Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Dan Hartman

1980s, Soul

Living in America

Co-written and first recorded (as a demo) by Dan Hartman (1984).
Hit version by James Brown (US #4/R&B #10/UK #5 1985).

From the wiki: ‘Living in America’ was written and first recorded as a demo by Dan Hartman (‘I Can Dream About You‘) in 1984, and posthumously released in 1994 on the album Keep the Fire Burnin’. Hartman produced both his original demo and the James Brown cover that would be used in the movie and on the soundtrack album for Rocky IV. ‘Living in America’ would be the last of Brown’s forty-four hit recordings to appear in the Billboard Top 40. (Also, Stevie Ray Vaughn played guitar on both the cover and original recordings!)”

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1980s, Pop

I Can Dream About You

First recorded by Winston Ford (1984).
Hit version by Dan Hartman (US #6/UK #12/CAN #11/AUS #3/IRE #4 1984).
Also recorded by Hall & Oates (2004)

(Below: Original motion picture audio)

From the wiki: “‘I Can Dream About You’ was written by Dan Hartman and first appeared in the 1984 movie Streets of Fire, where it was performed by the fictional group The Sorels. The real voice behind the version used in the movie was Winston Ford, but Hartman’s version was the one used on the soundtrack and released as a single.

“In a Songfacts interview with the film’s musical director, Kenny Vance, he recalled ‘The same guy that sings lead on that and ‘Countdown to Love’, a song that I wrote for the film, was a guy working at a Radio Shack (Winston Ford), and I think when you look at the film and The Sorels are singing it live in the movie, that was the version that was supposed to come out, and I recorded that version. But then when Dan Hartman heard it, I don’t know what happened next, but I know that he took that guy’s voice off and he put his own on, and he had a hit with it. Hollywood is a very slippery place.’

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