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Terence Trent d'Arby - Sign your name across my heart
Identifier
007512
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Terence Trent D'Arby was born Terence Trent Howard in Manhattan in 1962. His mother is a gospel singer, teacher and counselor; she married Bishop James Benjamin Darby, who became D'Arby's stepfather and raised him, hence "his last name changed and later he completed it with the apostrophe."
His family moved successively from New York to New Jersey, to Chicago, to Daytona Beach, and then settled in DeLand, Florida, north of Orlando.
He trained as a boxer in Orlando and in 1980 won the Florida Golden Gloves lightweight championship. He received an offer to attend boxing school in the United States Army, but he went to college instead. He enrolled at the University of Central Florida but quit a year later, enlisting in the U.S. Army. He was posted at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then served in the 3rd Armored Division, near Frankfurt, West Germany. While in West Germany, he worked as a band leader with the band The Touch, releasing an album of material called Love On Time (1984). It was later re-issued in 1989 as Early Works after his worldwide success as a solo artist. In 1986 he left West Germany for London, where he briefly played with The Bojangels, after which he signed a solo recording deal.
D'Arby's debut solo album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, released in July 1987, is his best-known commercial work. The album produced hits including "If You Let Me Stay", "Wishing Well", "Dance Little Sister", and "Sign Your Name".
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