Disco-Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes

Disco-Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes , also Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes , was a short-lived formation around the glamorous entertainer Sir Monti Rock III (born May 29, 1942 as Joseph Montanez Jr. in New York ) and the producer and songwriter Bob Crewe (born November 12, 1931 in Newark , New Jersey ), who had two international dance hits at the beginning of the emerging disco music trend in the mid-1970s.

history

Bob Crewe's career as a songwriter began in the 1950s. Together with Frank Slay he wrote silhouettes for the doo-wop group The Rays , which became a hit again in 1965 in the version of Herman's Hermits , and Tallahassee Lassie for rock 'n' roll singer Freddy Cannon . He became better known in the early 1960s as a producer and co-author (together with Bob Gaudio ) of many single hits for The Four Seasons , including Big Girls Don't Cry and Rag Doll . On his record label DynoVoice Records he released his own records as "The Bob Crewe Generation" ( Music to Watch Girls By ) and he discovered the group Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels ( Devil with a Blue Dress On ).

While attending a Josephine Baker concert in April 1974 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Hollywood , Crewe met Sir Monti Rock III, who had given a show in the opening act. Soon afterwards the idea arose to create the live atmosphere of Monti Rock's energetic live shows in the studio for recordings and the project “Disco-Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes” was born. Crewe knew some of the singers, musicians, arrangers and authors who were invited from his early career as a songwriter and producer. So z. b. also Denny Randell, who had worked as a co-producer for the group The Toys ( A Lover's Concerto ) in Crewe's DynoVoice studio.

Noises such as applause from a supposed audience were added to the recordings for the first, self-titled album produced by Crewe. While the contributions of "Disco-Tex" alias Monti Rock were essentially limited to cheering on his music, singing and dance troupe - the "Sex-O-Lettes" - in instrumental passages with slogans , the lead vocals were presented by various guest singers: Freddy Cannon, LuAnn Simms, Cindy Bullens or Jerry Corbetta and the Chocolate Kisses. Corbetta came from the rock group Sugarloaf ( Green-Eyed Lady ), which had its second US top 10 hit around the same time as Don't Call Us, We'll Call You . The "Jam Band" acted as an accompanying group and consisted of Bob Crewe, Denny Randell, Bruce Miller, Larry Dean and Vincent Sims. The background vocals controlled u. a. later Dance - and House - Icon Jocelyn Brown at. Seven of the ten LP titles were penned by Crewe and Randell. Kenny Nolan is named twice as a co-author.

Although not recorded in a particularly virtuoso manner, the album is now one of the classics of the disco genre and - almost three years before Saturday Night Fever (December 1977) - is also considered to be a genre-forming one. Driven by the pounding disco rhythm that runs through the entire LP and does justice to the fashion dance Bump of the time , the songs seem like from a 1920s music revue that got lost in the (later) Rocky Horror Picture Show .

Her biggest hit single in late 1974 / early 1975 was Get Dancin ' , written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, who are also the authors of the Labelle classic Lady Marmalade (Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?) . Released as a single on Chelsea in the US, it reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 . The song also hit the charts in Europe. In Great Britain he made it to number 8, in Germany to number 27. The follow-up single I Wanna Dance wit 'Choo (Doo Dat Dance) , which like Get Dancin' is also included on the first LP, also made it into the charts (UK place 6, US place 23, DE place 40).

On the LP Manhattan Millionaire (1976) Kenny Nolan took over the part of the songwriter and the producer. The album barely met with public interest and was not well received by critics. Only the release Dancin 'Kid made it into the US charts (No. 60). The project "Disco-Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes" then disappeared from the scene.

Sir Monti Rock III played a 6-minute supporting role as "DJ Monti Rock III" in the film Saturday Night Fever in 1977 . Bob Crewe now lives withdrawn from the music business and Sir Monti Rock III writes columns for the "Las Vegas Review Journal" and is an ordained minister in Las Vegas .

Discography

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	UK	US	R&B	Dance
1975	Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes Chelsea 505	-	-	US36 (22 weeks) US	R&B20 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: April 1955 feat. Sir Monti Rock III Producer: Bob Crewe
1976	Manhattan Millionaire Chelsea 516	-	-	-	-	Dance27 (1 week) Dance	First release: October 1976 feat. Sir Monti Rock III Producer: Kenny Nolan

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1974: Get Dancin ' (Collectables)
• 1975: A Piece of the Rock (feat.Sir Monti Rock III; Chelsea 555)

Compilations

• 1980: Best of Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes (2 LPs; Chelsea 5013)
• 1989: The Chelsea Collection: Get Dancing! ( Split album with Linda Carr; Start CHELD 1003)
• 1999: Get Dancin ': The Story of Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes (Sequel NEMCD 421)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	UK	US	R&B	Dance
1974	Get Dancin ' Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes	DE27 (10 weeks) DE	UK8th silver (12 weeks)UK	US10 (15 weeks) US	R&B32 (16 weeks) R&B	Dance3 (10 weeks) Dance	First release: October 1974 feat. Sir Monti Rock III Authors: Bob Crewe , Kenny Nolan
1975	I Wanna Dance wit 'Choo (Doo Dat Dance) Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes	DE40 (1 week) DE	UK6 (10 weeks) UK	US23 (11 weeks) US	R&B33 (12 weeks) R&B	Dance7 (7 weeks) Dance	First release: April 1975 feat. Sir Monti Rock III Authors: Bob Crewe, Denny Randell
	Jam Band Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes	-	-	US80 (3 weeks) US	-	-	First published: August 1975 Authors: Bob Crewe, Denny Randell
1976	Dancin 'Kid Manhattan Millionaire	-	-	US60 (8 weeks) US	R&B99 (2 weeks) R&B	-	First release: August 1976 feat. Sir Monti Rock III Author: Kenny Nolan
2001	I can cast a spell	-	UK35 (2 weeks) UK	-	-	-	First published: March 2001 Disco-Tex presents Cloudburst Authors: Ashford & Simpson , Michael Gray , Danny Harrison, Jon Pearn, Julian Jonah

More singles

• 1965: For Days and Days (as Monti Rock III; release: September)
• 1975: Boogie Flap
• 1976: Hot Lava (release: May)
• 1976: We're Havin 'a Party (It's Gonna Be Alright) (Release: September)
• 1976: Hey There Little Firefly
• 1977: Wooly Bully (release: July)
• 1977: A Piece of the Rock
• 1987: Keep Dancing

swell

1. ↑ Monti Rocks current website, s. under Sam's Story ( memento of the original from March 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits . 7th edition. Billboard Books, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8230-7690-3 , p. 612.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE UK Billboard Hot 100 Billboard 200
4. ↑ Monti Rocks current website, Las Vegas Review-Journal 6-28-2007: 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Out Las Vegas (magazine), issue August 15-September 14 2007, p. under Monti's a Minister Now  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF)  
6. ↑ Monti Rock's current website ( memento of the original from March 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ ^{a b} UK gold / platinum database
8. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9
9. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4
10. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7

Web links

• Disco-Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes at Allmusic (English)
• Disco-Tex and the Sex-O -Lettes at Discogs (English)