About Taylor Dayne
Taylor Dayne is an American singer who rose to fame after her first two albums were both certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America . Dayne achieved seven US Top 10 singles, including "Tell It to My Heart", "Prove Your Love", "I'll Always Love You", "Don't Rush Me", "With Every Beat of My Heart", "Love Will Lead You Back", and "I'll Be Your Shelter". Dayne also scored the US Top 20 hits "Heart of Stone" and "Can't Get Enough of Your Love". In the United States, she achieved three gold singles and has sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide. Dayne has received over three Grammy Award nominations, an American Music Award and multiple New York Music Awards. She has also been ranked by both Rolling Stone and Billboard on their lists of the most successful dance artists of all time.
Dayne, whose birth name is Leslie Wunderman, was born in Manhattan, New York City, and lived briefly in another borough, The Bronx, until her family moved to Long Island when she was 2-years-old. She began singing professionally after graduating from high school in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York, performing in little-known rock bands such as Felony and Next. She began singing solo after finishing college and, under the name "Les Lee", recorded two dance singles, "I'm The One You Want" and "Tell Me Can You Love Me" , which were released on the New York independent label Mega Bolt.
Signed to Arista Records under the stage name "Taylor Dayne", her first song to crack the US Top 10 was the dance-pop hit "Tell It to My Heart" which was released in July 24, 1987. The song reached Dayne when she contacted Chappell Music and asked to be sent some demos which had been overlooked, although the song had been recorded in early 1987 by Louisa Florio for a self-titled Canadian album release. Dayne recalled feeling an immediate affinity with the song: "I thought there was something about the hook – it's a happy hook." The track was recorded at Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, Long Island. Dayne's father loaned her $6,000 to create the demo.
The song was an instant success worldwide, peaking in the Top 5 of most major markets worldwide, and reaching No. 1 in many countries; the 12-inch record of the song ended up selling 900,000 copies alone. Dayne was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal, Female for her performance on "Tell It to My Heart" in 1988. Producer Ric Wake said in a 1994 interview with Vibe magazine that "Tell It to My Heart" "really blew people away". Commenting on Dayne's voice he said "They thought she was, like, black or some kind of ethnic...".
In 2023, Time Out ranked "Tell It to My Heart" in their "The 100 Best Party Songs Ever Made", writing, "The Long Island native born Leslie Wunderman sounds positively voracious on her 1987 signature hit. Few dance-pop classics feel more urgent or fierce than 'Tell It to My Heart'; you can see that Dayne's been waiting her whole life to belt out lines like 'Body to body / Soul to soul / Always feel you near.' The lyrics might read like bad student poetry, but blend them with unabashedly hammy '80s synths and a so-passionate-it's-a-little-scary delivery, and the result is a sonic Roman candle, blasting fireballs of fun onto the dance floor." That same year, Rolling Stone ranked it in their "The 200 Best '80s Songs".
Swirsky also co-wrote Dayne's follow-up single "Prove Your Love". The single was Dayne's second Top 10 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at No. 7. The single spent eleven weeks in the Top 40. It also appeared on the Dance Club Songs chart, where it became Dayne's first No. 1 hit on that chart on April 23, 1988. Furthermore, the single was a hit overseas, going to No. 1 in Switzerland and No. 8 on the UK Singles chart. Andrew Panos from Number One complimented "Prove Your Love" as "a thumpingly catchy disco tune".
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