Song:Keep On Dancin'
Album:Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah: 70's New York Disco
Keep On Dancin' was a number one dance hit at the height of the disco era in 1978. It also crossed over to the pop charts. Gary's Gang wasn't a group at first. Joseph Tucci and Gary Turnier wrote and recorded Keep On Dancin' in Tucci's garage in Queen's, NY. Turnier played drums but Tucci played all the other instruments and sang all the vocals. When the song got some attention in New York clubs, SAM Records A & R man Daniel Glass was a DJ himself and he took the song to label owner Sam Weiss. SAM was distributed by Columbia. Weiss had been around since the 50s and his son owns Nervous Records. Glass went on to Chrysalis Records in the 80s and then worked at EMI and Universal. So when Keep On Dancin' broke at a national level, Tucci formed a group so he could go out and make appearances to promote the record. It topped the Dance Music chart and reached #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Tucci called himself Eric Mathew. Gary's Gang released an album and then Tucci left SAM and started his own label Radar Records, not to be confused with the British label also called Radar Records. Tucci recorded as Gary's Gang and then Status IV and also produced Toney Lee and Sharon Redd. He sold Radar to the Montreal based disco label Unidisc and they have have released the Gary's Gang recordings on a 2CD comp. But I think most folks will only want Keep On Dancin' and you can get it on this various artist comp from the Dutch label Back Beats. Keep On Dancin' got a big boost when it was used on the soundtrack of the 1998 film 54. Joseph Tucci is still part of the New York dance music scene and occasionally releases mix tapes. Here's Gary's Gang performing Keep On Dancin' on American Bandstand 1979.
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