Song:I Will Survive
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Gloria Gaynor
I Will Survive was one of the biggest hits of the disco era. It was also Gloria Gaynor's biggest hit and her signature song. And it became an anthem for the gay community. Gloria Gaynor was born Gloria Fowles Sept. 7, 1949 in Newark, NJ. Her dad played New York clubs in the duo Step 'n' Fetchit. He sang and played ukulele and guitar. Gloria grew up singing in church. She was in the late 60s group The Soul Satisfiers and that's when she changed her name to Gloria Gaynor. She was spotted and signed by MGM Records president Mike Curb. On Wikipedia, it claims she was signed to Columbia by Clive Davis. That "error" is politically motivated. Davis is a Democrat. Curb is a Republican and a former Lt. Governor of California. Gloria scored a top ten hit in 1975 with a cover of the Jackson 5 hit Never Can Say Goodbye. That was produced by Meco Monardo and Tony Bongiovi. Monardo is best known for the disco version of Star Wars. Gloria recorded two albums for MGM and then moved to Polydor. She released two albums but was hindered by health problems. She took a year to recover from a car accident. And her mom died. For the 1978 album Love Tracks, she worked with producers Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren. They wrote and produced I Will Survive. Perren produced the Jackson 5, The Sylvers and many others. I Will Survive was released on the B-side of the single Substitute. But DJs flipped it over and dance clubs really made I Will Survive huge. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 1979. You'll notice there are no background vocals on I Will Survive. The video features a roller skater named Sheila Reid-Pender. She was a member of a Harlem skating group. After this, disco died and Gloria never had another hit. She left Polydor in 1982. You can get all her hits on this budget comp. Gloria Gaynor still tours and records occasionally. But I guess she's a nostalgia act at this point. Here's the video for I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.
It was a very good, defiant song in it's day. I forgot how much the gay community loved that song. To me it was also a song for many heartbroken,angry women left by their no-good husbands, or boyfriends. Letting them know they would not be missed and the women would be able to carry on just fine without them.
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