Gloria Gaynor

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Gloria Gaynor
Background information
Birth name	Gloria Fowles
Born	September 7, 1949
Origin	Newark, New Jersey, United States
Genre(s)	Dance-pop, Disco, Hi-NRG, House, Urban, R&B, Adult Contemporary, Jazz
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, Actress
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	1965 - Present
Label(s)	MGM (1965-1976), Polydor Records (1976-1983), Chrysalis (1984-1985), Stylus (1986-1988), Hot Productions (1996-1997), Logic Records (2000-2004), Radikal Records (2005-Present)
Associated acts	Soul Satisfiers
Website	www.gloriagaynor.com

Gloria Gaynor (real name Gloria Fowles September 7, 1949 was born in Newark, New Jersey) and is an American singer, best-known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (Hot 100 #1, 1979), "Never Can Say Goodbye" (Hot 100 #9, 1974), and I Am What I Am (Hot 100 #82, 1983).

Contents 1 Early Career 2 Major Mainstream Breakthrough 3 Stateside Career Decline 4 Return To Prominence 5 Albums 6 Compilations 7 Songs 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Early Career

Gaynor was a singer with the Soul Satisfiers, a jazz/pop band, in the 1960s. Her first solo single was She'll Be Sorry/Let Me Go Baby (1965).

Her first real success came in 1975 with the release of her album Never Can Say Goodbye which established her as a Disco artist. The first side of this album consisted of three disco songs (Honey Bee, Never Can Say Goodbye and Reach Out, I'll Be There) with no breaks in between the songs. This 19 minute dance marathon proved to be enormously popular, especially at dance clubs. All three songs were released as singles via radio edits. All of them became hits. This album was so instrumental in introducing disco music to the public, that many later believed that Gloria Gaynor had been the first artist to record disco music. Never Can Say Goodbye became the first song to top Billboard magazine's dance chart. So, in that sense, she was the first. Capitalizing on the success of her first album, Gloria Gaynor quickly released her second album Experience Gloria Gaynor later that same year. While this album was also successful, it was not as popular as her previous album in the mainstream.

Some of her lesser-known hit singles, due to lack of recurrent airplay including, Honey Bee (1974), Casanova Brown (1975), and Let's Make A Deal (1976). They became massive hits in the clubs and reached the Top 5 on Billboard's Disco charts.

[edit] Major Mainstream Breakthrough

For the next few years, Gloria Gaynor would only enjoy a few moderate hits. It wasn't until late 1978, with the release of her album Love Tracks that she would climb the Pop charts again because of a song called I Will Survive. The lyrics of this song are written from the point of view of a woman, recently dumped, telling her former lover that she can cope without him and does not want anything more to do with him. The song has become something of an anthem of female emancipation, and is still a staple of office parties and karaoke nights. The song was awarded the first and only Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording in 1980 (the category was discontinued upon disco's fall from favor shortly afterward). In 1999, Pixar animator Victor Navoneused this song to create an alien music video which for a time was a minor Internet phenomenon.

An interesting piece of trivia about I Will Survive is that it was originally the B-side when Polydor Records released it in late 1978. The A-side, a song called "Substitute", a recent worldwide hit for South African girl-group Clout, was considered to be more "radio friendly." Radio DJs flipped the record over and audience response forced the record company to flip the songs and subsequent copies of the single listed the more popular song on the A-side. In late 1979, she released her next disco hit, Let Me Know (I Have The Right), which featured Doc Severinsen of The Tonight Show fame, on trumpet solo.

[edit] Stateside Career Decline

In 1980 and again in 1981, Gloria Gaynor released two disco albums which were virtually ignored in the US due to the ridiculous Disco backlash which began late in 1979. In 1982, Gloria Gaynor became a Christian and she began to distance herself from a past she considered to be sinful. She would not release an album in 1982. In 1983, she released an album entitled Gloria Gaynor in which she rejected disco for mid-tempo R&B and Dance-pop style songs. The album contained a patriotic song called "America" as well as a new version of I Will Survive. In this new version of I Will Survive Gloria Gaynor changed the lyrics of the song in order to advertise her new conversion to Christianity. The words It took all the strength I had not to fall apart were changed to Only the Lord could give me strength not to fall apart. The album was not a success in the Pop, Dance or Urban markets as she had turned her back on fan base by her drastic change in style. Gloria Gaynor would achieve her final success in the 80's with the release of her album I Am Gloria Gaynor in 1984. This was mainly due to the song I Am What I Am which became a hit at dance clubs, then on the Club Play chart in late 1983/early 1984. I Am What I Am made Gaynor an gay icon. Gloria Gaynor's career went into sharp decline following this hit. She mainly made her living outside of the US where there was never any Disco backlash. She only began to be revived her career Stateside just as sharply with the aggressive revival of Disco beginning in 1996.

[edit] Return To Prominence

During the late 1990s she dabbled in acting for a while, guest starring on The Wayans Bros, That '70s Show, and Ally McBeal before doing a limited engagement performance in Broadway's Smokey Joe's Cafe.

She returned to the recording studio in 2002, releasing her first album in 20 years entitled, I Wish You Love. The two singles released from the album, Just Keep Thinking About You and I Never Knew, both topped Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Both singles also secured moderate to heavy Dance format radio airplay. The latter song also charted #30 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.

Over 25 years after its release, Gaynor continues to ride the success of I Will Survive, touring the country and the world over and performing her signature song on dozens of TV shows. A few successful remixes of the song during the 1990s and 2000s kept the song in the mainstream.

On September 19, 2005, Gaynor was honored twice when she and her music were inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. She was inducted in the Artist Inductees category along with fellow disco legends CHIC and the late Sylvester and her classic anthem, I Will Survive, was inducted under the Records Inductees category.

[edit] Albums

• Never Can Say Goodbye (1975)
• Experience Gloria Gaynor (1975)
• I've Got You (1976)
• Glorious (1977)
• Park Avenue Sound (1978)
• Love Tracks (1978)
• I Have A Right (1979)
• Stories (1980)
• I Kinda Like Me (1981)
• Gloria Gaynor (Gloria Gaynor album) (1983)
• I Am Gloria Gaynor (1984)
• The Power of Gloria Gaynor (1986)
• I Wish You Love (2002)
• The Answer (2006)

[edit] Compilations

• The Best of Gloria Gaynor (1977)
• Greatest Hits (1982)
• I'll Be There (1995)
• I Will Survive: The Antology (1998)
• 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection: The Best of Gloria Gaynor (2000)
• The Gloria Gaynor Album (2001)
• Ten Best: The Millenium Versions (2001)
• All The Hits Remixed (2007)

[edit] Songs

• "Never Can Say Goodbye"
• "Honey Bee"
• "Reach Out, I'll Be There"
• "Casanova Brown"
• "(If You Want It) Do It Yourself"
• "How High The Moon"
• "Let's Make A Deal"
• "I've Got You Under My Skin"
• "Be Mine"
• "We Can Start All Over Again"
• "Life Ain't Worth Livin"'
• "Why Should I Pay"
• "You're All I Need To Get By"
• "Kidnapped"
• "Substitute"
• "I Will Survive"
• "Anybody Wanna Party"
• "I Said Yes"
• "Love Is Just A Heartbeat Away" (from the movie Nocturna)
• "Let Me Know (I Have A Right)"
• "Let's Mend What's Been Broken"
• "I Am What I Am"
• "Mighty High" (featuring The Trammps)
• "Just Keep Thinking About You"
• "I Never Knew"
• "First To Be A Woman"
• "Love Affair"
• "Oh, What A Life"
• "Rippin' It Up"
• "Perfect World"
• "Set Me Free"

[edit] See also

• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of number-one hits (United States)

[edit] External links

• Official web site
• Gloria Gaynor Interview
• Interview with Gloria Gaynor

• http://www.soon.org.uk/page32.htm
• Quasimodobell Discography with Original Cover Sleeve