The Unlimited Touch Story....
Unlimited Touch is an American, New York based post-disco and funk group. Established in the early 1980s, the band is most famous for their songs "I Hear Music in the Streets" and “Searching to Find the One”, both released on the legendary Prelude Records imprint. “I Hear Music..” reached #6 on US Dance chart in 1981 and is currently seeing a resurgence within the club going, Nu-Disco and dance music scenes.
Unlimited Touch was formed by members from Mount Vernon, The Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, New York. They weren't straight Disco, and they weren't exactly straight-up R&B; and like many of their Prelude label-mates, Unlimited Touch combined these two forms into what is often referred to as Post-Disco. They enjoyed success on the R&B charts, but they were feverishly embraced by DJs — such as the infamous NYC nightclub Paradise Garage's resident DJ Larry Levan (RiP). The band became one of the earliest inspirations behind the mega genre of music called “House” music. Their singles were often full-blown songs, with verse, chorus, timelessly catchy riffs and were often arranged distinctly with the dance-floor crowds in mind.
The group's formation sparked from the efforts of Crown Heights Affair's William Anderson and Raymond Reid. Soon after their formation, bassist Sandy Anderson (RIP), drummer Tony Cintron, guitarist Phil Hamilton, vocalist Stephanie James, keyboardist Lenny Underwood, and vocalist Audrey Wheeler were signed to Prelude Records in 1980 with the song "I Hear Music in the Streets," along with a handful of other singles including the number 29 U.K. chart hit "Searching to Find the One". These singles were all prior to the release of a self-titled LP that packaged the singles together. A second LP “Yes We’re Ready” followed in 1983. The Unidisc label would later re-issue the "Searching to Find the One" compilation in the early '90s.
In 1997, "I Hear Music in the Streets" was sampled by Rampage along with Billie Lawrence on their song "Take It to the Streets". The song has also been used by rapper Biz Markie, and by producer Sean Combs who sampled the bass guitar and drum breakdown for the Faith Evans song "All Night Long" in 1999.
In addition to their own UNLIMITED TOUCH chart successes, each of the members have gone on to become multi-hit makers on their own — all members composing, writing for, and performing with countless other chart-topping artists of this era. Credits including Odyssey (Native New Yorker, Inside Out), Denroy Morgan (I’ll Do Anything For You), Gwen McCrae (Funky Sensation/Can You Feel it), Fonda Rae (Over Like a Fat Rat), Taanya Gardner (Heartbeat), The Strikers (Body Music); multiple hits from the group D-Train, Chaka Khan, Gloria Gaynor, Luther Vandross, Candi Staton, Jeffrey Osborne, Tom Browne, Anita Baker, Roberta Flack, Whitney Houston and many, MANY more.
The body of music each member of UNLIMITED TOUCH has been involved with, clearly defines an entire era. This band
