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For
those who weren't there, it's hard to Imagine the impact
of the arrival of
disco. For a decade,
it made New York
City
the center of the universe, the
decadent, dazzling and
glamorous palace of all the nightlife in the world. It became
a
whole new dance floor culture
with
its own language
and
dress and for
thousands, it was the only time they came to life, Disco created a
whole new heaven of stars, and the biggest Of these was
GLORIA GAYNOR. 
Lavish,
luminous, a powerhouse performer, Gloria Gaynor
exploded onto the scene
with
the first big disco hit, "Never Can Say Goodbye". It
was the title track to her 1973
album, the first
album 01 non-stop programmed dance music and this would pretty much
change the face
of the record
industry, Gloria would later be listed In the 1982
World Book
Encyclopedia as "Proponent of New Music".
From that
year
up until
1981
she put out an album every year,
and
every one of them
went
top 40,
In
1975,
she had
been crowned Queen of the Discos. In front Of thousands of adoring New
York City fans.
In 1978
came
an album called "Love Tracks" which featured
Gloria's,
and the era's.
biggest dance hit. and the keynote
song of a whole
culture, the
inspirational "I Will
Survive",
This
song
resonated among defiant hearts around the world, selling
fourteen million copies
practically overnight.
It turned Gloria
into not only one 01 the biggest stars in the world. winning
her the following
year's Grammy
Award for Best Disco Record. but an icon.
The song is still today one of
the most
requested songs of all time as well as the number one karaoke
selection, It's
been recorded since then in some
twenty or so
languages. including Arabic, with queen of Paris nightlife Regine
recording her own version and right now Gloria's is number
one in the
charts in Australia
after having been
released from the
soundtrack to the smash hit movie shot there, "Priscilla. Queen Of The
Desert",
Gloria was now the
undisputed superstar in a world fueled by money, sex and cocaine; her
new realities began to collide with her quiet Baptist small town New
Jersey upbringing, She
began a quest for some spiritual solid ground: it took
her through brief associations
with Scientology,
Buddhism, Catholicism, Transcendental Meditation a1d
Jehovah's Witnesses
until she
had completed 8 circle back to her beginning, In
1982, she
became a born-agaIn
Christian,
In '84. she came out with the terrific
album, "I Am What I Ain't,
with a title
song of passionate affirmation strong enough to musically reunite a
culture scattered by the closing of the clubs and the pall that
AIDS
was now casting over city nightlife,
For
Gloria, it
would be another
big hit.
_Gloria
had toured the world performing In some 75 countries, giving concerts
before Princess Grace
of Monaco
and the
families of Presidents Carter
and Sadat,
among
others, and now she began
to
spend a great deal
of time In
Europe, where her fans, particularly the French and the Italians,
worshipped her. Between 1985 and 1990 she released some six albums in
Italy, France and England, including "Gloria Gaynor '90"
which went
gold in Italy.
The albums Increasingly reflected her own new music, including
some
self-penned
and
some gospel, but all
would include the favorites her fans wouldn't let die. She continued
to perform at major events. She headlined the very first East-West
German reunification concert. She sang for Elizabeth Taylors' AIDS
benefits.
Then, something extraordinary. A huge
seventies revival
started in America:
with it,
disco, and
with it,
disco's biggest
star. Gloria appeared
in the television spectacular, "Celebration Of The '70s", with
renditions of "I Will Survive" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" that showed
she hadn't lost one Iota of her pcwer or her luster.
Gaynor, who'd never gone away,
was back!
We're
in the present.
Two albums
have just been
released: in Europe, "Best Of Gloria Gaynor" is streaking up the
charts. It Includes a completely remixed version of _I Will
Survive" and
her own dynamic
version
of
"Stop I In The Name Of Love", which even Diana Ross
fans are grudgingly
conceding to be the better.
Here,
Radikal
Records have put out a 17-song double CD, _I'II Be There",
which includes a great duet
with
Isaac Hayes
on Barry
White's classic, "You Are My Everything", along with
some old, some new, some ballads and some gospel
Gloria's just set out on a major European tour, which
will run Immediately into a nine-c!ty tour of
Australia.
She's in the final throes of writing her autobiography
for Harper Collins/UK. called
-
what else?
-
." Will Survive".
Gloria Gaynor still lives
in New Jersey with
her husband of fifteen years.
Though she never
had children, she dotes on
some thirty-nine nephews and
nieces. She credits the happiness and stability
she feels today to God's
presence
In her
life; believes that her music is the tool He uses to pierce the flesh to
get through to the spirit. Gloria Gaynor uplifts us all.
Call CJ DiRoma at 856-665-5513 for more information and availability
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