Barbara Pennington is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Hi-NRG

Hi-NRG

Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...

 and soul music

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 artist

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 of the 1970s and 1980s.

Career

Pennington was born in 1950s in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and began her musical career when Hi-NRG and soul record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 Ian Levine

Ian Levine

Ian Levine is an English songwriter, producer, and DJ. He is also a well-known fan of the long-running television show Doctor Who.Levine attended Arnold School in Blackpool from 1963 to 1970...

 came to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in search of new talent for his burgeoning record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. In terms of vocal exuberance, her voice may be compared to that of singer Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...

, also a native of Chicago.

By the early 1980s, she had scored several disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 hits, then several more Hi-NRG hits across mainland Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. Her Stateside

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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

Hot Dance Club Play

The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...

, and "You Are the Music in Me" which peaked at #20 in 1977.

Her single "On a Crowded Street", from the album Out of the Darkest Night, became popular on both sides of the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 in 1985. Follow up singles such as "All American Boy", "Don't Stop the World", "Way Deep Down 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.

Barbara Pennington retreated from the public arena in the early 1990s. Her final release to date was the 1995 compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

, The Very Best of Barbara Pennington.

Albums

• Midnight Ride - (1979) United Artists Records
  United Artists Records
  United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
  
  
• 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"

External links

• [ Allmusic.com biography]