ARTIST: DARRYL PANDY
LOCATION: CHICAGO, USA
Darryl Pandy was an American gospel and house music singer from Chicago. Coming from a Broadway and opera background, Pandy was a lead vocalist in the choir of Chicago’s Church of Universal Awareness.
He is mostly known for performing one of the first international hits in house music, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk’s 1986 song “Love Can’t Turn Around,” which he also sang live in a “flamboyant performance” on the British TV show Top of the Pops, making him famous. The record peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart and played an important role in the history of house music as it was the first house record to achieve major success overseas, especially considering the fact that the UK developed its own influential hot spot of house and acid house during the so-called “second summer of love” between 1988 and 1989.
Pandy recorded numerous other house singles, many of them under his own name. In 1998, he released the album Darryl Pandy on Mirakkle Records.
The new millennium brought continued success for Darryl. ‘Sunshine and Happiness’ and ‘Feel It’ were released to critical acclaim and the subsequent release of ‘Get Your Body On The Floor (U Can Do It)’ received substantial support from MTV. Darryl’s most recent projects include 2003’s ‘Joy’ release alongside Dutch Johnson and his 2004 ‘Dancing’ cut alongside Laurent Wolf. In 2005 Darryl teamed up Réne Süss to release ‘Clap Your Hands On The Dancefloor’ on German imprint Tiefenrausch Records. He continued to spread his love for house music throughout the world until his passing in the year 2011 at the age of 48.
“Aside from “Love Can’t Turn Around” Darryl left behind an surprisingly vast body of work, much of which currently lies undiscovered, awaiting the kind of posthumous appreciation that unfortunately is the lot of many artists. Much of it was spread out among several singles by many different record labels, most of which are now defunct. It’s my hope that someone sits down one day to rediscover it – to go over the old DATs as well as the old plates of poorly pressed vinyl and creates a new tape, which from beginning to end would show that his reputation as the most gifted vocalist in the early days of the Chicago House scene was quite deserved.” – TERRY MATTHEW
