LaDonna Adrian Gaines, known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. 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.
Deborah Ann Gibson is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer and actress.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1979.
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama The Threepenny Opera. The song has become a popular standard recorded by many artists, including a US and UK number one hit for Bobby Darin in 1959.
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano singer and actress.
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audience. This can be seen, for example, when a song appears on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical styles or genres. If the second chart combines genres, such as a "Hot 100" list, the work is not a crossover.
Vicki Sue Robinson was an American theatre and film actress, and singer, closely associated with the disco era of late 1970s pop music; she is most famous for her 1976 hit, "Turn the Beat Around".
David Goldstein, better known as Rupert Holmes, is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, musician, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles "Escape " (1979) and "Him" (1980). He is also known for his musicals The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which earned him two Tony Awards, and Curtains, and for his television series Remember WENN.
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is a song recorded by Julie Covington for the 1976 concept album Evita, later included in the 1978 musical of the same name. The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were researching the life of Argentine leader Eva Perón. It appears at the opening of the first and second acts, as well as near the end of the show, initially as the spirit of the dead Eva exhorting the people of Argentina not to mourn her, during Eva's speech from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, and during her final broadcast.
Deborah Cox is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before becoming a professional backing vocalist for Celine Dion. In 1994, Cox relocated to the United States and was signed to Arista Records by Clive Davis, releasing her self-titled debut album the following year. Her second studio album, One Wish (1998), was certified platinum in the United States. It was marked by the commercial success of the pop crossover single "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here", which would become her most successful entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number two and remaining there for eight consecutive weeks. Cox signed with J Records for her third studio album The Morning After (2002), which saw moderate commercial success.
"MacArthur Park" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb that was recorded first by Irish actor and singer Richard Harris in 1968. Harris's version peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number four on the UK Singles Chart. "MacArthur Park" was subsequently covered by numerous artists, including a 1969 Grammy-winning version by country music singer Waylon Jennings and a number one Billboard Hot 100 disco arrangement by Donna Summer in 1978.
Crystal Waters is an American house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits "Gypsy Woman", "100% Pure Love", and 2007's "Destination Calabria" with Alex Gaudino. All three of her studio albums produced a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as one of the most successful dance artists of all time. Her accolades include six ASCAP Songwriter awards, three American Music Award nominations, an MTV Video Music Award nod, four Billboard Music Awards and twelve No. 1 Billboard Dance Chart hits. Her hit song "Gypsy Woman" was sampled in musician Trey Songz's 2017 song "1x1" from his album Tremaine the Album, which she co-wrote. Though her music sales have yet to be re-certified, Waters has sold over 2 million records worldwide.
Jennifer Yvette Holliday is an American actress and singer. She started her career on Broadway in musicals such as Dreamgirls (1981–83), Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1980–1981) and later became a successful recording artist. She is best known for her debut single, the Dreamgirls number and rhythm-and-blues/pop hit, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", for which she won a Grammy in 1983. She also won a 1982 Tony Award for Dreamgirls.
"Come on-a My House" is a song performed by Rosemary Clooney and originally released in 1951. It was written by Ross Bagdasarian and his cousin, Armenian-American Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan, while driving across New Mexico in the summer of 1939. The melody is based on an Armenian folk song. The lyrics reference traditional Armenian customs of inviting over relatives and friends and providing them with a generously overflowing table of fruits, nuts, seeds, and other foods.
"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the 1980 musical Les Misérables. It is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron. The English lyrics are by Herbert Kretzmer, based on the original French libretto by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel from the original French production.
"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" is a torch song from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, with lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger. In the context of the musical, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" is sung by the character Effie White, a singer with the girl group The Dreams, to her manager, Curtis Taylor Jr., whose romantic and professional relationship with Effie is ending. The lyrics to "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", often considered the show's signature tune, describe Effie's love for Curtis, both strongly devoted and defiant. She refuses to let Curtis leave her behind, and boldly proclaims to him, "I'm staying and you ... you're gonna love me."
"Good Girls Go Bad" is a song by American pop band Cobra Starship with guest vocals by Leighton Meester. It was the first single released from their third studio album, Hot Mess. The song was released digitally through iTunes on May 11, 2009. On May 8, 2009, "Good Girls Go Bad" made its radio debut on KIIS-FM with Ryan Seacrest's show.
Amanda Ava Koci, known professionally as Ava Max, is an Albanian-American singer and songwriter. Max signed with Atlantic Records in 2016, through which she released the song "Sweet but Psycho" in August 2018. It became her breakthrough single after peaking at number one in 22 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, and New Zealand. The song also peaked at number two in Australia, and at number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In March 2020, Max released the song "Kings & Queens", which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. It was followed by the release of her debut studio album, Heaven & Hell, in September 2020, which charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and at number 27 on the US Billboard 200. In November 2020, the song "My Head & My Heart" was released, which peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Sweet but Psycho" is a song by American singer Ava Max, released on August 17, 2018, through Atlantic Records as the first single from her debut studio album, Heaven & Hell (2020). The song was written by Max, Madison Love, Tix, Cook Classics, and the producer Cirkut. It is a pop, dance-pop, electropop, and synth-pop song with lyrics about the perception of a woman. The song's title was inspired by frequent interactions between Max and her parents. The song's lyrics and subsequent music video became controversial for allegedly stigmatizing the perception of mental illnesses; mental health organizations in Ireland attempted to ban the song from radio. "Sweet but Psycho" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, who praised its upbeat sound and catchy chorus.
Albanian-American singer Ava Max has released one studio album, one extended play, 19 singles, eight promotional singles and 20 music videos. In 2008, Max released an independent extended play on her Myspace profile titled Amanda Kay. She released "Take Away the Pain" under the stage name Ava in 2013, which was later produced by the Canadian duo Project 46 in 2015.
