Story of the song: Love Sensation by Loleatta Holloway

From The Independent archive: Robert Webb on ‘Love Sensation’ by Loleatta Holloway

Pretty in mink: Holloway got what she wanted from her song being sampled without her permission (Alamy)

Ride on Time”, by the Italian house act Black Box, was the UK’s biggest-selling single of 1989. At the heart of its infectious, wailing hook are samples from Loleatta Holloway’s floor-filler of nine years earlier, “Love Sensation”, issued on SalSoul Records and written by the Pennsylvanian songwriter and producer, Dan “Instant Replay” Hartman. The trouble was, no one had actually granted Black Box permission to plunder Holloway’s classic song.

SalSoul’s Glenn Larusso had, at one stage, been approached for permission to remix, but nothing had been agreed. “We asked for an advance of $10,000, which they felt was very high and I never heard back from them,” he says. A friend was in London on business and told Larusso about the Black Box record. “Sampling was very new at this time and I didn’t quite understand it,” says Larusso. “I had someone send me over a copy of the 12-inch single and when I heard it, I realised what they did.”

It went straight to the top at SalSoul and lawyers were called in to settle. The deal couldn’t close without a signature from an irate Holloway. “They asked Loleatta what she wanted and her reply was ‘a mink coat and $50,000’,” says Larusso. Holloway’s demands were met. “She still has the mink coat!”

Hartman was also awarded a royalty percentage from the sales of “Ride on Time”. He scored again in 1993, a year before his death, when Take That and Lulu made No 1 with his composition “Relight My Fire” and Holloway earned money again when Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch sampled her “Good Vibrations” in 1991.

In truth, Holloway has been much sampled and continues to get feet on the floor. The original of her best-known hit is archetypal disco and Holloway – a big-voiced Chicago singer, who started out at the age of four in her mother’s gospel group – is the model dance-floor diva. Her powerful vocals shudder, the strings soar and the drum and bass batten down the beat. It took 30 takes to get right.

A version, “Love Sensation 06”, released on Gusto records came with four remixes and Holloway’s blessing. “I still love this song,” she says. “The new mixes bring new life to the song. I love hearing the classic element incorporated into a new vibe.”

Loleatta Holloway died in 2011