Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.
LaDonna Adrian Gaines, known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.
Thelma Houston is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
Tina Charles is an English singer who achieved success as a disco artist in the mid to late 1970s. Her most successful single was the UK no. 1 hit "I Love to Love " in 1976.
Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label currently focuses on dance and electronic music under the direction of Brett Alperowitz.
Alec Rupen Costandinos, is a French composer, music producer, songwriter and singer of the 1970s, known for his contributions to disco music. His father was Armenian and his mother was Greek. Costandinos dominated the disco and Euro-disco genres in the late 1970s. He began his career as a publisher and producer for various artists, including French pop star Claude Francois and chanteuse Dalida. After writing Cerrone's "Love in C Minor" (1976), Costandinos was signed to Barclay Records. He released his first album, Love & Kisses in 1977, which featured the hit track "I Found Love ". Costandinos went on to release a number of wildly successful records under the prominent American disco label, Casablanca. His album, Romeo & Juliet has been credited for bringing the concept album to dance music. He also wrote "Thank God It's Friday", the theme track to the disco film by the same name.
Pattie Brooks is an American singer most frequently associated with the disco era. She was born in Fort Riley, Kansas to a military family. Her first break came in 1968 when she auditioned for the chorus on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In the next decade she became a sought-after backing singer, appearing on the Bobby Darin Show and touring with, among others Helen Reddy. She sang backing vocals on Donna Summer's album I Remember Yesterday.
Thank God It's Friday is a 1978 American musical disco comedy film directed by Robert Klane and produced by Motown Productions and Casablanca FilmWorks for Columbia Pictures. Produced at the height of the disco craze, the film features The Commodores performing "Too Hot ta Trot", and Donna Summer performing "Last Dance", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1978. The film features an early performance by Jeff Goldblum and the first major screen appearance by Debra Winger. The film also features Terri Nunn, who would go on to fame in the 1980s new wave group Berlin. This would be one of several Columbia Pictures films in which the studio's "Torch Lady" came to life in the opening credits, showing off her moves for a few seconds prior to the start of the film.
Voyage was a French disco and pop group, consisting of André "Slim" Pezin (guitar/vocals), Marc Chantereau (keyboards/vocals), Pierre-Alain Dahan (drums/vocals) and Sauveur Mallia (bass), together with British lead vocalist Sylvia Mason-James, who sang on the group's first two albums, Voyage (1977) and Fly Away (1978).
Live at the London Palladium is a live double album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released March 15, 1977, on Tamla Records. Recording sessions took place live at several concerts at the London Palladium in London, England, in October 1976, with the exception of the hit single "Got to Give It Up", which was recorded at Gaye's Los Angeles studio Marvin's Room on January 31, 1977. Live at the London Palladium features intimate performances by Gaye of many of his career highlights, including early hits for Motown and recent material from his previous three studio albums. As with his previous live album, Marvin Gaye Live!, production of the record was handled entirely by Gaye, except for the studio portion, "Got to Give It Up", which was managed by Art Stewart.
D.C. LaRue is an American singer, songwriter and producer. His music was successful in clubs and on dance music charts worldwide during the 1970s and early 1980s.
"Last Dance" is a song by American singer Donna Summer from the soundtrack album to the 1978 film Thank God It's Friday. It was written by Paul Jabara, co-produced by Summer's regular collaborator Giorgio Moroder and Bob Esty, and mixed by Grammy Award-winning producer Stephen Short, whose backing vocals are featured in the song.
"Thank God It's Friday" is a 1978 disco song by the studio disco group Love & Kisses, popularized as the theme song of the film by the same name. It was written by European composer and producer Alec R. Costandinos. Along with the tracks: "Last Dance" by Donna Summer, "After Dark" by Pattie Brooks, and "Take it to the Zoo" by Sunshine, "Thank God It's Friday", peaked at #1 on Billboard's Disco charts. On other US charts, "Thank God It's Friday" went to #23 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and #22 on the Hot 100.
Paul Jabara, also known as Paul Frederick Jabara, was an American actor, singer, and songwriter of Lebanese ancestry, born in Brooklyn, New York. He wrote Donna Summer's Oscar-winning "Last Dance" from Thank God It's Friday (1978) as well as "No More Tears " her international hit duet with Barbra Streisand. He also cowrote The Weather Girls iconic hit "It's Raining Men". Jabara's cousin Jad Azkoul is a Lebanese-American musician specializing in classical guitar.
"If I Can't Have You" is a disco song written by the Bee Gees in 1977. The song initially appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in a version by Yvonne Elliman, released in November 1977. The Bee Gees' own version appeared a month later as the B-side of "Stayin' Alive".
Ross is the ninth studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 3, 1978 by Motown Records. The album served as a new album and a compilation, as it was a mixture of old and new songs. Side A consisting of four new tracks recorded in 1978, and Side B of material recorded by Ross between 1971 and 1975, but remixed and/or extended by Motown in-house producer Russ Terrana specifically for the Ross album. Ross peaked at number 49 on the US Pop Albums chart, and number 32 on Black Albums. The album failed to chart in the UK. Its final US sales figures stood at around 150,000 copies. The cover illustration was by Rickey Ricardo Gaskins. A different album also titled Ross was released on the RCA label in 1983.
Love Explosion is the fourth solo studio album by Tina Turner, released late 1979 on the EMI label in Europe, Ariola Records in West Germany and United Artists Records in the UK. Italy and South Africa followed in early 1980. The album was not released in the United States. It was her second solo album released after she left husband Ike Turner and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Love Explosion failed to chart, so Turner lost her recording contract. It would be her last album until the critically acclaimed Private Dancer in 1984.
"I Found Love " is a song by Love & Kisses, a studio group formed by Cairo-born French musician Alec R. Costandinos. Along with the song "Accidental Lover", "I Found Love ", from the group's 1977 self-titled debut studio album, hit number one on the US Hot Disco Singles chart for three weeks in July 1977. The song, written and produced by Costandinos, can be found on the compilation CD Disco Nights Vol. 3: The Best of Euro Disco. A brief snippet of this song is used in "The Diva Megamix", which is on Pure Disco 2.
