The First Lady of Sampling Is Gone

Loleatta Holloway died yesterday – you may not know her by name, but you almost certainly know here voice – her Love Sensation acapella kicked off this whole sampling shebang as a major commercial force with a bang with 1989’s biggest selling UK single Ride on Time by Black Box. A masterpiece in sample reconstruction, if rather questionable ethics, and a track she understandably hated since they didn’t credit her and got someone else to lipsync to it, until they settled with her lawyer. Although the irony was that like James Brown she wouldn’t have been able to resurrect her career without the attention she got because of that track!

She must be one of the most sampled women outside of maybe Lyn Collins (and that’s mostly the drum sample). A sad day indeed.

Here’s a selection of tracks that sampled her:

Black Box – Ride On Time (fairly sure this is the original sampled version, Black Box eventually got Heather Small to re-record it for the 1989 re-release, she did such a good job of emulating Loleatta it’s hard to spot – but they also got sued by Martha Wash for also not crediting her on the other tracks, which along with the later Milli Vanilli scandal brought in the laws re: crediting vocal artists and session singers.)

Mixmaster – Grand Piano

Nitro Deluxe – Let’s get brutal

Capella – Take Me Away who apparently gave her credit on the single?

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch?!? (I didn’t say all of these were *good*!)

The surprisingly good I Wanna Have Some Fun by Samantha Fox:

Moby – Move

Romanthony (he of One More Time fame) – The Ministry of Love:

Peshay ft Co-Ordinate – You Got Me Burning (Cevin Fisher also used the same title and sample – that phrase is a popular one along with ‘Good vibration’ and ‘Right on time’!)