Taana Gardner

Vocalist Taana Gardner was one of the leading lights of West End Records, a New York label that released some of the finest and most influential club music of the disco and post-disco eras. A vivacious soprano in the realm of Deniece Williams and Stephanie Mills, but with gum-snapping swagger and an air of flirtatious sensuality all her own, Gardner and producer Kenton Nix broke through in 1979 with "Work That Body" and the subsequent "When You Touch Me," two songs contained on her self-titled and only album. Gardner and Nix outdid themselves two years later with the loping "Heartbeat," their third Billboard Top Ten club hit and a number six hit on the publication's R&B chart. Gardner continued to release singles on an occasional basis over the next couple decades, and charted again in 1998 with "I'm Comin'," a house track, produced by Nix, that showcased the belting raw power her voice had gained over the years. Born and raised in Newark, Taana Aida Gardner knew that she wanted to act and sing at an early age. She took vocal lessons from her grandmother, a former opera singer, at the age of five, and a few years later formed a vocal group called Taana & the Darnettes. Before she hit her teens, Gardner was already a playwright whose work was featured at the Lincoln Center and at the Apollo. It wasn't long after that she performed with the Dance Theater of Harlem and the National Black Theater. It was something of a fluke that Gardner became involved with the disco scene. Producer and songwriter Kenton Nix had a song in need of vocals. An early instrumental version had been auditioned and approved by Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan, who introduced Nix to West End owner Mel Cheren. Cheren set Nix up, but the singer who was slated to record the vocals fell ill. Nix's brother, who worked for Gardner's father, called up the Gardner household -- on Thanksgiving Day 1978 -- and invited her. The 18 year-old Gardner obliged and recorded what became "Work That Body." Overheard by August Darnell (aka Kid Creole) as he was working on Aural Exciters' Spooks in Space, Gardner landed a second gig that day and would be featured prominently on that album's "(He's A) Marathon Runner." "Work That Body," remixed by Levan, was an instant hit at the Paradise Garage and went on to reach number ten on Billboard's club chart. It sparked a succession of West End classics helmed by Nix, sung by Gardner, and tweaked for maximum dancefloor effect by Levan. A self-titled album featuring the theatrical Top Ten club hit "When You Touch Me" came later in 1979. Nix and Gardner returned in 1981 with "Heartbeat," their biggest hit, which peaked at number six club and crossed into the R&B Top Ten. The Treacherous Three's "Feel the Heartbeat" (1981) and Ini Kamoze's "Here Comes the Hotstepper" (1995) are two of many songs that have sampled or referenced it. After her 1979-1981 activity, Gardner took a several-year break from music to devote time to her children and recorded sporadically. Among her few releases through the remainder of the '80s and '90s were the self-produced "You Can't Keep Coming in and Out of My Life" (Next Plateau, 1988), a cover of LaBelle's "What Can I Do for You?" (E-Legal, 1992), and "I'm Comin'" (a Nix-West End reunion, 1998). During the 2000s, she appeared as featured vocalist on a handful of 12" singles, including the Joey Negro production "Sweet Magic" (Z, 2002). In 2013, the Big Break label remastered and expanded her 1979 album for release on compact disc. When You Touch Me: The West End Recordings, a two-disc joint release from Second Disc Records and SoulMusic, expanded the album further in 2024.
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