind this mashup album called Blue Eyes Meets Bed Stuy, which used Notorious B.I.G.'s vocals over instrumentals from songs sung by Ol' Blue eye himself, Frank Sinatra. If you're sick and tired of listening to some BIG feat. Eminem feat. 50 Cent feat Shakira bullshit grab hold of this, a nice way both to refresh your Biggie collection and enter into the great Sinatra’s music.

The Notorious B.I.G - Who Shot Ya? (1995)

The B side to his 1995 single, Big Poppa. The track was later released on the posthumous Born Again, the remastered edition of Ready to Die, and The Greatest Hits.

Originally the song was recorded for the Mary J. Blige album My Life and meant for what eventually became the K. Murray Interlude (as evidenced on the track by use of the same instrumental) however Biggie's version was deemed too violent for an R&B album and Keith Murray was asked to record his version instead. The song samples David Porter's I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over.

And an prophetic title to boot. Yes, I know the song is meant to be a Tupac diss, but you can't help but wonder what was going on.

The Notorious B.I.G. - Hypnotize (1997

The first single from his posthumous album Life After Death in April 1997.