Gloria Gaynor
Biography
Gloria Gaynor, born Gloria Fowles, is an American singer, born on September 7, 1943 in Newark, New Jersey.
Her career began in the 1960s as a singer with the group The Soul Satisfiers. Her first major breakthrough came in 1975 with the album Never Can Say Goodbye. Featuring one side devoted entirely to an uninterrupted disco suite, the record played an important role in popularizing the genre. The single Never Can Say Goodbye also became the first song to reach No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s dance chart.
She quickly followed with a second album, Experience Gloria Gaynor, the same year. Other notable hits from her disco era include I Will Survive, Let Me Know (I Have A Right) and I Am What I Am. The empowerment anthem I Will Survive earned her a Grammy Award in 1980 for Best Disco Recording.
Her repertoire also includes songs such as Honey Bee, Casanova Brown, Reach Out, I'll Be There, Just Keep Thinking About You, Last Night, Mighty High, Be Soft With Me Tonight, Strive, Let's Mend What's Been Broken, This Love Affair and Love Is Just A Heartbeat Away.
After a period of more moderate success in the United States in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, she continued recording and returned to the U.S. charts in the late 1990s and the 2000s with albums such as I Wish You Love (2002) and The Answer (2006). She was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005.