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Tina Charles (born Tina Hoskins; 10 March 1954) is an English singer who achieved success as a disco artist in the mid to late 1970s.
Her most successful single was the UK no. 1 hit “I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)” in 1976.
Dance Little Lady* is the second studio album by British disco singer Tina Charles, released in 1976 through CBS Records.
The album was produced by the Indian-British producer Biddu, who had previously produced her massive breakthrough hit, “I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance).”
Biddu’s collaboration continued on a future album and another song hit: “Dance Little Lady Dance”.
In total, Charles spent 42 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1976 alone, mainly due to these two records.
During this time, her touring band included Trevor Horn (for a while her boyfriend), Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley.
Production style: As with her debut album, Biddu delivers a signature lush and immersive British disco sound. While the debut occasionally felt uneven, Dance Little Lady is better aligned with Charles’s vocal strengths.
The hits: The album performed exceptionally well on the singles charts, with “Dance Little Lady Dance” and “Dr. Love” both becoming major top-10 hits in the United Kingdom.
Notable choices: Critics and fans had mixed reactions to the bold departures found on side B. An extended disco version of the hymn “Amazing Grace” and a cover of the classic “Halfway to Paradise” lent the album an eccentric touch—though some listeners felt these tracks were somewhat out of place on a record intended purely for dancing.
Spirit of the era: Music journalists and retro enthusiasts view the album as a charming snapshot of the heyday of European disco in 1976.
If Tina Charles’ debut album was the sound of an uncertain vocalist wed to an overambitious producer, then her sophomore effort, 1976’s Dance Little Lady, evens up the match.
Both the title track, which gave her a U.K. number six hit in August, and the smarmy-but-smart follow-up, “Dr. Love,” brought Charles success on the singles chart, while both “Fallin’ in Love With a Boy” and “When You Got Love” could easily have followed them.
The highlights of the album, however, are two tracks that you might ordinarily have dreaded to encounter on a Biddu-fired disco album, the hauntingly traditional “Amazing Grace” and the old Billy Fury smash “Halfway to Paradise.”
In both cases, Charles finds a singing voice that far surpasses her familiar strained shriek, with “Paradise,” in particular, a masterpiece of gentle cajoling that barely needs the strings to nudge it along.
Elsewhere, Dance Little Lady hangs around precisely the same dancefloors that the bulk of Charles’ career was built around, light and insubstantial disco flashed by the occasional catchy chorus.
Side one
1. It’s Time For A Change Of Heart - 5:05
2. Dr. Love - 3:02
3. All Comes Back To You - 3:45
4. Fallin’ In Love With A Boy Like You - 3:12
5. Dance Little Lady Dance - 3:05
Side two
1. Amazing Grace - 5:53
2. When You Got Love - 3:25
3. Boogiethon - 4:45
4. Halfway To Paradise - 3:40
Companies, etc.
- Produced For – Subiddu Music Ltd.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – CBS Records
- Copyright © – CBS Records
- Made By – Shorewood Packaging Co. Ltd.
- Printed By – Subiddu Music
- Published By – Chappell
- Published By – Rondor Music (London) Ltd.
- Published By – Geronimo
- Published By – Dick James Music Ltd.
- Published By – Mautoglade Music Ltd.
- Published By – Robert Mellin Ltd.
- Recorded At – Nova Sound Studios, London
- Recorded At – Marquee Studios
- Recorded At – Pye Studios
Credits
- Arranged By – Biddu, Gerry Shury, Pip Williams
- Backing Vocals – Biddu, Biddu, Tina
- Cover, Design – Roslav Szaybo, Simon Cantwell
- Engineer – R. Dodd
- Photography By – Peter Lavery
- Producer – Biddu
- Score Editor – G. Shury, P. Williams
- Tape Op – Gerry Bremner, Howard Cross, Mark Chapman, Mike Jackson
Produced for Subiddu Music Ltd.
Recorded at Nova, Pye and Marquee Studios, 1976.
Notes
Release: 1976
Format: LP, Vinyl
Genre: Disco
Label: CBS
Catalog# 81617
Vinyl: Goed (Excellent)
Cover: Goed (Excellent)
Prijs: €10,00









