Disco star Loleatta Holloway dead at 64

Loleatta Holloway, the disco singer who topped charts in the 70s with hits such as “Love Sensation” and “Hit and Run,” has died.

Holloway appeared 18 times on the “Hot Dance Music” chart, with four of those songs reaching number one on those lists. Although the Chicago-born singer had a strong career of her own, younger audiences may know her voice most from the many modern dance tunes on which it was used as a sample.

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s early 90s hit “Good Vibrations” sampled “Love Sensation,” and more recently, Whitney Houston sampled Holloway’s “We’re Getting Stronger” on her track “Million Dollar Bill” in 2010. In the late 80s, Holloway’s vocals were used by the UK group Black Box on their number one hit “Ride on Time.” She was not credited nor compensated for the sample, but later successfully sued and won an undisclosed sum.

Holloway was ill for a short time before succumbing to heart failure on March 21st, her publicist confirmed to a soul music site.