Dan Hartman - Music Career

I have always rated the music and talent of Dan Hartman. He influenced many people during his life through his production, writing and artistry. His solo career was one of peaks and troughs, but everyone knew that Dan could write, produce and sing great songs. His premature death has prevented us from ever knowing his full potential.

It was in the late 70's that I first became aware of Dan Hartman and his musical talents. I have always been amazed at his range and depth of musical skills - production, writing and performing. For more than two decades Dan's talents have created music from more musical genres than seems humanly possible. Dan Hartman was dedicated to his music - whether it was pop, dance, rock, fusion, metal or new age.

Considering that he had such a successful career it is surprising to me that there is so little in the way of in-depth information about Dan Hartman's background and roots.

This site, originally created in 1998, is an attempt to bring together known facts about Dan Hartman's life and to invite further comment from people who knew him and those who follow his music.

I am indebted to the family, friends, fans and colleagues of Dan Hartman for their support, without whom this project would not have been possible.

We are always adding new and updated material to this website, please let us know if you want to be kept up to date via email.

If you have any information that can be included in these pages please contact us.

Dan Earl Hartman was born on 8th December 1950, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA and died 22nd March 1994, Westport, Connecticut, USA. Dan's interest in music can be traced back to his childhood classical piano playing which was put on hold when he joined The Legends, a band set up Dave Hartman, Dan's brother, at the age of 13. The group was based in Harrisburg.

Dan was the band leader and penned a number of tracks for the group and played electric piano, the organ and guitar. Although the band started out as a soul group they soon moved into rock music. The group released a number of 45's including "Why/Baby Get Your Head Screwed On " (1968).

Photo card issued by Arf Arf records along side the CD release of "High Towers" - a compilation of Legends music.

Photo shows the early Legends (1965): Dave Hartman, Dan Hartman, Denny Woolridge, Ralph Schwartz (clockwise from left).

In late August 1964 Dave Hartman approached his brother Dan and asked him to play keyboards for the band. Dave said later (in an interview for the liner notes of High Towers) "He (Dan) didn't want to join the band. He was into Motown stuff, and we were into the Beatles". Eventually Dan was persuaded and went on to write much of the band's material.

During his early days in the band Dan wore a false moustache, during performances, as he had a day job in a bank.

Dan Hartman worked very hard to promote his material and regularly sent it to record companies in New York City, although he kept getting rejection letters he continued to write new material and send it back out to them.

In December 1971 a Legends demo disc sent to CBS Records caught the attention of Edgar Winter who was in the process of forming a new band - Rick Derringer and Steve Paul were sent down to check the band out.

This ended up with Dan joining the Edgar Winter Group and leaving the Legends. The band lost a big talent but didn't feel any animosity towards him.

Dan recorded three albums with The Edgar Winter Group and wrote many songs for the band. One of the more popular songs from the album "They Only Come Out At Night" was the hit "Free Ride." Dan went on to record "Free Ride" as a solo artist in 1979 and included it on his "Relight My Fire" album.

After the Edgar Winter Group disbanded in the mid 1970's Dan embarked on a solo career and made 6 solo albums. He also produced and wrote songs for many other artists. His album "Images" hit the streets in 1976 and included contributions from Ronnie Montrose, Rick Derringer, Edgar Winter and Carl Hartman (Dan's father, as a whistler on the track "Thank You For The Good Times"!). Credits on the album include all of the above, plus Moni and Chuck Ruff.

In 1978 Dan released his "Instant Replay" album and achieved great success. "Instant Replay", the single from the album of the same name, got to number 8 in the UK charts in October 1978 and was followed by "This Is It" which got to number 17 in January 1979.

Both of these singles were amongst the first records to be released on 12-inch vinyl in the UK and in the US... in fact, Instant Replay is one of the few UK 12" singles to have a playing speed of 33 RPM!

"Instant Replay" was covered by one-hit-wonders "Yell" in January 1990 and got to number 10 in the UK charts and a total of 8 weeks in the top 40.

Dan released "Time and Space" from Instant Replay in 1979, but this track failed to make an impression on the charts. During his weekly BBC Radio One Friday review of new single releases Kid Jensen and his guests gave "Time In Space" very low marks.

Dan tended to write and produce his music alone, constructing pieces by laying down music tracks on top of one another, having played all of the musical instruments himself. During the time that Instant Replay and Relight My Fire were written and recorded while Dan was living in the "Schoolhouse", in Westport, Connecticut.

The Schoolhouse - where Instant Replay,
Relight My Fire and other songs were written and recorded
Photo Š2000/2001/2002 danhartman.com

Dan followed up his success with "Instant Replay" with his "Boogie All Summer" single which was released during summer 1979. Although the record received good airplay it failed to make an impression on the UK charts. "Boogie All Summer" followed in the same genre of "Instant Replay" but also has echoes of "Love Making Music" and other tracks that were to appear on his following album "Relight My Fire".

"Relight My Fire" was an attempt by Dan to produce "more of the same" kind of music as the "Instant Replay" album. Despite using the same formula, and having Stevie Wonder guesting as a harmonica player on "Hands Down", the record was not a success. The Disco sensation was beginning to die in the UK as the punk era took off. Dan released "Relight My Fire" and this single was a success in the clubs (and also re-recorded by Take That in October 1993 - taking the record to the number one slot, with Lulu!). "Hands Down" was released and did not figure in the charts and neither did the much-slated re-recording of "Free Ride" which Edgar Winter Group purists objected to because of it's disco reincarnation.

It's interesting to note that both "Instant Replay" and "Relight My Fire" were recently used on "The Best Disco Album In the World" series, ensuring that Dan Hartman is rightly recognised for his contribution to the disco age. These tracks, along with "I Can Dream About You" can still be heard regularly on mainstream pop radio stations.

In 1981 Dan released "It Hurts To Be In Love" - an album which had moved away from the disco scene with melodic and almost Country Music tones. Dan had returned to the musical style that was first heard on his "Images" album, but the music had matured. Although the album contained several very catchy tracks the album was not a success and took Dan Hartman's solo career further away from the limelight.

Success returned in 1984 with Dan's collaboration with Charlie Midnight and the release of "I Can Dream About You". The single of the same name appeared in the film "Streets of Fire". Ironically, of all the singles released by Hartman, this is probably the most well known. "We are the Young" and "Second Nature" were subsequently released from the album but did not make a big impression on the UK charts. "Second Nature" had minor success in the clubs and brought back echoes from the days of "Instant Replay". Indeed, the "Second Nature" 12" single included 12" versions of "Instant Replay" and "This is It" on the B side.

In 1985 "Get Outa Town" was released as a single and was included on the soundtrack to the movie "Fletch". 12" pressings of the single included M&M mixes of "I Can Dream About You" but failed to entice the same following. Dan was in the UK during 1985/1986 producing and appeared on the "Wogan Show" (BBC) and "The Wide Awake Club" (TV-AM) performing "Get Outa Town" and "Waiting to See You" (Co-penned with Charlie Midnight), which was performed live at the newly revamped Liverpool Docks in a TV show called "Rock Around The Dock". During his interview on TV-AM he revealed that he preferred to work through the night in the recording studio and had just come straight into the interview (at 7am) after an all night session. During his interview he told Tommy Boyd that he always traveled to the UK on Concorde as he hated to waste time in the air. He said that he enjoyed playing tennis and his favourite place was the lower east side of New York.

After his big hit "I Can Dream About You" Dan Hartman changed styles again and released "New Green Clear Blue", his penultimate solo album. This album was a complete change in style yet again for Dan. The tracks, played and recorded live were a journey into the subconscious and although the album received very good reviews in the music press it was not a commercial success.

Dan Hartman moved from the Schoolhouse, which he rented, and bought a house, built on multi-levels, on the banks of the river in Westport. Dan used the small studio at the rear of the house to write and produce New Green Clear Blue and lived there until his passing in 1994.

The Multilevel house in Westport where Dan lived until his death
Photo Š2000/2001/2002 danhartman.com

Dan co-wrote "Living in America" with Charlie Midnight. His last singles "The Love In Your Eyes" and "Keep the Fire Burnin'" were released after his death in 1994. His final album-"Keep The Fire Burnin" -the 7th- a compilation of songs previously released - was also released after Dan's death.

After being diagnosed HIV Positive, Dan's last major production projects included tracks for Holly Johnson and Tina Turner. He died, in 1994, just as his music was being increasingly sampled by dance groups, notably Black Box on their huge hit 'Ride On Time', and Take That, who took 'Relight My Fire' to UK number 1.

Dan Hartman was a man of great talent, and not fully recognised by the general public. He was a multi-talented musician - a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, (guitar, keyboards, bass, drums) and producer who had a real talent for writing great songs.

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Dan Hartman, appearing on UK television promoting the movie "Fletch" (1985)


Dan Hartman, appearing on Live on UK television performing "Get Out of Town" (From the movie Fletch).


Last great singles: Keep the Fire Burning and The Love in Your Eyes