Dan Hartman

Dan Hartman joined the Edgar Winter Group during the 1970s and also performed for a period in Johnny Winter’s band. As a versatile session musician he backed an eclectic roster that ranged from Ian Hunter and Stevie Wonder to Todd Rundgren and Ronnie Montrose. After issuing a single undistinguished solo pop/rock album in 1976, he achieved major success with the acclaimed disco set Instant Replay. The next release, Relight My Fire, proved less commercially potent, prompting Hartman to focus on studio production for .38 Special, the Average White Band, and James Brown; in that capacity he guided Brown’s 1986 comeback single “Living in America.” A further hit arrived in 1985 with the pop-soul track “I Can Dream About You.” Subsequent efforts again failed to replicate that success, so he returned to production duties. At the moment of his death in March 1994 he was readying a new album.