Gloria Gaynor

Gloria Gaynor (2003)

Gloria Gaynor (* 7. September 1943 in Newark , New Jersey ; actually Gloria Fowles ) is an American disco - singer . Her best-known hits from the 1970s and early 1980s include I Will Survive and I Am What I Am .

biography

Beginnings

Gloria Gaynor (1976)

In the 1960s she sang with the jazz / pop band Soul Satisfiers until she released her first solo single, She'll Be Sorry / Let Me Go Baby, in 1965 . This song was a rather moderate success and is not included on the best-of CD from 2000.

Gaynor celebrated her first real success with the album Never Can Say Goodbye in 1975. The first side of the LP consisted of the three titles Honey Bee , Never Can Say Goodbye and Reach Out I'll Be There ; there were no pauses between the pieces. This almost 19-minute dance marathon was often played in the clubs. She was the first singer to record her own disco music album and the first to top the Billboard magazine charts. Spurred on by the success of their first album, Gaynor brought the successor Experience Gloria Gaynor to record stores that same year . Although it was also often played, it did not match the success of the previous album.

Some of their songs never made it into the charts and only became known through frequent playing in the clubs, for example Casanova Brown and Let's make a deal . Gloria Gaynor is one of the few artists in the world who has played in the big halls, but only had a few hits in the charts. However, her following is all the more loyal and there are quite a few who have traveled the globe with her on her tours.

breakthrough

It wasn't until 1978 that Gloria Gaynor returned to the charts. With the great success I Will Survive , she got into many international charts . This song, which appeared on the Love Tracks album, was originally just the B-side of the single Substitute . But many DJs turned the record over and played I Will Survive . So the song developed its own dynamic from the underground and became a surprise hit. Even today the song is a standard at dance events, and the song is still a symbol of the gay movement. The emancipation movement of the 60s and 70s also made the song about a woman who renounced her former lover their hymn.

She was never able to build on this great success. In the period that followed, she tried her hand at numerous feature tracks, e.g. B. with The Tonight Show trumpeter Doc Severinsen. In 1980 and 1981 she released two albums that were completely ignored by both the professional world and DJs.

A year later, in 1983, the album Gloria Gaynor was released, which found a following in the disco scene, albeit a small one. On this album she covered herself with the song America . It was a remake of the hit I Will Survive , in which, however, a few lines were changed to present her "new" Christian worldview. So she changed the line “It took all the strength not to die” to “Only the Lord can give me the strength not to die”.

In 1984, Gloria Gaynor started a work with her title I Am What I Am from the album I Am Gloria Gaynor that found followers in the gay scenes all over the world and made her an idol of transsexuals. This song was originally composed by Jerry Herman for the musical La Cage aux Folles .

today

Gloria Gaynor (right, 2007)

After an 18 year hiatus, she released a new album in 2002. The two singles Just Keep Thinking About You and I Never Knew rose to number 1 in the American dance charts.

In 2005, exactly 30 years after the release of her first single, she was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame with her life's work and the evergreen I Will Survive .

Despite her status as a gay icon, the avowed Christian Gloria Gaynor drew criticism when she stated in an interview for a BBC program on July 13, 2007 that she appreciated her popularity with homosexuals because of the fact that they lead them to Jesus Christ could. Gaynor avoided the journalist's repeated questions about her personal relationship between faith and the gay fan base, as well as the question of whether she understood homosexuality as a sin.

On May 8, 2007, she visited the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and made an appearance in front of employees and patients.

In February 2011 she was awarded the Golden Camera for her life's work .

Discography

→ Main article : Gloria Gaynor / Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
1975	Never Can Say Goodbye	DE12 (28 weeks) DE	-	-	UK32 silver (8 weeks)UK	US25 (15 weeks) US	R&B21 (7 weeks) R&B
	Experience Gloria Gaynor	-	-	-	-	US64 (21 weeks) US	R&B32 (7 weeks) R&B
1976	I've got you	-	-	-	-	US107 (14 weeks) US	R&B40 (5 weeks) R&B
1977	Glorious	-	-	-	-	US183 (4 weeks) US	-
1978	Love tracks	DE34 (6 weeks) DE	-	-	UK31 (6 weeks) UK	US4th platinum (34 weeks)US	R&B4 (28 weeks) R&B
1979	I have a right	-	-	-	-	US58 (11 weeks) US	R&B56 (5 weeks) R&B
1980	Stories	-	-	-	-	US178 (4 weeks) US	-
1986	The Power of Gloria Gaynor	-	-	-	UK81 (2 weeks) UK	-	-
1991	Gloria Gaynor '91	-	AT27 (12 weeks) AT	-	-	-	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

swell

1. ^ Newark Public Schools Distinguished Alumni. The Newark Public Schools Historical Preservation Committee, p. 47 , accessed April 5, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Pink News: I Will Survive singer wants to 'lead gays to Christ' ; Article dated July 13, 2007.
   Entertainment News: Gloria Gaynor wants to “lead gays to Christ” ( Memento of December 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ); Article of July 14, 2007.
   Lyle Masaki: Gloria Gaynor leaves her gay following scratching their heads ( Memento of June 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ); Article on AfterElton.com from July 13, 2007.
3. ↑ Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
4. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
5. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .

Web links

Commons : Gloria Gaynor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)