Terence Trent D'Arby -

Terence Trent D’Arby is an American R&B/soul-pop singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who emerged with the 1987 CBS release Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby. The album produced the international hits “If You Let Me Stay,” “Wishing Well,” and “Sign Your Name” and reached multi-platinum sales in the United States and Britain.

Background

D’Arby was born Terence Trent Howard on March 15, 1962, in Manhattan, New York. His mother, Frances Howard, sang gospel and worked as a teacher and counselor. His stepfather, Bishop James Benjamin Darby, raised him in a Pentecostal household, and Howard adopted the Darby surname for his professional name. The family eventually settled in DeLand, Florida.

D’Arby attended DeLand High School, where he sang with the Modernaires show choir and worked on the school newspaper. D’Arby enrolled at the University of Central Florida to study journalism but left after one year. He also trained as a boxer in Orlando and won the 1980 Florida Golden Gloves lightweight championship.

D’Arby enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1980 and trained at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Army assigned him to the Third Armored Division near Frankfurt, West Germany, where he became lead singer of the nine-piece band The Touch. He received his discharge in April 1983 and remained in Frankfurt with the group.

The Touch released the 1983 single “Get Up and Run” and recorded the 1984 album Love on Time with producer Frank Farian. D’Arby left the group after the album sessions and moved to London, where he joined the Bojangles, an unsigned group that served as his subsequent backing band. In 1986, CBS Records signed D’Arby as a solo artist. D’Arby began work with producer Martyn Ware on Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby.

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