There's a really good article in the February edition of Vanity Fair (with Tiger Woods on the cover - no comment) about the rise of disco. It's got interviews with lots of the major players, from Donna Summer to Robert 'Kool & the Gang' Bell to Gloria Gaynor . . . to 'the Indian' from the Village People! Lots of very interesting insights, covering the conception of what we consider disco in the gay clubs of New York through what the experts call 'the beginning of the end', when 'Saturday Night Fever' became a phenomenon and disco went mainstream.
Some of the best anecdotes include:
- Nile Rodgers (pictured below) wrote 'Le Freak' after not being allowed in to Studio 54 on New Years Eve 1977, except the song started out as 'f--k off . . . ahhh, f--k off!'
- Donna Summer only reluctantly sang 'Love To Love You Baby' after a dare that she couldn't be sexy. She says she channeled Marilyn Monroe for the recording.
- The genesis for 'Saturday Night Fever' was a New York magazine article about the passionate patrons of discos in the boroughs of NY. The article was called 'Tribal Rights of the New Saturday Night'.
The Vanity Fair article also has some great pics, including trippy photos of Grace Jones and Donna Summer and a really awesome shot of Diana Ross belting out a song from the DJ booth of Studio 54. Definitely check it out.
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