Sound Bar
Issue #33
Gloria Gaynor lists her favorite disco hits
By Pamela Grossman
Published: September 1st, 2007 | 12:00am
Gloria Gaynor’s 1979 smash hit “I Will Survive” has helped scores of listeners overcome breakups, pink slips, and assorted other “character-building” catastrophes and emerge from them stronger than ever. Her upcoming holiday album, Christmas Presence, features, she says, “classics and some new songs we hope will become classics.”
We caught up with her by phone on a rare quiet night in the midst of her hectic touring schedule. She shares five other disco gems that power up her dancing shoes, and we did a little research to tell you more about them.
1. ‘TURN THE BEAT AROUND’: “The [1976 original] Vickie Sue Robinson version is the one I love most,” Gaynor says. But the song was also a hit for Gloria Estefan and has become an American Idol favorite, performed by four title contenders.
2. ‘HEAVEN MUST BE MISSING AN ANGEL’: This boppy 1976 love song by Tavares (consisting of Portugal’s Tavares brothers Butch, Tiny, Ralph, Pooch, and Chubby) went to number three on the charts and remains a classic.
3. ‘WE ARE FAMILY’: Sister Sledge’s 1979 hit attracted that year’s World Series-winning Pittsburgh Pirates, who declared it their theme song, and has also become a lasting anthem in the gay community. On September 22, 2001, the song was re-recorded by a host of stars from Run-DMC to Joan Rivers in response to the 9-11 tragedy; that recording led to the We Are Family Foundation (wearefamilyfoundation.org), which facilitates cultural bridge-building activities around the globe.
4. ‘BRICK HOUSE’: Gaynor claims 1977’s “Brick House” by the Commodores as a tune she loves for dancing. It’s based on the affectionate, though not too gracious, description of sexily curvy women as “built like a brick shit house.” The song’s horn fill between “brick” and “house” stands in for the s-word.
5. ‘DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY’: First recorded by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in 1975, but Thelma Houston’s brilliant 1977 take turned “Don’t Leave Me This Way” to disco gold. The Communards’ 1986 cover was a deserved smash in the UK and holds up beautifully today.
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