Taylor Dayne | |
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 Dayne in 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Leslie Wunderman (1962-03-07)March 7, 1962 (age 63) New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation |
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| Works | Taylor Dayne discography |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | taylordayne |
Taylor Dayne (bornLeslie Wunderman; March 7, 1962)[1][2][3] is an American singer who rose to fame after her first two albums (Tell It to My Heart andCan't Fight Fate) were both certified2× Platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA). 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 threegold singles and has sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide.[4] Dayne has received twoGrammy Award nominations, anAmerican Music Award and multiple New York Music Awards. She has also been ranked by bothRolling Stone andBillboard on their lists of the most successful dance artists of all time.[5]
Dayne, whose birth name is Leslie Wunderman, was born inManhattan,New York City, and lived briefly in another borough,The Bronx, until her family moved toLong Island when she was two years old.[6] She began singing professionally after graduating from high school inBaldwin, Nassau County, New York, performing in little-known rock bands such asFelony andNext.[7] She began singing solo after finishing college and, under the name "Les Lee", recorded twodance singles, "I'm The One You Want" (1985) and "Tell Me Can You Love Me" (1986), which were released on the New York independent label Mega Bolt.[1]
Signed toArista Records under thestage name "Taylor Dayne", her first song to crack the US Top 10 (No. 7) was thedance-pop hit "Tell It to My Heart" which was released on July 24, 1987.[7] The song (written by songwriterSeth Swirsky) 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 inGlen Cove, Long Island. Dayne's father loaned her $6,000 to create the demo.[8]
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.[9] Dayne was nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Pop Vocal, Female for her performance on "Tell It to My Heart" in 1988. ProducerRic Wake said in a 1994 interview withVibe magazine that "Tell It to My Heart" "really blew people away".[10] Commenting on Dayne's voice he said "They thought she was, like, black or some kind of ethnic ...".[10]
In 2023,Time Out ranked "Tell It to My Heart" in their "The 100 Best Party Songs Ever Made", writing, "TheLong Island native born Leslie Wunderman sounds positively voracious on her 1987 signature hit. Fewdance-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."[11] That same year,Rolling Stone ranked it in their "The 200 Best '80s Songs".[12]
Swirsky also co-wrote Dayne's follow-up single "Prove Your Love". The single was Dayne's second Top 10 hit on the USBillboardHot 100 chart, where it peaked at No. 7. The single spent eleven weeks in theTop 40. It also appeared on theDance Club Songs chart, where it became Dayne's first No. 1 hit on that chart on April 23, 1988.[13] Furthermore, the single was a hit overseas, going to No. 1 inSwitzerland and No. 8 on theUK Singles chart. Andrew Panos fromNumber One complimented "Prove Your Love" as "a thumpingly catchydisco tune".[14]
On January 19, 1988,Arista Records released Dayne's debut albumTell It to My Heart. Two further singles were released and they also reached the Top 10 of the USBillboard Hot 100: "I'll Always Love You" (No. 3), and "Don't Rush Me" (No. 2). The album has been certified double platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments in excess of two million copies in the United States. Dayne was nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal for her performance on "I'll Always Love You" in 1989. The song was also nominated for Best R&B Song that year. Andrew Panos fromNumber One commended Dayne's "belting, soaraway voice" on the album.[14]
Dayne's second studio albumCan't Fight Fate was released on October 31, 1989, byArista Records.[15] It continued her chart success and was certified2× Platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It includes theBillboard Hot 100 hit singles "With Every Beat of My Heart" (No. 5), "I'll Be Your Shelter" (No. 4), "Love Will Lead You Back" (No. 1) and "Heart of Stone" (No. 12).[7]AllMusic editor Jose Promis retrospectively concluded, "Years after its release, this album stands the test of time, and can safely be classified as one of the more diverse and exciting dance/pop/rock albums of the late '80s/early '90s."[16]
"I'll Always Love You", a change-of-pace ballad compared to Dayne's earlier releases, was her breakout hit on theAdult Contemporary charts in 1988 and paved the way for future uptempo dance tracks such as "Don't Rush Me" (1988) and "With Every Beat Of My Heart" (1989) to gain acceptance on Adult Contemporary radio. In 1990, "Love Will Lead You Back", aDiane Warren composition, peaked at No. 1 on both theBillboard Hot 100 and theHot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.[17] Matthew Hocter from Albumism stated that "Love Will Lead You Back" is "going on to be one of Dayne's most synonymous songs", noting "the phenomenal balladry" the singer delivered on the song.[18]
Dayne went on to release two more albums (Soul Dancing andNaked Without You) in the 1990s, but had only one more US Top 40 hit, her 1993 cover ofBarry White's 1974 hit "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" (from her 1993 albumSoul Dancing), which reached No. 2 in theARIA Charts in Australia but only No. 20 in the US.[17] The song also reached the Top 20 inBelgium,Iceland,Ireland, theNetherlands,Switzerland, and theUnited Kingdom. In Australia, it was the 19th-best-selling single of 1993, receiving a Platinum certification for sales of at least 70,000 copies.[19] Jose Promis fromAllMusic called Dayne's cover version as "excellent" and "dance-lite".[20]Greg Sandow fromEntertainment Weekly complimentedSoul Dancing as a "killer pop album". He added, "Can’t fault her choice of material; these are crisp, focused, hook-filled pop songs, every one of them a likely radio hit."[21] Together with Arthur Baker andFred Zarr, Dayne wrote "Whatever You Want" forTina Turner's 1996 albumWildest Dreams.[22] Dayne later recorded and released the song herself in 1998 as a single from her albumNaked Without You.[23]
As an actress, Dayne appeared in the 1997sci-fi television seriesNightman as Carla Day. She has had roles in independent films such asFool's Paradise (1997),Stag (also in 1997) andJesus the Driver (2004), as well as theWarren Beatty-produced 1994 remake ofLove Affair. Dayne also had a recurring role on theShowtime seriesRude Awakening. Dayne has performed alongsideMarc Bonilla and Dragonchoir. She performed onBroadway in Elton John'sAida in 2001. In 2005, Dayne was featured in theVH1 seriesRemaking, which featured her close friendsLeah Remini and Michelle Reid. The series documents Dayne's return to music after taking time off to have a family (she has twins via asurrogate mother),[24] and premiered her newest song, "Right Now", a result of her collaboration withRodney Jerkins.[25]
On December 11, 2007, Dayne released the first single, "Beautiful", from her studio albumSatisfied. The song was written by Dayne and Hitesh Ceon of production team 3Elementz. Dayne promoted it on many radio stations, including New York's WKTU. "Beautiful" went to No. 1 on theBillboard Dance Charts. She also appeared onThe Today Show,Chelsea Lately,Wake Up With Whoopi andVH1. Themusic video for the single and theSatisfied album cover were shot byTony Duran, who has also shot album covers forJustin Timberlake andJennifer Lopez. Dayne released her fifth album,Satisfied, in February 2008—her firstrecording studio album in nearly a decade.[26] In 2008, Dayne performed at the Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.[27]
In the early 2010s, American stand-up comedianTig Notaro began referring to Dayne in her routine, telling stories of having frequent encounters with her.[28] This was ultimately brought to the attention ofIra Glass, who enlisted Notaro to tell the story as part of a live event forThis American Life. Dayne herself appeared at the end of the monologue during the event, singing "I'll Always Love You".[29] In May 2010, Dayne lobbied congressional leaders onCapitol Hill on behalf of theNational Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and VH1's Save The Music Foundation to reduce cuts in music education in America's schools.[30] In July 2010, Dayne released "Facing a Miracle", the official theme song to the2010 Gay Games. She performed the song to an audience of 50,000 on July 31, 2010, inCologne, Germany. It ended the year at No. 9 on Perfect Beat's Top Worldwide Singles of 2010.[31] Five years before, however, she had said: "In the eyes of theKabbalah, [gays] can't be 'married.' That requires actual male and female energy and DNA. In the bigger picture, I think that 'marriage' is about a certain circuitry. I'm as married to my business manager as I would be any husband."[32]
Dayne remastered herGreatest Hits album and released a new single, "Floor on Fire", on June 22, 2011, which broke theBillboard Dance/Club Charts Top 10.[33] In September 2014, Dayne released a new single, "Dreaming".[34] In late 2020, Dayne competed onseason 4 ofThe Masked Singer as "Popcorn". She made it to the semi-finals of the competition before being unmasked in a triple elimination alongsideChloe Kim as "Jellyfish" andTori Kelly as "Seahorse".[35] In August 2022, Dayne competed on season 2 ofRuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race under the drag name Electra Owl.[36][37]
Dayne has never married.[4] She has two children who were born via asurrogate in 2003.[38][39][40] Dayne is a supporter of same-sex marriage,[32] and stated in 2014 that she considers theLGBT community to be her most loyal fanbase.[4] Dayne isJewish.[41][42] She grew up in Baldwin andFreeport, New York onLong Island.[43]
In 2022, Dayne was diagnosed withcolon cancer. She subsequently underwent surgery to remove 10 inches of her colon and was declared cancer-free. She has since become an advocate for early detection.[44]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Love Affair | Marissa | |
| 1997 | Stag | Serena | |
| Fool's Paradise | Samantha | ||
| 1999 | Jackie's Back | Herself | |
| 2002 | Joshua Tree | Catherine Cooley | |
| 2004 | Jesus the Driver | Con Woman #1 | |
| 2008 | Beautiful Loser | Sharon Dolan | |
| 2012 | I Am Bad | Beth | |
| 2014 | Telling of the Shoes | Brook |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Night Man | Carla Day | Episode: "Pilot: Part 1 & 2" |
| 1999 | Martial Law | Elena Finn | Episode: "Thieves Among Thieves" |
| 2000 | Where Are They Now? | Herself | Episode: "The 80s II" |
| Rude Awakening | Maureen | Recurring cast: Seasons 2–3 | |
| 2006 | Celebrity Duets | Herself | Episode: "1.4 & 1.5" |
| Rescue Me | Shirley | Episode: "Zombies" | |
| 2008 | I Love the New Millennium | Herself | Episode: "2000–2001 & 2007–2008" |
| Down & Dirty | Herself | Episode: "Taylor Dayne" | |
| 2009 | Gone Country | Herself | Contestant: Season 3 |
| 2010 | RuPaul's Drag U | Herself/Faculty | Episode: "Dateless Divas" |
| 2012 | Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off | Herself | Contestant: Season 1 |
| 2013 | Cupcake Wars | Herself/Judge | Episode: "Taylor Dayne's 80s Party" |
| Click on This | Herself | Episode: "Tommy Davidson's 50th Birthday Bash" | |
| 2019 | Celebrity Sweat | Herself | Episode: "Getting Fit and Staying Healthy with Top Musicians" |
| 80's in the Sand | Herself | Episode: "1.4" | |
| 2020 | On Stage | Herself | Episode: "On Stage At Home Part 2" |
| The Masked Singer | Popcorn | Contestant:Season 4 | |
| 2022 | Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles | Herself | Episode: "On the Waterfront" |
| People Puzzler | Herself | Episode: "Now Ya Tell Me" | |
| RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race | Electra Owl | Contestant:Season 2 | |
| 2024 | The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills | Herself | Episode: "Bitter Pill to Swallow" |
"I was born in a Manhattan hospital, and I lived in The Bronx … until was two … then we moved to Long Island….
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