Loleatta Holloway Dead At 64

Disco legend Loleatta Holloway died yesterday after a brief illness. She is best known for her booming voice which was featured on 70s dance floor staples like “Love Sensation,” “Hit & Run,” and The Salsoul Orchestra’s “Runaway.”  She was 64.

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Holloway’s manager, Ron Richardson, confirmed her death Monday on Twitter.

Holloway began singing in gospel in church and later recorded with Albertina Walker and the Caravans. In the early 70s, she linked up with Floyd Smith of who produced a pair of soul albums for Holloway on Aware Records. Just as her career was beginning to take off, Aware folded.  Norman Harris of Gold Mind Records soon signed Holloway and turned her into one of disco’s most revered voices.

In the 90s, Holloway earned her first US number one pop hit when her voice was sampled by Mark Wahlberg, then known as Marky Mark on his hit single “Good Vibrations. Though her vocal was sampled, she received a featured credit on the single, and frequently performed the song live with Marky Mark.

Holloway’s “We’re Getting Stronger” was sampled in 2009 by Swizz Beatz for Whitney Houston’s comeback single “Million Dollar Bill.”

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