In 1971, when she was 28, Gloria Gaynor was singing at a Manhattan nightclub called Play Street.
She was surrounded by go-go dancers, one of whom fancied herself a singer.
The dancers manager arranged for Gaynor to meet Davis.
He had me sing for him five times, she recalls.
I said, This man just likes my voice.
Theres no way it takes him that long to determine if I could sing.
Davis signed Gaynor, and she recorded a song for him called Honey Bee.
Nobody was caring about somebody who got signed by somebody who was no longer there.
But an executive at MGM Records heard Honey Bee, liked her voice, and rescued her from Columbia.
They didnt call it disco then, she says.
It was just upbeat.
MGM liked it, too, and it became the title of the album.
The song went to the top of the charts, helping usher in the disco era.
It includes her new single, Fida Known, a modern take on her disco classics.
How did you come to record I Will Survive?
I was in the hospital for three months.
The record company called and said they were not going to renew my contract.
We all get to know the Lord real good when we get in trouble.
Substitute was the A-side, and they asked me what kind of song Id like for the B-side.
I said, I like songs that are uplifting, encouraging, empowering.
I said, What are you, nuts?
How can you put this on the B-side?
They said, Thats the deal we made.
And I said, Well, if its left to me it wont stay on the B-side.
How did you get it off the B-side?
He played it, and the audience immediately hit the dance floor.
Im like, OK, I dont need any bigger confirmation that this is a hit song.
And they played it, and people then began to request it.
And they had to say it was on the B-side of Substitute.
And the next compression, they flipped it and made I Will Survive the A-side.
Studio 54 was the most famous club of the 1970s.
There was a rope line, and you had to be selected to get in.
I bet you went right in.
I had some friends come in from England, and they wanted to experience Studio 54.
I said, Thank you, and we just pulled off.
Did you grow up wanting to be a singer?
There was lots of music around.
I have five brothers, four of whom sang.
They had a quartet.
They didnt sing professionally, but around the neighborhood [Newark, New Jersey] and in school.
My mother knew I could sing, but they didnt.
What were you singing?
Which singers influenced you?
Nancy Wilson, Nat King Cole, Gloria Lynne, Frank Sinatra.
I would just sing them over and over again until I could reach the range.
And thats what I miss in music today.
And they dont do that anymore.
They dont even know about it.
They dont learn from anybody.
They just say, I want to be a singer and they start singing.
Some of them are touching emotions today, but not in any deep-seeded motions.
Its all very surface.
How did you land your first professional gig?
So I just sang one song after another.
So I sang stash your Love for Me and got a standing ovation.
And the guys [in the band] came over and asked me if Id sing with them.
Theyd had a singer, but she was out that night and was very unreliable.
They needed to replace her and wanted to know if I was available.
Im like, Am Ieveravailable!
I know all of them.
We picked out a repertoire, I started singing with them and never looked back.
How did the guy at the club know you and that you could sing?
So when I walked into the club, he recognized me.
Thats one way to break into show business!
How did you go from singing the standards to becoming a disco diva?
The cabarets I was singing in were closing.
Some were switching over to disco.
I continued doing disco right up until I did my gospel album just a couple of years ago.
I just listened to it.
Thats what my documentary is about.
They didnt want to hear Gloria Gaynor singing gospel music.
I didnt think it was ending.
What made me come to that belief was that thing that happened in Comiskey Park people burning disco records.
July 12, 1979.
They called it Disco Demolition Night.
Barry Gibb once told me that that was the beginning of the end of the Bee Gees.
God calls us sheep, because thats exactly what we are.
They came up with a stupid idea, and people just followed along.
They wanted to be part of the in-crowd, just like sheep.
What did you do when it all came crashing down?
I went to 90 other countries where they werent burning records.
People still wanted to hear disco.
Disco music is alive and well and living in the hearts of music lovers around the world.
Finally, what do you make of the music business today?
I have no idea.
It is a completely different animal these days.
I dont know if its the technology that has made it so difficult and so impersonal.
