“For Tonight” by Nancy Martinez
Canadian Nancy Martinez was popular in her home country, but she only had one top 40 hit in the U.S. – “For Tonight”. Martinez (who is fluent in both English and French) recorded “For Tonight” for the Canadian Sizzle label. Atlantic Records picked up the song in the U.S., and also released the album that the song was from – Not Just The Girl Next Door. “For Tonight” went to number two for two weeks on the dance charts, and peaked at #32 on December 27, 1986.
Return to the 80s 
I think what doomed Nancy Martinez to some extent was the sloppy edit job at around 2:44-2:46 on the 45 Release of For Tonight. The full version and the Instrumental “Central Park” version have no choppy edits and flow smoothly. Even budget and deadline issues are not excuses for sloppy edit jobs. That alone made her lose some credibility, though that wasn’t the only cause. People may not have taken her as seriously because she happens to be a Canadian White Hispanic lady, compared to other Latinas who had Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican mixed native backgrounds. I personally liked her music back then, and still do. She was quite popular on Power 106 in Southern California back in the summer of 86, when she came on the scene. Her follow up Move Out got plenty of airplay as well, but Crazy Love bombed.
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There’s a rushed downbeat in the club mix that used to throw off my beat mixing back when I would spin this off vinyl in the 80s and 90s. I think it’s part of the “sloppy edit” you talk about. Someone did not splice the tape well on editing day. Listening to the Club Mix on iTunes, I hear it around 2:45.
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Yes J.P. you’re right about that. The sloppy edit was on the 45 single mix back in 1986. The full length version goes smoothly without a hiccup. Those were the days of cut and splice tape editing. If you have the 45 and listen to the “central park” instrumental version, that version does not have any hiccups either.
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Heard the song For Tonight on the radio in the eighties just once and never ever again. The catchy opening of the song has been on my mind since I was a child. With the aid of youtube I miraculously discovered this song, it was almost impossible to find without knowing the name or the name of the artist. The album didn’t disappoint to be honest, a few hit songs on it but I think I like Without Love the most besides For Tonight. Speaking of which, very similar to Nancy Martinez is the story of Regina in 1986. She made wonderful songs such as Baby Love, and had a powerful madonna-voice, but sadly she was really overlooked and had a lot of bad luck finding a record label..
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I really enjoy this song too. She has the same sound as Expose’. This is another song that I had forgotten about, but remembered as soon as I heard it again.
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