Biography
Vocalist Taana Gardner emerged as a standout figure on West End Records, the New York imprint responsible for many of the era’s most distinctive and enduring disco and post-disco club tracks. Possessing a lively soprano voice reminiscent of Deniece Williams and Stephanie Mills yet distinguished by her own gum-chewing attitude and playful erotic presence, Gardner teamed with producer Kenton Nix to score her first successes in 1979 via “Work That Body” and the follow-up “When You Touch Me,” both of which appeared on her sole self-titled album. Two years later the pair surpassed those achievements with the shuffling “Heartbeat,” their third Top Ten club entry on Billboard and a number-six R&B hit for the same publication. Occasional singles continued to surface across the following decades, culminating in a 1998 house release titled “I’m Comin’,” again produced by Nix, which highlighted the fuller, more powerful vocal range she had developed by that point.
Raised in Newark, Taana Aida Gardner recognized her dual ambitions to act and sing while still very young. At age five she began studying voice with her grandmother, a retired opera singer, and soon afterward assembled the group Taana & the Darnettes. By her pre-teen years she had already written plays staged at Lincoln Center and the Apollo. Shortly thereafter she danced with the Dance Theater of Harlem and performed at the National Black Theater.
Gardner’s entry into disco occurred largely by chance. Producer and songwriter Kenton Nix was searching for a vocalist for a new track whose early instrumental take had already earned approval from Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan; Levan in turn introduced Nix to West End founder Mel Cheren. When the scheduled singer fell ill, Nix’s brother—who was employed by Gardner’s father—contacted the family on Thanksgiving Day 1978 and asked Taana to step in. The eighteen-year-old accepted and cut what became “Work That Body.” Later that same day, August Darnell (also known as Kid Creole), while working on Aural Exciters’ Spooks in Space, heard her and invited her to contribute prominently to the album’s track “(He’s A) Marathon Runner.”
Remixed by Levan, “Work That Body” quickly became a Paradise Garage favorite and climbed to number ten on Billboard’s club chart. It inaugurated a string of West End successes shaped by Nix’s productions, Gardner’s vocals, and Levan’s dance-floor edits. The self-titled album, including the dramatic club Top Ten single “When You Touch Me,” followed later in 1979. Nix and Gardner returned in 1981 with “Heartbeat,” their strongest performer, which reached number six on the club tally and entered the R&B Top Ten. The track has since been referenced or sampled in numerous recordings, among them the Treacherous Three’s “Feel the Heartbeat” (1981) and Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper” (1995).
Following the concentrated 1979–1981 period, Gardner stepped away from recording for several years to focus on her children, releasing only sporadically thereafter. Among the scattered singles issued through the late ’80s and ’90s were the self-produced “You Can’t Keep Coming in and Out of My Life” (Next Plateau, 1988), a cover of LaBelle’s “What Can I Do for You?” (E-Legal, 1992), and the 1998 Nix–West End reunion “I’m Comin’.” In the 2000s she lent her voice to a few 12-inch releases, among them Joey Negro’s “Sweet Magic” (Z, 2002). The Big Break label issued a remastered and expanded edition of her 1979 album on compact disc in 2013. Further expansion arrived in 2024 with the two-disc set When You Touch Me: The West End Recordings, released jointly by Second Disc Records and SoulMusic.
Raised in Newark, Taana Aida Gardner recognized her dual ambitions to act and sing while still very young. At age five she began studying voice with her grandmother, a retired opera singer, and soon afterward assembled the group Taana & the Darnettes. By her pre-teen years she had already written plays staged at Lincoln Center and the Apollo. Shortly thereafter she danced with the Dance Theater of Harlem and performed at the National Black Theater.
Gardner’s entry into disco occurred largely by chance. Producer and songwriter Kenton Nix was searching for a vocalist for a new track whose early instrumental take had already earned approval from Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan; Levan in turn introduced Nix to West End founder Mel Cheren. When the scheduled singer fell ill, Nix’s brother—who was employed by Gardner’s father—contacted the family on Thanksgiving Day 1978 and asked Taana to step in. The eighteen-year-old accepted and cut what became “Work That Body.” Later that same day, August Darnell (also known as Kid Creole), while working on Aural Exciters’ Spooks in Space, heard her and invited her to contribute prominently to the album’s track “(He’s A) Marathon Runner.”
Remixed by Levan, “Work That Body” quickly became a Paradise Garage favorite and climbed to number ten on Billboard’s club chart. It inaugurated a string of West End successes shaped by Nix’s productions, Gardner’s vocals, and Levan’s dance-floor edits. The self-titled album, including the dramatic club Top Ten single “When You Touch Me,” followed later in 1979. Nix and Gardner returned in 1981 with “Heartbeat,” their strongest performer, which reached number six on the club tally and entered the R&B Top Ten. The track has since been referenced or sampled in numerous recordings, among them the Treacherous Three’s “Feel the Heartbeat” (1981) and Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper” (1995).
Following the concentrated 1979–1981 period, Gardner stepped away from recording for several years to focus on her children, releasing only sporadically thereafter. Among the scattered singles issued through the late ’80s and ’90s were the self-produced “You Can’t Keep Coming in and Out of My Life” (Next Plateau, 1988), a cover of LaBelle’s “What Can I Do for You?” (E-Legal, 1992), and the 1998 Nix–West End reunion “I’m Comin’.” In the 2000s she lent her voice to a few 12-inch releases, among them Joey Negro’s “Sweet Magic” (Z, 2002). The Big Break label issued a remastered and expanded edition of her 1979 album on compact disc in 2013. Further expansion arrived in 2024 with the two-disc set When You Touch Me: The West End Recordings, released jointly by Second Disc Records and SoulMusic.
Albums
Singles
