#1 This Week In 1980

With the help of legendary disco diva Loleatta Holloway, in 1980 gay-but-closeted rocker Dan Hartman took Vertigo/Relight My Fire to the top of Billboard's dance chart for six weeks. For the last three decades the tracks has remained a popular staple of gay dance clubs worldwide. Craig Peyton's jazzy electric vibe solo on Vertigo is my favorite bit, but I also love the strings and horns provided by MFSB in Relight My Fire. Prior to his foray into dance music, Hartman was a member of the hard rocking Edgar Winter Group, writing and singing lead vocal on their classic 1972 smash Free Ride, and playing guitar on their monster #1 instrumental anthem from the same year, Frankenstein. Hartman died of AIDS in 1994, never having come out.

TRIVIA: Hartman's other dance classic, 1978's #1 charting Instant Replay, is frequently used by nightclubs on New Year's Eve due to its countdown opening. As a solo artist Hartman scored six Top 40 singles on the pop charts, the biggest of which was I Can Dream About You which reached #6 in 1984 as the lead single from the soundtrack of Streets Of Fire. In 1993 British boy band Take That took their cover of Relight My Fire to #1 in the UK, with Lulu singing Loleatta Holloway's part.