James William Somerville is a Scottish pop singer and songwriter. He sang in the 1980s with the synth-pop groups Bronski Beat and the Communards, and has also had a solo career. He is known in particular for his powerful and soulful countertenor/falsetto singing voice. Many of his songs, such as "Smalltown Boy", contain political commentary on gay-related issues.
The Weather Girls are an American female duo whose best-known line-up comprised Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. Formed in 1976 in San Francisco, California, Wash and Armstead began their musical careers as Two Tons O' Fun, the female backup duo for disco singer Sylvester. After several years of singing background for Sylvester, the duo was signed in 1979 to Fantasy Records as Two Tons O' Fun. The duo changed their name to The Weather Girls and were launched into somewhat more mainstream recognition following the release of the single, "It's Raining Men" (1982), which became their first number-one song on the US Dance Chart and their biggest hit. Despite having several hit songs on the Dance Chart as Two Tons O' Fun and The Weather Girls, the duo never achieved a top 40 hit on the main US Hot 100 and ultimately disbanded in 1988 after the release of their self-titled fifth album The Weather Girls.
Izora Margaret Rhodes-Armstead was an American singer. Known for her distinctive alto voice, Armstead first achieved success as one half of the duo Two Tons O' Fun, along with Martha Wash, as they sang backup for American disco singer Sylvester. The duo obtained their own record deal as Two Tons O'Fun in 1979. They released three consecutive songs that were hits on the Dance Chart. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after the release of their single "It's Raining Men", their most successful single. As a duo, The Weather Girls released five albums and were also featured on Sylvester's albums.
Dance Club Songs was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by Billboard magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the United States.
Martha Elaine Wash is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, who sang backing vocals for the disco singer Sylvester including on his signature hit "You Make Me Feel ". After gaining their own record deal, they released three consecutive commercially successful songs which all peaked at number two in the dance charts. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after they released the top-selling single "It's Raining Men", which brought them to mainstream pop attention. The Weather Girls released five albums and were heavily featured on Sylvester's albums.
Byron Stingily is an American R&B and house-music singer born in Chicago, Illinois, known for his falsetto voice. He is now a part-time principal at a school in Chicago while still performing.
Jeanie Tracy is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as a background singer of Sylvester, an American disco singer. Her first album, Me and You (1982), featured post-disco hits "I'm Your Jeanie","Sing Your Own Song" and the overlooked 1983 smash R&B and Funk hit,"Can I Come Over And Play With You Tonight". From late 1984 to early 1985, she performed on television Show Star Search where she was the winner in the Female Vocalist category for six weeks. In 1995, Tracy released her second album It's My Time.
From October 26, 1974 until August 28, 1976, Billboard's Disco Action section published weekly single retail sales charts from various local regions along with Top Audience Response Records in their magazine. Billboard debuted its first national chart devoted exclusively to 12-inch Singles Sales in their issue dated March 16, 1985. This record type is most commonly used in disco and dance music genres where DJs use them to play in discos or dance clubs because of the exclusive extended remixes that are often only made available on this format, but Billboard's 12-inch Single Sales chart ranks releases by artists from all styles of music that release maxi-singles.
"I Feel Love" is a song by the American singer Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, I Remember Yesterday (1977). The album concept was to have each track evoke a different musical decade; for "I Feel Love", the team aimed to create a futuristic mood, employing a Moog synthesizer.
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 song by American soul singer Aretha Franklin released as a single by the Atlantic label. The words were written by Gerry Goffin from an idea by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and the music was composed by Carole King. Written for Franklin, the record reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became one of her signature songs. It made history on the UK Singles Chart a week after her death, finally becoming a hit almost 51 years after it was first released, entering at No. 79. Franklin also included a live recording on the album Aretha in Paris in 1968.
Michael Anthony Gray, better known as Michael Gray, is a British DJ and house music producer. He is also half of the dance music production and remixing duo Full Intention.
"We Are Family" is a song recorded by American vocal group Sister Sledge. Composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, they both offered the song to Atlantic Records; although the record label initially declined, the track was released in April 1979 as a single from the album of the same name (1979) and began to gain club and radio play, eventually becoming the group's signature song.
"Read My Lips" is a song written and performed by Scottish singer-songwriter Jimmy Somerville from his 1989 début solo album Read My Lips. The song discusses the need for increased funding to fight HIV/AIDS.
"Touch Me Like That" is a dance-pop song performed by Dannii Minogue and Jason Nevins. The song was written by Jason Nevins, Lisa Molina, Sylvester James and James Wirrick. It samples the melody of the disco song "You Make Me Feel ", originally performed by Sylvester. The song is the sixth and final single from Minogue's fifth album Club Disco (2007).
"You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" is a song credited to British singer Leo Sayer, taken from his 1976 album Endless Flight.
"Dance (Disco Heat)" is a song by American singer Sylvester. The song appears on his 1978 album Step II and features backing vocals by Two Tons O' Fun.
Scottish recording artist Jimmy Somerville has entered the music industry as the frontman of the synth-pop act, known as Bronski Beat. Alongside, he would score an early international success with a series of top-ten hits, such as "Smalltown Boy", "Why?" and "I Feel Love Medley"; all taken from the trio's debut album, The Age of Consent (1984), as well the remix equivalent, Hundreds & Thousands (1985). A similar status enjoyed the follow-up hit singles: "Don't Leave Me This Way", "So Cold the Night" and "Never Can Say Goodbye"; these though, were recorded for the eponymous set of his later duo Communards (1986), or its Red successor (1987) yet. The singer's own full-length debut would see its eventual results at the very end of the 1980s, marking the ending of his former bands' years, or rather the beginning of his solo era since.
All I Need is the sixth studio album by the American recording artist Sylvester, and first released on Megatone Records. The album was praised by the LGBT community media as a return to form, recalling the energy of "You Make Me Feel " released four years earlier. The San Francisco Sentinel wrote that the album was "pure pop geared directly for the I-Beam crowd that wants to boogie down for seven cuts." The Bay Area Reporter said the album was "masterful", gushing "Syl doesn't just present music, he is music at its dynamic best." Mainstream music magazine Billboard noted that the album was "his most consistent [and] interesting" since the late 1970s. In a retrospective review, AllMusic assessed the album poorly, writing that Sylvester "was now floundering, with his high-energy brand of disco out of fashion." In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked "Do Ya Wanna Funk" number 179 in their list of 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time.
Step II is the fourth studio album by American singer Sylvester, released in 1978 on the Fantasy label.
"Get Up" (also known as "Get Up (Everybody)") is a song by American house music singer-songwriter Byron Stingily, formerly of the band Ten City. A massive hit in the clubs, it was released in 1996 by Nervous Records and Manifesto Records, and samples Sylvester's 1978 song "Dance (Disco Heat)". "Get Up" was written by Stingily with the producers, Paul Simpson and Zack Toms. It reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1997 and was a top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 14, while going right up to number-one on the UK Dance Singles Chart in January 1997. The single has sold 300.000 units worldwide, and in 1998, it was included on Stingily's debut solo album, The Purist. In 2007, new remixes were released.
