Stacia
April 7, 1994
Dan Hartman Dies; Songwriter Was 43
Dan Hartman, a record producer, singer and songwriter, died on March 22
at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 43.
The cause was a brain tumor, said his manager, Julian Able.
Mr. Hartman wrote and sang many hit songs, including "Free Ride" and
"Relight My Fire." He also wrote many songs for movies, among them
"Living in America" from "Rocky IV," which became James Brown's
biggest-selling record in 15 years and earned a Grammy nomination for
Mr. Hartman. Other films in which his music was used include "Streets
of Fire," "Ruthless People" and "Bull Durham."
Mr. Hartman produced Joe Cocker's "Unchain My Heart" and "One Night of
Sin" and Tina Turner's "Foreign Affair," which sold more than six
million albums worldwide. In 1989 he produced and recorded a solo album
of his own music for Private Music, and last year worked on a solo
album for Chaos, a division of Columbia Records.
He is survived by his parents, Carl and Pauline Hartman; a sister,
Kathy, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., and a brother, David, of Wellsville, Pa.
However, Wikipedia and Discogs both claim he was diagnosed as being HIV
positive before his death.
My suspicion is that the managers and family probably wanted to protect
his legacy by saying "brain tumor" and leaving it at that. There's
still a stigma attached to HIV and AIDS, particularly in the
entertainment industry.
T
It may have been, as you imply, that his immediate cause of death was a
complication of the brain tumour, but that he also had HIV. Certain
forms of cancer are far more common in those with HIV, and often kill
those with HIV faster than they do people without the virus.
wd42