Let the Music Play by Shannon (1983)
By 1983, disco was dead…or was it?
It certainly didn’t feel that way after college student Brenda Shannon Greene came along with her debut hit, “Let the Music Play’.”
According to a number of musicologists, it was an important record in dance music history. Its combination of Latin American rhythms and melody with electro beats and a heavy syncopated drum-machine pattern produced an original sound, later known as Freestyle. It was new and refreshing…and it marked the return of dance music to the radio airwaves and record charts.
In fact, it charted in most of Europe, as well as Australia,New Zealand, Venezuela, and here in the US, where it reached #2 on The Hip-Hop Chart and #8 on The Hot 100.
Even more impressive: it sold more than 80 million copies worldwide!
(I’m guessing that generated more than enough money to pay off her student loans. 🙂
Obviously, Shannon’s “Let the Music Play” was a Great Song of 1983!
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