Barbara Pennington (born 1950s) is an American

Hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the ...

and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...

artist of the 1970s and 1980s.

Career

Pennington was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and began her musical career when she was discovered by Danny Leake and introduced to Hi-NRG and soul

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Ian Levine Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...

who had come to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in search of new talent for his burgeoning

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. By the early 1980s, she had scored several disco hits, then several more Hi-NRG hits across mainland

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Her Stateside success was more variable, but not a failure. "Twenty Four Hours a Day" also became a disco hit in the U.S., peaking at #4 on the Club Play Chart, and "You Are the Music in Me" which peaked at #20 in 1977. Allmusic.com - Charts & Awards/ref> Her single "On a Crowded Street", from the album ''Out of the Darkest Night'', became popular on both sides of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

in 1985. Follow up singles such as "All American Boy", "Don't Stop the World", "Way Down Deep in My Soul", "Fan the Flame", and "Out of the Darkest Night" all became major European hits, while remaining relatively unknown in the U.S. Pennington retired in the early 1990s. Her final release was the 1995 compilation album, ''The Very Best of Barbara Pennington''.

Discography

Albums

* ''Midnight Ride'' - (1979)

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

* ''Out of the Darkest Night'' - (1985) Record Shack Records * ''The Very Best of Barbara Pennington'' - (1995) Hot Productions

Singles

* "Running in Another Direction" * "Twenty Four Hours a Day" * "You Are the Music Within Me" * "Spend a Little Time with Me" * "I Can't Erase the Thoughts of You" * "There Are Brighter Days" * "Don't Stop the World" * "Way Down Deep in My Soul" * "Midnight Ride" * "Fan the Flame" * "I Can't Keep My Heart Still" * "All American Boy" * "I've Been a Bad Girl" * "On a Crowded Street"

References

External links

Allmusic.com biography AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennington, Barbara 1950s births Living people Singers from Chicago American women singers American soul singers American disco musicians American dance musicians American Hi-NRG musicians American women in electronic music 21st-century American women