25/05/2026
Black Box’s smash hit ‘Ride On Time’ samples Loleatta Holloway’s ‘Love Sensation’ 🔀
The original version of Black Box’s 1989 single — the UK’s biggest-selling single of the year, spending six weeks at No. 1 — was long overshadowed by Holloway’s indignation over the uncredited sample.
Black Box’s story began with the rise of Italo house in the late ’80s, as Balearic influences swept across UK club culture and Italian producers built their own scene around Rimini. Combining Italian sensibilities with sounds emerging from Chicago and the UK, a new subgenre was born. Davoli was among the DJs pioneering the movement, later becoming a resident at Bologna’s Starlight club.
After picking up a 12-inch acapella of ‘Love Sensation’, Davoli lifted the three vocal snippets repeated throughout ‘Ride On Time’. Following successful early Italian pressings, the track was signed to Deconstruction Records, who soon found themselves competing with imported copies flooding UK specialist shops. Propelled by demand, ‘Ride On Time’ shot straight to No. 1 — and with it came a call to appear on ‘Top Of The Pops’. But its success also brought problems.
Deconstruction attempted to clear the sample, but negotiations proved difficult. Faced with copyright issues, BMG asked Black Box to record a new vocal, and within a week they had re-released the track with Holloway’s version withdrawn. The new release went on to outsell every other dance record that year, though it did little to ease Holloway’s grievances.
In 2018, DJ Mag spoke to Black Box’s Daniele Davoli about the birth of Italo house, the dispute surrounding Loleatta Holloway’s vocal, and the infamous lip-synced video. In the interview with DJ Mag, Davoli showed genuine sympathy, admitting: “Loleatta was right to complain”, before adding regretfully, “She never saw a penny.”
After decades of attempts, Black Box were eventually granted the rights to re-release the original Holloway version — sadly too late for Holloway, who passed away in 2011.
Read our full game changer feature on Black Box’s ‘Ride On Time’ on djmag.com 🔗
