Taylor Dayne’s music has been sung into millions of hairbrushes in millions of teenager’s bedrooms around the globe – and pumped into just as many nightclubs.
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The pop diva appeared on the world stage with debut single Tell It To My Heart in 1987 and has since sold over 75 million albums and singles.
After a recent visit to Australia, Dayne has wasted no time in returning to our shores for another tour.
“I was [in Australia] a year-and-a-half ago and I spent a good month there - almost 15 dates,” Dayne says.
“I spent some quality time, so it was good for my fans and myself because I hadn’t been there in about six years prior to that.
“It’s nice to see that the demand is there, and going back is important to me.”
Dayne’s second record, 1989’s Can’t Fight Fate, was riddled with hit singles like Heart Of Stone, Love Will Lead You Back, With Every Beat Of My Heart and I’ll Be Your Shelter.
It spent 35 weeks in the Australian album charts.
“Certainly by the second record, Australia had really become a very strong market for me,” Dayne says.
“With Shelter, and Every Beat Of My Heart and Love Will Lead You Back – there was no doubt about it.”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Tell It To My Heart and sees the singer-songwriter as busy as ever.
It’s a change of pace compared to 2001, when Dayne stepped out of the spotlight to fulfil her dream of having children.
With the aid of a surrogate mother, the artist was surprised to find that she was going to be a parent to twins – Astaria and Levi.
Dayne returned in 2008 with her first album in ten years, Satisfied.
In regards to how the gutsy singer wanted her comeback record to sound, a typically honest and pragmatic answer is given.
“I had a budget and then I reached out to the producers I felt I could afford and the ones I loved,” Dayne says.
“I wanted songs that expressed where I was at the time.
“You’re living in your experience at the time and that’s what you put out.”
The album includes an upbeat cover of the Red Hot Chili Peppers classic Under The Bridge.
“I loved the idea [of recording it] – I more or less transplanted to Los Angeles,” Dayne says.
“When I do covers, as I did with Barry White’s song [Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love], I love taking the male’s perspective in a genre switch.
“It’s a very personal song for Anthony [Kiedis] and the [Peppers], but for me it was more of a transplant issue as a woman.
“I took those lyrics very personally.”
Since her return to the music industry Dayne has been in high demand.
A recent accolade of high value to the singer was her induction into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, alongside fellow musical icons from her native New York town.
“This year I was inducted into the [Long Island Music] Hall of Fame – this is such a landmark year,” Dayne says.
“Also to be inducted at the international DJ [convention] and perform alongside Pitbull and Sean Paul – it was just extraordinary to have that kind of influence on dance.
“Tell It To My Heart has been such an influential dance track over the years.
“[That song] is timeless, it works.”
Born into a Jewish family as Leslie Wunderman, Dayne explains that her vocal approach is heavily influenced by the environment she grew up in.
“It has a real take-you-by-the-throat voracity,” Dayne says of her native city.
“There’s a real passion for rock.
“People say to me ‘You’re so passionate, your voice is so in-your-face’ – it’s a weird way to define it.
“But isn’t that New York really?
“I’m a New York girl, I was raised in Long Island, and [because I’m] Jewish – we’re very in-your-face and opinionated.
“You can’t not hear it in my music.”
Dayne’s hits have shifted between pop, disco and power ballads and her varied approach is a product of the diversity she listened to in her youth.
“For me the music I was exposed to was in the ’70s – that was my early childhood,” Dayne explains.
“[My influence] was so eclectic – you had The [Rolling] Stones, Led Zeppelin, British invasion bands, Aerosmith – they were all rhythm and blues inspired.
“On the radio was Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and then you had Three Dog Night and Chicago.
“It was very eclectic, because I could say Joni Mitchell was one of the most important artists in my life too.
“Because from her I listened to tenderness and an ability to be vulnerable while saying something so strong.”
Dayne revisits the Hunter Valley in June and at 51, her voice is as big as ever.
Maintaining the strength of her vocal chords has required conservative behaviour.
“Honestly, the biggest thing for me would be sleep,” Dayne says of her methods for voice preservation.
“You’ve gotta just shut it down.
“When you’re touring and it’s really brutal, you can’t talk.
“The most difficult thing is that when I tour, I look at my band and I hate them.
“I go, ‘You know what, you get to take your instrument and put it in a box and that’s the end’.
“I have to talk and do interviews with the same thing – I can’t put my voice in a box.
“I just go in the back and shut up.”
Taylor Dayne plays Wests Leagues Club, New Lambton, on Wednesday, June 5.
Tickets are available through Proticket.com.au.
Alive has two double passes to give away to Dayne’s Newcastle show.
For your chance to win simply fill out the coupon in today's Mercury and return it to our office by noon next Wednesday.