
Daniel Earl Hartman (December 8, 1950 – March 22, 1994) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Among songs he wrote and recorded were “Free Ride” with the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits “Relight My Fire”, “Instant Replay”, “I Can Dream About You”, “We Are the Young” and “Second Nature”. “I Can Dream About You”, his most successful song, reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984[1] and No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart in 1985. The James Brown song “Living in America”, which Hartman co-wrote and produced, reached No. 4 on March 1, 1986.
Hartman was never married and had no children. He died on March 22, 1994, at his Westport, Connecticut, home from an AIDS-related brain tumor. A closeted gay man, he was diagnosed with HIV in the late 1980s. He kept his HIV status a secret and supposedly did not seek treatment, even after friend and intermittent collaborator Holly Johnson (formerly of the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood) announced his own HIV status in 1991. His remains were cremated; he was survived by both parents, his brother Dave, and sister Kathy.
In May 1994, the “Dan Hartman: A Celebration of His Life and Music” memorial concert was performed at New York’s Sound Factory Bar. Nona Hendryx, Loleatta Holloway, and producer Frankie Knuckles were among the participants.