Wednesday, October 13, 2021

"Dance Little Sister (Part One)" by Terence Trent D'Arby

Song#:  3642
Date:  09/10/1988
Debut:  81
Peak:  30
Weeks:  11
Genre:  R&B, Soul, Funk


Pop Bits:  Darby's debut album started off slow, but eventually made a splash hitting #4 Pop/#1 R&B and going platinum thanks to a pair of Top 10 hits including the #4 "Sign Your Name," which was the LP's third single. To follow up that hit, this next track was selected. The song would do well at R&B getting to #9 while hitting #7 on the Dance chart. It would cross over to the Pop chart, but it wouldn't do quite as well topping out just at the Top 30 mark. Although it wasn't a major hit at Pop, the tune seemed to help keep album sales steady and by November '88 it would turn double platinum.

ReduxReview:  For this song, D'Arby took on a Prince via James Brown approach and it worked out well. It was another solid track from D'Arby that I thought would do better. The funky jam should have at least cracked the Top 20. It was probably the last single-worthy track on the LP, so the label smartly didn't try for a fifth single. D'Arby certainly made his mark with the album, but it would be short-lived. He would never be able to replicate its success, at least in the US.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  D'Arby would get his second album recorded and ready for release in the fall of '89. Neither Fish Nor Flesh was highly anticipated, but when its first single "This Side of Love" came out, no one bit. The song failed to chart. A second single, "To Know Someone Deeply Is To Know Someone Softly," was able to reach #47 at R&B, but it didn't do much for the album, which only got to #61 Pop/#75 R&B. D'Arby's last song to reach the Pop chart came via his third album 1993's Symphony or Damn. "Delicate," which featured English pop/soul singer Des'ree, would get to #74. After one more album in '95 titled Violator, it seems that D'Arby may have lost his contract with Columbia and he retreated from the business for a bit. In 2001, he would declare that Terence Trent D'Arby was dead and that he had discovered a new spirit and identity. He then legally changed his name to Sandada Maitreya and began to work on music again. Between 2001 and 2021, Maitreya would record nine albums
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