Taste of Success Leaves Singer Wanting More

Singer Taylor Dayne knows exactly what she wants from success: She wants more.

Granted, she is already fairly familiar with life at the top of the charts. Her first album, “Tell It To My Heart,” was a certified smash, while its follow-up, “Can’t Fight Fate,” remains on the charts a year after its release.

Even so, Dayne can’t help wondering how to improve on that track record.

It isn’t greed that drives her. “It’s a competitive edge; it’s a hunger,” she said. “That’s what keeps me awake at night. It’s not having the billion dollars in the bank or all that. I feel like I have something to say.”

Before Dayne hooked up with Ric Wake, her producer and songwriting partner, she “was doing a lot of rock stuff, was in a lot of rock groups in the (New York) area and just wasn’t cutting it.”

So she and Wake tried another approach, putting together their own production company to make dance singles. “We were looking for the right vehicle, and that song was ‘Tell It to My Heart,’ which we found through a publishing company. I said, ‘Look, let’s not do it light. Let’s go for it. Let’s combine the rock with hip-hop.’ ”

What followed was beyond their wildest dreams. “All I was expecting was to get paid back the $5,000 that we invested in producing it, plus a little on top of that. And hopefully get signed by a major.”

Instead, she wound up with a smash hit and a deal with Arista records.