In the 1980s, Terence Trent D’Arby was stationed in Germany as an American soldier. There he joined a band called The Touch. After leaving the army, he moved to London, where he recorded his demo tape. Thanks to this demo, he was offered a contract with CBS Records.
Terence burst onto the scene as fast as he disappeared. I found his debut album “Introducing the hardline according to… Terence Trent D’Arby” released in 1987 absolutely stunning. It was one of the first CDs I bought at the time and although you can’t really wear out a CD, I played it to death. This album contains top tracks like Wishing Well, Dance Little Sister and Sign Your Name, all hits that demanded attention, but the whole album was of top quality. Terence has never been able to match that again.
Terence Trent D’Arby is still alive but no longer exists. Looking back, the American soul singer was actually a one-hit wonder at the end of the 80s. Has the man with his fine, recognisable soul voice stopped singing? No, but he has taken on a different identity. The name Sananda Maitreya probably means little to you, but that is the stage name under which Terence Trent D’Arby is now known, especially in Italy. He married an Italian, TV presenter/architect Francesca Francone, in 2003, with whom he has two sons. In Italy, where they live, Maitreya still performs regularly.
The name change he chose in 1995 was made official in the autumn of 2001. Terence Trent D’Arby is dead, he announced at the time. He wanted to get rid of the baggage that name had since his worldwide smashing debut. As an artist, he continued to struggle against the expectations that such success inevitably always raises. His identity no longer felt like his own. In his search for a new – and thus more spiritual peace – the name Sananda Maitreya came to him in a number of dreams. The meaning of the name is happy, loving, kind.
Where he produced four albums as ‘TTD’, he made eight in his new artistic existence. Internationally they went completely unnoticed, but that didn’t bother him at all. Looking back in an interview with All Music Italia, he noted that he was born as an artist in 1987 at the top of the mountain. "I never had to climb up. If you are born at the top, there is nothing left to discover except going down."
In recent years, the singer who can also play drums, (bass) guitar and piano only occasionally performs outside Italy. He lives in Milan and cherishes the quiet. He no longer looks back, nor listens to his own music once it has been recorded. His advice to young artists who are after fame and hit success? "Turn around and run as fast as you can in the other direction."
In the Top 2000 (2020), Terence no longer appears. We think that’s unjust and therefore on 8 August 2021 we give him the stage with his debut album as Sunday Morning Classic.
Sunday Morning Classics: Introducing the Hardline according to Terence Trent D'Arby
Introducing the Hardline according to Terence Trent D'Arby is the debut studio album by Terence Trent D'Arby, and a very strong debut from this young singer, who wrote almost every note, played a multitude of instruments and claimed this was the most important album since the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. This first album is a curious mix of old and new styles. Although the production is quite modern, d'Arby shows his roots in the work of older artists, borrowing a few pages from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, while James Brown seems to have had the biggest influence on d'Arby's stage presence.
It was released in July 1987 on Columbia Records, debuting at number one in the United Kingdom, and spent a total of nine weeks (non-consecutive) at the top of the UK Albums Chart. It reached number 1 in Australia and Switzerland. It was eventually certified 5× platinum (for sales of 1.5 million copies). Worldwide, the album sold a million copies within the first three days of going on sale. The album was also a hit in the US, although the success was slower. It was released there in October 1987 and eventually peaked at number four on 7 May 1988, the same week the single "Wishing Well" reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. It peaked higher on the Billboard R&B Albums chart at number one around the same time. Other singles from the album were "If You Let Me Stay", which was a top ten hit in the UK, and "Sign Your Name", which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two in the UK. A fourth single, "Dance, Little Sister", also reached the UK top 20. As was usual for big-selling artists at the time, the singles were released in a plethora of limited editions in multiple formats. These were supported by a large number of non-album studio and live tracks.
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2012, journalist Daryl Easlea said the album crystallised as Trent's moment, "a soundtrack of the turning point when the 80s shifted from austerity to prosperity. It remains one big, infectious, glorious record."
Source: NPO, Jan Liebregts and the AD Photo: Public Domain
