Vocalist Taana Gardner was one of the leading lights of West End Records, a New York label that released some of the finest and most influential disco during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. At a very young age, the Newark, NJ-born Gardner knew that she wanted to act and sing. Her grandmother, a former opera singer, began giving her vocal lessons at the age of five. Before she hit her teens, she was already a playwright; her work was featured at the Lincoln Center and also at the Apollo.