Taylor Dayne rocking into the Riverside Casino Saturday

Taylor Dayne is in a reflective mood six months after her memoir, 'Tell It to My Heart,” hit shelves.

'It's been a long journey,” Dayne said by phone from her Los Angeles home. 'I can't help but look back and be proud. I can't help but think of my parents and their support of this kid who was compelled to become a rock 'n' roll star.”

The flamboyant Dayne knew since she was 5 years old that she would become an entertainer.

'I remember being this little girl who listened to AM radio in New York, where I grew up,” she said. 'I would be listening to Marvin Gaye, followed by The Monkees and Jimi Hendrix. Not only did I love the music, but I noticed the lifestyles these people led. They seemed to be happier than everybody else.”

Dayne, 57, pursued her dreams as a teen.

'I did whatever I could to get ahead,” she said.

Dayne, who will perform Saturday (8/24) in the Riverside Casino Event Center, laughed when contemporary institutions like The School of Rock were mentioned.

'You don't get a degree in being a pop star,” Dayne said. 'I think it's great there are classes now about how to read contracts at Harvard, and there is the Berklee School of Music. But the reality is that there is no Yellow Brick Road for this business. There is no school to learn how to deal with fame. This is a business of thieves. You should have seen what I had to deal with when I started in this business.”

After slugging it out on the club circuit for more than five years, Dayne connected with 'Tell It to My Heart” in 1987. The dance-pop hit the Billboard Top 10 pop chart.

'That opened up the door for me,” Dayne said. 'I was doing all that I could to get noticed. I remember performing in these Russian clubs and it was tough, but when ‘Tell It To My Heart' broke, things started happening for me.”

'Prove Your Love,” 'I'll Always Love You,” 'Don't Rush Me,” 'With Every Beat of My Heart,” 'Love Will Lead You Back” and 'I'll Be Your Shelter” also landed in the Billboard Top 10.

'I have a number of classics that I have to play every night,” Dayne said. 'Some people say, ‘How can you play the same songs every night?' I love it. I'm very fortunate. Those songs gave me leverage in this business.”

Dayne has a special fondness for her ballads.

'Those songs never go out of style,” she said. 'Look at the success Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson had with their hit ('Shallow”). A great ballad just blows you away.”

Dayne admitted that she cringes at some of her videos.

'It's tough for me to watch (the clip of) ‘Tell It To My Heart,'”

she said. 'I don't know what the director of that video was thinking. I wish he had listened to me.”

Her mini-movies score a thumbs up from Dayne's children.

'They say, ‘You were pretty bad-(expletive) in those videos, Mom,'”

Dayne said with a laugh. 'I guess I was. I had some fun making the videos. But the real satisfaction I get from this is that I made it in a business that is riddled with the word ‘no.' And I did it my way. I made no concessions.

'I'll never forget the first time I heard myself on the radio. A dream was realized and the cool thing is that it continues today.”

'Live Without” is her latest single, which premiered in May.

'It's a great summer banger,” Dayne said. 'It's a fun song - and we all should be having more fun.”

Taylor Dayne

WHERE: Riverside Casino Event Center, 3184 Highway 22, Riverside

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday (8/24)

TICKETS: $20 to $50, Casino Gift Shop, 1-(877) 677-3456 or Tickets.riversidecasinoandresort.com/

ARTIST'S WEBSITE: www.taylordayne.com