Tell It To My Heart – Taylor Dayne | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#7); 1988

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Along with Whitney Houston, Taylor Dayne kicked off America’s ongoing love affair with contemporary music divas. Taylor’s singing debut occurred in the fourth grade, and by high school she was taking voice lessons and classical training.

After several years with bands in her native Long Island, Taylor recorded two dance songs for an independent label. The next record she released – also on an indie label – was Tell It To My Heart, a song Taylor discovered by asking a music publisher to send her some songs rejected by other artists.

Through her producer, Ric Wake, she was snapped up by Arista Records which released Tell It To My Heart as her first single from the like-titled album. Both album and single were a stunning success, with the Tell It To My Heart album yielding three more Top 10 hits within a year.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• Ric Wake

Lyrics Written by:

• Seth Swirsky
• Ernie Gold

Award:

• Nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in 1989