Early life Dayne, whose birth name is Leslie Wunderman, was born in
Manhattan,
New York City, and lived briefly in another borough,
The Bronx, until her family moved to
Long Island when she was two years old. She began singing professionally after graduating from high school in
Baldwin, Nassau County, New York, performing in little-known rock bands such as
Felony and
Next. She began singing solo after finishing college and, under the name "Les Lee", recorded two
dance singles, "I'm The One You Want" (1985) and "Tell Me Can You Love Me" (1986), which were released on the New York independent label Mega Bolt.
Success Signed to
Arista Records under the
stage name "Taylor Dayne", her first song to crack the US Top 10 (No. 7) was the
dance-pop hit "
Tell It to My Heart" which was released on July 24, 1987. The song was an instant success worldwide, peaking in the Top 5 of most major markets worldwide, and reaching No. 1 in many countries; the 12-inch record of the song ended up selling 900,000 copies alone. Dayne was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal, Female for her performance on "Tell It to My Heart" in 1988. Producer
Ric Wake said in a 1994 interview with
Vibe magazine that "Tell It to My Heart" "really blew people away". Commenting on Dayne's voice he said "They thought she was, like, black or some kind of ethnic ...". That same year,
Rolling Stone ranked it in their "The 200 Best '80s Songs". Swirsky also co-wrote Dayne's follow-up single "
Prove Your Love". The single was Dayne's second Top 10 hit on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at No. 7. The single spent eleven weeks in the
Top 40. It also appeared on the
Dance Club Songs chart, where it became Dayne's first No. 1 hit on that chart on April 23, 1988. Furthermore, the single was a hit overseas, going to No. 1 in
Switzerland and No. 8 on the
UK Singles chart. Andrew Panos from
Number One complimented "Prove Your Love" as "a thumpingly catchy
disco tune". On January 19, 1988,
Arista Records released Dayne's debut album
Tell It to My Heart. Two further singles were released and they also reached the Top 10 of the US
Billboard Hot 100: "
I'll Always Love You" (No. 3), and "
Don't Rush Me" (No. 2). The album has been certified double platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments in excess of two million copies in the United States. Dayne was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal for her performance on "I'll Always Love You" in 1989. The song was also nominated for Best R&B Song that year. Andrew Panos from
Number One commended Dayne's "belting, soaraway voice" on the album. It continued her chart success and was certified
2× Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It includes the
Billboard Hot 100 hit singles "
With Every Beat of My Heart" (No. 5), "
I'll Be Your Shelter" (No. 4), "
Love Will Lead You Back" (No. 1) and "
Heart of Stone" (No. 12). "I'll Always Love You", a change-of-pace ballad compared to Dayne's earlier releases, was her breakout hit on the
Adult Contemporary charts in 1988 and paved the way for future uptempo dance tracks such as "Don't Rush Me" (1988) and "With Every Beat Of My Heart" (1989) to gain acceptance on Adult Contemporary radio. In 1990, "Love Will Lead You Back", a
Diane Warren composition, peaked at No. 1 on both the
Billboard Hot 100 and the
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. Matthew Hocter from Albumism stated that "Love Will Lead You Back" is "going on to be one of Dayne's most synonymous songs", noting "the phenomenal balladry" the singer delivered on the song. Dayne went on to release two more albums (
Soul Dancing and
Naked Without You) in the 1990s, but had only one more US Top 40 hit, her 1993 cover of
Barry White's 1974 hit "
Can't Get Enough of Your Love" (from her 1993 album
Soul Dancing), which reached No. 2 in the
ARIA Charts in Australia but only No. 20 in the US. Jose Promis from
AllMusic called Dayne's cover version as "excellent" and "dance-lite".
Greg Sandow from
Entertainment Weekly complimented
Soul Dancing as a "killer pop album". He added, "Can’t fault her choice of material; these are crisp, focused, hook-filled pop songs, every one of them a likely radio hit." Together with Arthur Baker and
Fred Zarr, Dayne wrote "
Whatever You Want" for
Tina Turner's 1996 album
Wildest Dreams. Dayne later recorded and released the song herself in 1998 as a single from her album
Naked Without You. Later career As an actress, Dayne appeared in the 1997
sci-fi television series
Nightman as Carla Day. She has had roles in independent films such as ''Fool's Paradise
(1997), Stag
(also in 1997) and Jesus the Driver
(2004), as well as the Warren Beatty-produced 1994 remake of Love Affair.
Dayne also had a recurring role on the Showtime series Rude Awakening''. Dayne has performed alongside
Marc Bonilla and Dragonchoir. She performed on
Broadway in Elton John's
Aida in 2001. In 2005, Dayne was featured in the
VH1 series
Remaking, which featured her close friends
Leah Remini and Michelle Reid. The series documents Dayne's return to music after taking time off to have a family (she has twins via a
surrogate mother), and premiered her newest song, "Right Now", a result of her collaboration with
Rodney Jerkins. On December 11, 2007, Dayne released the first single, "
Beautiful", from her studio album
Satisfied. The song was written by Dayne and Hitesh Ceon of production team 3Elementz. Dayne promoted it on many radio stations, including New York's WKTU. "Beautiful" went to No. 1 on the
Billboard Dance Charts. She also appeared on
The Today Show,
Chelsea Lately,
Wake Up With Whoopi and
VH1. The
music video for the single and the
Satisfied album cover were shot by
Tony Duran, who has also shot album covers for
Justin Timberlake and
Jennifer Lopez. Dayne released her fifth album,
Satisfied, in February 2008—her first
recording studio album in nearly a decade. In 2008, Dayne performed at the Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. In the early 2010s, American stand-up comedian
Tig Notaro began referring to Dayne in her routine, telling stories of having frequent encounters with her. This was ultimately brought to the attention of
Ira Glass, who enlisted Notaro to tell the story as part of a live event for
This American Life. Dayne herself appeared at the end of the monologue during the event, singing "
I'll Always Love You". In May 2010, Dayne lobbied congressional leaders on
Capitol Hill on behalf of the
National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and VH1's Save The Music Foundation to reduce cuts in music education in America's schools. In July 2010, Dayne released "
Facing a Miracle", the official theme song to the
2010 Gay Games. She performed the song to an audience of 50,000 on July 31, 2010, in
Cologne, Germany. It ended the year at No. 9 on Perfect Beat's Top Worldwide Singles of 2010. Five years before, however, she had said: "In the eyes of the
Kabbalah, [gays] can't be 'married.' That requires actual male and female energy and DNA. In the bigger picture, I think that 'marriage' is about a certain circuitry. I'm as married to my business manager as I would be any husband." Dayne remastered her
Greatest Hits album and released a new single, "Floor on Fire", on June 22, 2011, which broke the
Billboard Dance/Club Charts Top 10. In September 2014, Dayne released a new single, "Dreaming". In late 2020, Dayne competed on
season 4 of
The Masked Singer as "Popcorn". She made it to the semi-finals of the competition before being unmasked in a triple elimination alongside
Chloe Kim as "Jellyfish" and
Tori Kelly as "Seahorse". In August 2022, Dayne competed on season 2 of ''
RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race'' under the drag name Electra Owl. ==Personal life==