This is another singer who briefly found fame on the chart in the mid-80s. Regina is a singer from New York, and she had already been in the music business for many years by the time of her hit. She had previously been in a band called Regina Roberts And Red Hot, who had released a single or two as early as 1980, although they weren’t successful.
By the mid-80s, they had split, and she had been working as a songwriter. When one of her songs had been turned down by others, she decided that she might as well record this herself, which turned out to be a rather good move for her. “Baby Love” (not to be confused with The Supremes song of course) featured backing vocals from Siedah Garrett.
There was also a video made for this, and Regina performed this on a few TV shows too. “Baby Love” topped the Dance Chart, and made the Top Ten of the Hot 100 in America, although this would be her only hit. In February 1986, “Baby Love” was released in the UK (on the Funkin’ Marvellous label) but reached only no. 50, and she had no more hits in this country either.
But she did go on to release some more singles, including “Head On” and Sentimental Love”, but along with her only solo album “Curiosity”, these didn’t make the chart, and she had just about vanished from the music scene by the late-80s. And once again we have another example of one of those “she could’ve been bigger than Madonna”-type singers who simply couldn’t live up to the expectation.
But when I came across “Baby Love” for the first time recently, when trying to find some more interesting stories about 80s pop music, I couldn’t help but feel that somehow I had actually heard this before somewhere. And that’s because in October 1991 Dannii Minogue, who was still in the early days of her pop career, released a cover version that I do remember from first time round.
This version did make the Top 20 in the UK, and it was good to know that this did finally have some success on the chart, even if it took about five years, and this performed even better than in Dannii’s home country of Australia (where this reached no. 26 in February 1992). I don’t know much about what Regina has been up to in more recent years, but her moment of fame was definitely an enjoyable one.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 