Sylvester with the Two Tons Of Fun, Martha Wash (l) and Izora Rhodes (r)
‘You Make Me Feel, Mighty Real!’ Oh, how that lyric line sung by Sylvester, the Queen of Disco Sylvester over a gospel-tinged disco beat made those who heard and danced to it truly feel mighty. That one line can sum up the impact Sylvester had on a generation of club kids, an era of music.
January 13, 1979 – 44 Years Ago Today: Sylvester debuted at No. 85 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with his single, ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, and released as the second single from Sylvester’s fourth album, Step II. The song was already a largely popular dance club hit in late 1978, as the B-side of his previous single ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’, before it was officially being released in December.
‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ was originally recorded as a mid-tempo piano-driven gospel song; however, after producer Patrick Cowley saw a rehearsal of the song at San Francisco’s City Club, he then offered to remix the song. The result was one of the pioneering disco records using some electronic instrumentation and effects, following closely on Donna Summers iconic ‘I Feel Love’ which heavily used electronic instrumentation ahead of its time. These 1970s songs using electronic instrumentation would have an influence on 1980s and 1990s dance music, which in turn, would have an influence on dance music in the next century.
In Sylvester’s home country, the single was billed on the Disco Top 100 Chart with ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’ and both singles were simultaneously No. 1. ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’ was his first Hot 100 entry the previous August and peaked at No. 19 on November 25, 1978. The song also reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart. The single was his second Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in February 1979.
A 12″ single was released in 1978, with ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’ as the A-side and ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ as the B-side, and these two extended dance mixes proved to be very popular in dance clubs at the time. The two songs held down the top spot on the Billboard Dance Disco Chart for six weeks in August and September 1978. These two songs helped to establish Sylvester’s career as a noted disco and dance music performer, both in the US and abroad. And we danced, and danced… He made us feel, mighty real.
As Cherrill says “In time they will be regarded as nostalgic reflections of the disco era” …and as we now know they are!
Music critic Robert Christgau has said the song is “one of those surges of sustained, stylized energy that is disco’s great gift to pop music”. In 2003, Q Magazine included ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ in their list of the ‘1001 Best Songs Ever’. In 2019, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registery for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real’ and Dance (Disco Heat) can both found on his iconic albums ‘Step II’ and ‘Living Proof’ (live album).
Once again, the fashion world loses one of its most influential figures with the death of the French avant-garde couturier and costume designer. The eccentric French fashion designer passed away on Sunday. Mugler’s team has announced this via his Instagram account. He was 73 years old.
After three well-known faces from the fashion world disappeared last week (fashion journalist André Leon Talley, former top model Ghislaine Nuytten and actor and top model Gaspard Ulliel), Manfred Thierry Mugler passed away on Sunday. The sad news was shared on his Instagram last Sunday in a short statement. An all-black image reads, in French: ‘We are devastated to announce the passing of Mr Manfred Thierry Mugler on Sunday 23rd January 2022. May his soul rest in peace’.
Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg in December 1948. At the age of 14 he decided to become a dancer with the ballet company of the Opéra national du Rhin, and studied at the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. His creativity led to training as an interior designer, but in his early twenties he shifted his attention to designing clothes.
In 1967 he managed to sell his first designs to the French fashion houses Cacharel and Dorothee Bis. A period of freelancing in various European fashion capitals followed, after which Mugler settled on a houseboat in Amsterdam – some sources say he shared rooms with Sylvester, who would later have big hits with songs like ‘You Make Me Feel..Mighty Real’, and ‘Do You Wanna’. Funk’.
He moved to Paris at the age of 24 and created his own label ‘Café de Paris’ in 1973. A year later he founded the fashion house ‘Thierry Mugler’. His structured and refined silhouettes quickly became an established name.
Some people are exceptionally gifted. Fashion designer Thierry Mugler was one of them: each design was powerful, sharp, soft, outspoken, timeless and different.
In the 80s and 90s he became known in the haute couture world for his sexy style and the big names that walked around in his creations, such as Diana Ross, Lady Gaga, Liza Minelli, Beyoncé, Céline Dion, Svetlana Zakharova, Dua Lipa, but also the Cirque du Soleil were among his clientele. At the request of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, he completed his first haute couture collection in 1992.
Thierry Mugler was often in the company of colleagues Claude Montana, Jean Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa. His fashion shows were extravagant affairs held in arena-like settings and the associated collections had different themes. He was known for his sculpted designs with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Wearable art with a bombastic touch was his trademark.
I have always tried to take the body to the next level, to make people dream.
Early in his career, he designed signature looks for Michael Jackson, Madonna, Grace Jones, Diana Ross, and David Bowie; as well as outfits for George Michael’s music video ‘Too Funky’ and most notably Demi Moore’s dress from the 1993 film ‘Indecent Proposal’, once dubbed “the most famous dress of the 1990s”.
In addition, according to the authoritative fashion magazine WWD, Mugler was the first designer to force celebrities to showcase his creations at fashion shows. He was also one of the first designers to champion diversity in his runway shows, often addressing racism and ageism, and incorporating non-traditional models such as drag queens, porn stars and transgender women.
It wasn’t just the clothes that appealed to Mugler. Photography was more than a hobby, many of the photos used in campaigns were taken by the designer himself. In 1988 he publishes his first book as a photographer. He was also the director of several short films for Canal+ and several commercials for Gauloises in 1990. He not only designed the clothing, but he also directed the iconic video clip Too Funky in 1992. In 1994 he co-starred in the film ‘ Ready to Wear’ by Robert Altman.
Angel
Estelle Lefébure for Thierry Mugler Angel, 1992
In 1992, the fashion designer entered the beauty industry with the launch of the fashion house’s first fragrance. Mugler worked very closely with famed Jacques Courtin-Clarins (founder and head of the Clarins empire) and the perfumers to create a fragrance that reflected his approach to fashion design — unexpectedly, somewhere between the vulgar and the luxurious.
Created by Olivier Cresp en Yves de Chirin, Angel is a sugary-sexy blend of caramelized praline, chocolate and a patchouli accord. It would be part of a new fragrance family now known as ‘gourmand’.
Jerry Hall for Thierry Mugler Angel, 1995
Loyal fans of Angel include Diana Ross, Jerry Hall, Barbara Walters, Eva Mendes and Hilary Rodham Clinton. But the powerful fragrance, inspired by Mugler’s childhood memories of visiting the funfair in France, became the ultimate ‘party perfume’ of the 1990s.
The Angel flacon, a futuristic and technically sophisticated design in the shape of a faceted star, was designed by Thierry Mugler. Brosse Master Glassmakers manufactured the refillable flacons by hand using a special process.
Thierry Mugler Angel, 75ml, 1994 Limited Edition Etoile Couture Star, vervaardigd door de Brosse Master Glassmakers (privé-collectie).
One of the most important features was that the flacons were made of very clear glass without the use of lead, making the flacons recyclable, and the flacons were refillable ‘as in the past’. Concerned early on about their environmental impact, Mugler and Clarins later developed a refillable flacon that could be refilled at ‘La Source’- a bold move that was far ahead of its time. Limited ‘star’ flacons were released every year.
In 1996 Mugler Angel launched a male version called Angel Men or A*Men. This fragrance contains notes of caramel, coffee, vanilla, patchouli and honey. Nearly ten years after Angel, its 2005 counterpart – Alien – was released with much the same fanfare. Since then, several additional versions such as Angel Muse, Angel Nova, and Alien Goddess have hit the scene earlier this year.
Career switch
In 1997 he sold his fashion house to the Clarins Groupe. In 2002 he said goodbye to his Maison. When he went out of fashion, the designer went back to using his birth name, Manfred. Through bodybuilding and surgery, he changed his appearance, making him look like a homoerotic illustration of the French artist Tom of Finland. I have always found his transformation fascinating. In his interview with his good friend Tippi Hedren for Interview he talks about this, memorable!
The cheerful Frenchman, a lover of drama and theater, stopped as a designer in 2002 and said about it: “Fashion is beautiful, it is 3D art on a person. But it wasn’t enough, which is why I want to create in other ways”.
He did this, among other things, by focusing on making costumes and concepts for circus, cabaret and pop stars such as Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Beyoncé. At the Cirque du Soleil he directed the ‘Zumanity’ (zoo-manity) show (2003), for which he also designed the costumes. In 2008, he created the outfits for Beyoncé for her ‘Sasha Fierce-Tour’. For her ‘I Am… World Tour’ in 2009 he started working as an artistic consultant and designed both the clothing and the decor.
The return
In September 2010, Nicola Formichetti was announced as Creative Director of the Thierry Mugler brand. He changed the brand name to Mugler, removed the first name, and in January 2011, launched the revival of the brand’s menswear collection in collaboration with Romain Kremer.
After more than two years working as Mugler’s creative director, Formichetti announced in April 2013 that he and the fashion house were separating. Formichetti left Mugler to work for the Italian brand Diesel. This year Thierry Mugler returned as a creative advisor.
In 2016, Thierry Mugler created and directed the music video and staging for San Marino’s Eurovision Song Contest entry ‘I Didn’t Know’ performed by Turkish singer Serhat. In 2019 he created a ballet together with the choreographer Wayne McGregor. Mugler joined forces with the choreographer to direct something he had long dreamed of: a dance-fashion fusion presentation called ‘McGregor and Mugler at The London Coliseum’.
That same year, Mugler interrupted his designer retirement for Kim Kardashian, for whom he designed the dress she wore to the Met Gala. Inspired by Sophia Loren in the movie Boy on a Dolphin, Mugler imagined a ‘wet’ California girl; hence the name of the creation “wet couture dress”. The dress from which small drops of her body hung has now become an iconic design of his hand.
In October of the same year Mugler was a guest in Rotterdam for two days, where he exhibited his beautiful creations in the Kunsthal with the ‘Couturissime’ exhibition. The exhibition ‘Thierry Mugler: Couturissime’ in the Kunsthal brought together more than 150 outfits from the period between 1977 and 2014, most of which were exhibited for the first time. Wonderful to have seen some of his creations ‘live’ again…
I was working for Clarins in the 1990s. During the launch of Angel in the Netherlands I met Sonia Ziekek, International Training Manager for the Clarins Groupe. This very friendly and sympathetic woman brought me into contact with the right people at Mugler (thanxx always! x), so that I could work behind the scenes of various shows in Paris on the make-up. A very special time, where I met many special people (Tessa Rolink, Victoria… remember the time). So is Thierry Mugler himself, a very friendly and charismatic man. A beautiful person.
Thierry Mugler was a force of creativity and kindness. I was shocked to hear of Manfred Thierry Mugler’s passing. A man with the astonishing vision, who set the tone of the times like no other. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work for you.
Jean Amr, owner Yakymour, former makeup artist
According to his agent Jean-Baptiste Rougeot, Mugler died a sudden, natural death. According to Rougeot, the couturier still had many plans and would announce new collaborations at the beginning of this week.
Our thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and all the people who supported him in his revolutionary adventure.
If someone is going to spend a weekend in Paris soon, an exhibition of his designs is mind blowing.
Disco icon Sylvester may best be known for the international hit singles ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’, ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’, ‘Do You Wanna Funk’ and ‘Menergy’, but the recording artist’s groundbreaking career also furthered queer visibility in popular culture. Leaving a legacy that continues to influence today’s pop music.
Through the compelling new documentary ‘Love Me Like You Should: The Brave and Bold Sylvester’, produced for Pride 2020 by Amazon Music in collaboration with filmmaker Lauren Tabak and writer/consulting producer Barry Walters. The short documentary details the life and times of Sylvester James Jr., known mononymously as Sylvester.
When I saw Sylvester, my life was altered, my life was changed for the better. As a Black queer gay man, any glimmer of seeing oneself reflected back at them, through our culture, changes lives.
Billy Porter
The legacy of a musician who set new precedent for genderqueer, gay and black entertainers has been revisited the new mini-documentary. Sylvester’s story comes to life once more and the true extent of his impact – inside and out of the music industry – is explored.
It is a compilation of archival footage, as well as rare performance clips, charting Sylvester’s rise from Los Angeles choir boy to glam 1970s hit-maker. Starting with his birth in South Central Los Angeles, it charts the course of his move to San Fransisco’s Castro District and later breakthrough as a singer/songwriter.
He crossed over, he was a genderfluid Black man in mainstream music. That hasn’t happened since. There’s been a lot of us who have tried – and I’ve been trying for 30 years – nobody did it like Sylvester.
Billy Porter
While the significant influence of black culture on mainstream music extends back at least a century, James was among the first non-binary artists to achieve superstardom. As pointed out in the documentary, he championed gender fluidity years before it would be called that through his unapologetic style and demeanor.
The filmmakers also incorporate interviews with Sylvester’s sister Bernadette Baldwin, singer, actor and activist Billy Porter as well as collaborators like musician Peter Mintun, producer/songwriter James ‘Tip’ Wirrick, former background singer Martha Wash (Two Tons of Fun/Weather Girls), and Sylvester biographer Josh Gamson.
Sylvester was always ahead of us. He did things like talk about being married to a man before gay marriage was a thought. He responded to Joan Rivers saying that he was this drag queen by saying, ‘But I’m not a drag queen, I’m Sylvester.’ He wasn’t saying there’s something wrong with being a drag queen, he was saying that’s not how gender works. It was gender fluidity and nonbinary gender before we were really there.
Josh Gamson
In addition to interviews, and with his version of ‘God Bless The Child’ on the bacjground, – its is musical treasure! The kind of music he loved more then disco! – the 15-minute doc shows rare archival footage of Sylvester, including performances at The Stud, the historic San Francisco gay bar that recently shuttered. It also depicts how a 1979 show at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House was a healing, joyous moment for the city in the wake of the assassination of gay politician Harvey Milk.
Sylvester died at the age of 41 on December 16th, 1988 after a long battle of an AIDS-related illness. He had attended the San Francisco Pride parade in a wheelchair shortly before passing on to show solidarity even in his final years. His legacy, however, continues to live on…..
Watch the 15-minute documentary:
Amazon has also curated a playlist called Pride History on which ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ is an entry.
Want to read the whole story of Sylvester? Use the ‘Sylvester’ tag….
January 13, 1979 – 40 years ago today, Sylvester debuted at no.85 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with his single ‘You Make Me Feel, Mighty Real’. This Syvester James and James ‘Tip’ Wirrick-penned single was the second of three Top 40’s for Sylvester on the Hot 100 Chart and his no.1 on the Billboard Disco Top 100 where he scored 18 entries.
In the early 70’s, Sylvester joined the renegade drag act the Cockettes and taught them gospel, but otherwise clashed with their outrageous brand of sketch comedy. Yet his appearances with the group – and especially his soaring solos – quickly turned Sylvester into an underground sensation. In 1972, when David Bowie failed to sell out his first San Francisco show, he told reporters, “They don’t need me; they have Sylvester.”
A seed had been planted, and Sylvester began to perform solo as the doyenne Ruby Blue, a jazz and soul persona influenced by his grandmother that he’d first assumed with the Cockettes. He played at the Rickshaw Lounge in Chinatown, singing standards by early icons like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Lena Horne. Ruby came about, in Sylvester’s words, to inhabit “the mystery of it. The freedom of it. The glamour of it.” Here, the genesis of Sylvester’s music was born, rich in soul and spiritual traditions, with a high tenor capable of trying on different feminine vocal styles at a whim.
Sylvester’s gender identity was purposefully inscrutable. His costumes oscillated between feminine extremes, sporting tinsel tutus with bouffanted wigs, but offstage he could be just as muted. Sylvester was equally comfortable trying on “butch” signifiers like leather pants or a close-cropped haircut; both sides lived within him at all times. He insisted that he never thought about his sexual identity onstage, citing a piece of advice given to him by another one of his idols, Josephine Baker: “The illusion you create onstage is all.” Sylvester defied categorization at every opportunity, and shrugged off questions intended to pin him down with the same cool he maintained on record: “Look dear, being gay means absolutely nothing except to straight people,” he sniped to a nosy reporter in 1978.
By the time Sylvester began to cut his own records, having signed to the San Francisco label Blue Thumb, he was still finding a niche. His rock-funk music, performing as ‘Sylvester and the Hot Band’, was far from the synthy, formulaic disco beginning to dominate both the charts and the gay clubs he frequented. Sylvester was a casual disco fan at best, and it wasn’t until he signed with jazz label Fantasy, by way of veteran producer Harvey Fuqua, that he fully leaned into the vision. Sylvester released a soulful self-titled album in the summer of 1977 and followed it up the next year with the glittering ‘Step II’, which remains his most precise and dazzling album.
The album’s opening one-two punch, ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ and ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’, both flaunt Sylvester’s musical genius, but the former is his his crown jewel. Working with a band led by guitarist James ‘Tip’ Wirrick, the singer intended it as a traditional ballad and wrote lyrics off the cuff in the studio. The arrangement morphed into something else entirely once Patrick Cowley, a friend and producer obsessed with Giorgio Moroder and Euro-dance eccentrics, got a hold of the song and infused it with a synthesized disco pulse. (“I’ll always love and be grateful to you,” reads Sylvester’s dedication to Cowley in ‘Step II’s liner notes, “for being right on time.”) “You Make Me Feel” pumps with the same space-age DNA as Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” released just the year before, only with Summer’s wispy voice replaced by Sylvester’s high-wire depiction of the era in San Francisco: “To dance and sweat and cruise and go home and carry on and how a person feels,” as he described it. His falsetto dances along with tense breath control until he screams that orgasmic chorus, a full-throated Pentecostal spiritual transformed into an instant disco crowdpleaser.
Sylvester believed there were “enough love songs in the world like there were enough children,” yet ‘Step II’ throbs with passion. Sylvester covers Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s swaying ‘I Took My Strength From You’, elongating his vocals into gossamer threads and bending the song into a pure devotional. ‘Was It Something That I Said’, a rolling R&B song co-written with Fuqua, opens with a back-and-forth between Sylvester’s beloved backup singers, Martha Wash and Izora Armstead (aka Two Tons o’ Fun, who would later form the Weather Girls). “Child, have you heard the latest?” they titter. “Uh-oh, what’s goin’ on now? About Sylvester breakin’ up?” He recalls receiving a letter with a phone number, only to call and find it disconnected. The fallout leaves him overcome, a miniature tragedy writ large with funky keys, horn licks, and a spoken-word bridge.
‘Step II’ and ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ led Sylvester to international success. On the Billboard Disco Top 100 Chart, the single was billed with ‘Dance (Dance Heat)’ was his first Hot 100 entry the previous August and peaked at no.19 on November25, 1978. The album went gold (celebrated by the label with wine bottles pressed with Step II labels, no less), and Sylvester made a slew of TV appearances where he put on brassy performances for national audiences. He opened for acts such as the Commodores, the O’Jays, and Chaka Khan, and extensively toured Europe with a large band, whipping fans abroad into a Beatles-style mania. Practically overnight, all of Sylvester’s dreams of stardom had become a reality, and he hadn’t forsaken any part of himself to get there.
Sylvester received the keys to San Francisco on March 11, 1979, and ‘You Make Me Feel’ was inducted into the Library of Congress in 2018, formally confirming Sylvester’s impact on American culture at large. Go to any gay club or Pride event worth its salt and you’ll hear ‘You Make Me Feel’ blaring over the speakers at some point, spinning open and sending every person to the dancefloor to commune. Remnants of the ballad version appear on a reprise halfway through ‘Step II’, but look no further than the ascendant, gospel rendition on 1979’s live album ‘Living Proof’, recorded live at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, for hard proof of the song’s divine power, no matter the conduit: Sylvester breaks from the propulsive beat for a slowed-down interlude bolstered by a choir, his voice climbing into an angelic upper register that blows the wind out of you.
Sylvester died at 41 of AIDS in 1988, just a year after his longtime husband, architect Rick Cranmar, died of the same. Cowley, too, died of AIDS in 1982, the same year the two recorded the sleek Hi-NRG blast ‘Do You Wanna Funk?’; Cowley became one of the first publicized deaths from the virus. Sylvester also put a face to the crisis when he led the People With AIDS group in a wheelchair at the 1988 San Francisco Pride Parade. “He’s allowing us to celebrate his life before his death, and I don’t know a single star who has the integrity to do that,” the novelist Armistead Maupin wrote afterward.
“I don’t want much – just a fabulous time,” he said the year Step II came out. “I have quite normal feelings but I like to take on a little bit more excitement than most. I am what I am, I do what I do, I know what I am, I live for what I feel.” Through his extraordinary style and boundless imagination, Sylvester generously paved the way for all of us to do the same.
‘Step II’, a timeless classic, with great dance music, and some of the most beautiful ballads.
The chill of winter may be in the air, but the holidays will be a whole lot hotter this year as the First Ladies of Disco Show will be celebrating their Christmas Show at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan on November 29th and 30th. The show is flamboyantly and skillfully produced by mastermind James Washington and promises to be the fascination of the season.
With this, their firt Christmas-themed special, these heavenly-voiced performers will delight audiences with timeless holiday classics, as well as a few of their world famous high-energy hits’
Already the most talked about heritage group of the twenty-first century, First Ladies of Disco is comprised of legendary, award winning artist whose hits span multiple decades. The ensemble includes two-time Grammy nominee R&B/dance icon Martha Wash, Grammy and Oscar nominee, Linda Clifford, and Norma Jean Wright, lead vocalist of the multi-million selling group Chic.
Martha Wash
Singer, actress, spokesperson and gay icon Martha Wash, is recognized for her distinctive and powerhouse vocals. She first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O’ Fun, who sang backing for R&B and disco singer Sylvester including on his signature hit ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’. After gaining their own record deal, they released three consecutive commercially successful songs which all peaked at number 2 in the dance charts. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after they released the top-selling single ‘It’s Raining Men’, which brought them to mainstream pop attention. The Weather Girls released five albums and were heavily featured on Sylvester’s albums.
Her release ‘It’s Raining Men’, Still played everywhere was one of the most epic songs to hit the music business. Wash is also known for her transition to house music and her success on the Dance Charts earned her the name ‘The Queen of Clubland’, with C+C Music Factory; ‘Do You Wanna Get Funky’, ‘Everybody Dance Now’, with DJ Todd Tery two duets with friend Jocelyn Brown ‘Keep on Jumping’ and ‘Something Goin’ On (In Your Soul). To name just a few.
Linda Clifford
Linda Clifford, R&B, Disco and House vocalist, is best recognized for her hits, ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’ and ‘Runaway Love’. Clifford is also a former ‘Miss New York State’, and appeared in movies such as: ‘The Boston Strangler’ with Tony Curtis, ‘Sweet Charity’ with Shirley MacLaine, and ‘Coogan’s Bluff’, with Clint Eastwood.
Norma Jean Wright
Former lead singer of the group Chic, Norma Jean Wright is known for songs such as, ‘Le Freak’, ‘Everybody Dance’, and ‘I want Your Love’. After her departure from Chic, Wright pursed a successful solo career billed as Norma Jean. Her first top 20 hit, ‘Saturday’, as a solo artist came from her debut album which was produced by Nile Rodgers.
With this, their firt Christmas-themed special, these heavenly-voiced performers will delight audiences with timeless holiday classics, as well as a few of their world famous high-energy hits’. Together on one stage these three ‘First Ladies of Disco’ are receiving rave reviews from people everywhere.
First Ladies of Disco has been called “a big bright spot on the live performance circuit” by Beatselectr Magazine. The Huffington Post has said the ladies will deliver nothing short of an ‘electrifying performance’. And now for the first time, they will lend their magical voices to the music that makes the holidays such a special time of the year.
First Ladies of Disco Show deliver the gift of music and songs at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan on November, 29th an 30th.
Sylvester and his girls Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes performing live at War Memorial Opera House
In the mourning city, on March 11, 1979, then San Francisco mayor Diane Feinstein proclaimed the day as ‘Sylvester Day’, recognizing the pioneering art of the supreme diva. That very same day, Sylvester celebrated the release of his third Fantasy Records album ‘Stars’ (co-produced by Patrick Cowley) with a grand-scale, triumphant 3-hour concert at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. The gig was recorded for the live album ‘Living Proof’.
November 27, 1978, San Francisco was mourning of the killing of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone by Dan White, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. That evening, a spontaneous gathering began to form on Castro Street, moving toward City Hall in a candlelight vigil. Their numbers were estimated between 35,000 and 40,000, spanning the width of Market Street, extending the mile and a half (2.4 km) from Castro Street.
The next day, the bodies of George Moscone and Harvey Milk were brought to the City Hall rotunda where mourners paid their respects. Over six thousand mourners attended a service for Mayor Moscone at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Two memorials were held for Milk; a small one at Temple Emanu-El and a more boisterous one at the War Memorial Opera House.
Sylvester & Harvey Milk
While the city was still mourning, preparations were underway for a unique Sylvester concert at the War Memorial Opera House, several parties withdrew. It almost didn’t happen. The Opera House Board was homophobic & tried to stop the show. The lawyers for the promoter prevailed & the show went on.
On March 11, 1979, Sylvester, and his girls Martha Wash, Izora Rhodes, Jeanie Tracy and Sharon Hymes, together with a large band, and the complete 26-piece San Francisco Symphony Orchestra blew of the roof of the 3,000-seat sold out War Memorial Opera House. San Francisco where Sylvester wore the moniker of the Queen of the Castro alongside his Disco title, he blends all the colors in his musical palette into a work of remarkable imagination and spirit.
A genuine original, he was the vèry first ‘modern’ artist to perform in a classic Opera House, he was one of that special breed of performers who come fully to life onstage, who have the unfailing instincts to ignite an audience with sophistication, sass, and style. In a business where clones abound, Sylvester was the real thing.
When asked about heroes, Sylvester is the first on lips of gay men who went out dancing in the 1970’s. Sylvester embodied the disco fantasy in wich race and gender lose their relevance.
Sylvester treated attendees to ballads, covers and medleys, in addition to Sylvester’s own hits. His falsetto sound was a mix of male and female voice. Most intriguing about the venue was the sheer range of material being performed. Sylvester covered everything from the Beatles ‘Blackbird’ to Billie Holiday’s ‘Lover Man’ to Barry Manilow’s ‘Could It Be Magic’.
Sylvester’s reinterpretations of Thelma Houston’s Sharing Something Perfect Between Ourselves and Patti LaBelle’s ‘You Are My Friend’ where the standout of the show as it showcased the genius interplay Sylvester, Rhodes, Wash and Tracy utilized in their live performances. Everybody sang along to the ballad version of You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) at the end of the concert…. These last three songs where much more then just ‘beautiful songs’ in a time of the city’s mourning. There tittle’s say more then enough….
However, Sylvester’s celebratory music was the voice of gay pride. In bars, clubs and concert halls, Martha Wash, Izora Rhodes backed him. The night after his historical sold-out Sylvester Concert at the War Memeorial Opera House on March 11, Mayor Diana Feinstein declared it Sylvester Day and presented him the key to the city. The people where still mourning, but the Queen of Castro was their new hero, if he wasn’t already!
Sylvester performing live, together with the Two Tons Of Fun, ‘Can’t Stop Dancing’
Two months after the concert, on May 21, 1979, thousands of members of San Francisco’s predominantly gay Castro District community took to the streets to protest the lenient sentence received by Supervisor Dan White for the murders of local politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Their anger – combined with the actions of police who arrived to quell the scene – soon boiled over into rioting. The resulting violence affected San Francisco’s LGBT community for decades to come.
Sylvester’s voice helped foster that fight… ‘Sharing Something Perfect…’ ‘Everybody is a Star!’
Sylvester ‘Living Proof’
The Opera House gig was recorded, and subsequently released as a live double album, called Living Proof. The album contained a typically eclectic mix of blues, disco, funk and beautiful ballads. Sylvester feld that Living Proof, is “the best representation of what people had been writing about me since the day I started performing. All the energy is there”.
Living Proof present Sylvester at a key point of transition in his career where he is moving more toward his soul and cabaret roots, and paying homage to the disco that took him over the top. It is also a few years before he would go on to define NRG music.
Sylvester (lead vocals)
Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes (Two Tons of Fun) (background vocals)
Jeanie Tracy (background vocals)
Sharon Hymes (background vocals)
Eric Robinson (background vocals)
The songs:
Overture: Grateful, You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), Dance (Disco Heat)
Body Strong
Blackbird
Medley: Could It Be Magic (Eric Robinson), A Song For You
Happiness
Loverman, (Oh Where Can You Be)
Sharing Something Perfect Between Ourselves
You Are My Friend
Dance (Disco Heat)
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real): dance version/slow gospel version
On the double album are also two studio recordings: ‘Can’t Stop Dancing’ and ‘In My Fantasy’. ‘Can’t Stop Dancing’, a single released from this album, was a huge hit in the disco clubs.
The Seventies and disco soul are HOT! Donna Summer, Sylvester, Amii Stewart, Chic, Martha Wash, Jeanie Tracy, Jody Watley… And now, after hosting together the Golden Globes, Tom Ford has been the first to feature Lady Gaga on both runway and soundtrack as he debuted his Spring/Summer 2016 Womenswear collection in a video that was inspired by the Seventies music TV show ‘Soul Train’ starring Lady Gaga. The American fashion designer has just unveiled a complementing campaign for the same collection. Captured by Nick Knight in Los Angeles, the campaign channels all the energy of Ford’s debut runway film.
While many designers and labels are going places to unveil their new collections, Tom Ford dares to go against the tide of hosting physical runway shows. The American fashion designer has debuted his Spring/Summer 2016 Womenswear collection in a video starring Lady Gaga. He the first to feature Lady Gaga on both runway and soundtrack.
Music: Lady Gaga – ‘I Want Your Love’ (feat. Nile Rodgers), Produced by Rene Arsenault and Billy Mohler for Riot City (weareriotcity.com), mixed by Matty Green
Released in conjunction with Paris Fashion Week, the disco music video features Lady Gaga alongside models Mica Arga, Lexi Bolling, Kayla Scott, Xaio Wen Ju, Valery Kaufman, Aymeline Valade, Lida Fox, Lucky Blue Smith, Alex Dunstan, David Agbodji and Tarun Nijjer. Dancing to the music of Nile Rodgers, the models were captured in a film by Nick Knight.
I have always loved ‘Soul Train’, which used to be on TV in 70s, as it was much about the clothes as the music. I asked Nile Rodgers to collaborate on a new version of one of his greatest hits from that time, ‘I want your love’, and worked with Gaga to record the vocals.
Tom Ford
Tom Ford is also glad about the recent opening of a flagship in his hometown of Houston, his seventh directly operated unit in the U.S. after New York, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Dallas and Miami. “Texas is my birthplace, so there is a special significance in opening my second flagship there,” said the designer.
The campaign has launched on Tom Ford website and is also set to break internationally in the March issues of publications including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Vanity Fair.
Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem Records have teamed up again to release another volume of gay porn soundtracks by San Francisco-based musician and producer, Patrick Cowley. Perhaps one of the most revolutionary and influential people in the canon of disco music, Cowley created his own brand of Hi-NRG dance music, ‘The San Francisco Sound’.
Born in Buffalo, NY on October 19, 1950, Patrick moved to San Francisco at the age of 21. He studied at the City College of San Francisco where he founded the Electronic Music Lab. During this time, Patrick, along with his classmates Maurice Tani and Art Adcock, would create radio jingles and electronic pieces using the school’s equipment: first a Putney, then an E-MU System, and finally a Serge synthesizer. He would make experimental soundtracks by blending various types of music and adapting them to the synthesizer.
By the mid-70’s, Patrick’s synthesizer skills landed him a job composing and producing songs for disco superstar Sylvester, including hits like ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’, ‘Dance Disco Heat’ and ‘Stars’. This helped Patrick obtain more work as a remixer and producer. His 18-minute long remix of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ and his production work with edgy New Wave band Indoor Life were both of particular note.
By 1981 Patrick had released a string of his own dance 12″ singles, such as ‘Menergy’ and ‘Megatron Man’. That year, he co-founded Megatone Records to release his debut album ‘Megatron Man’. Meanwhile, Patrick was hospitalized and diagnosed with an unknown illness, which would later be named AIDS. Recovering for a spell, in 1982 he composed two more #1 hits, ‘Do You Wanna Funk’ for Sylvester, and ‘Right On Target’ for Paul Parker, as well as a new solo album ‘Mind Warp’. On November 12, 1982, he passed away.
In 1979 Patrick was contacted by John Coletti, owner of famed gay pornc ompany Fox Studio in Los Angeles. Patrick jumped on this offer and sent reels of his college compositions from the 70s to John in LA. Coletti then used a variable speed oscillator to adjust the pitch and speed of Patrick’s songs in-sync with the film scene. ‘Muscle Up’ is a collection of Cowley’s instrumental songs recorded between 1973 and 1980 found in the Fox Studio vaults. This compilation also includes bonus compositions found in the basement of Megatone Records owner John Hedges and the attic of former bandmate Maurice Tani.
Influenced by Tomita, Wendy Carlos, and Giorgio Moroder, Patrick crafted an electronic sound from his collection of synthesizers, percussion, modified guitars, and hand-built equipment. The listener enters a world of forbidden vices evocative of Patrick’s time spent in the bathhouses of San Francisco. The songs on ‘Muscle Up’ are divided into four sides, each showcasing a different facet of Cowley’s work.
Side one opens with an ambient journey through the Amazon. Tension builds on side two, with the instrumental demo version from 1975 of the slow-chugging masterpiece ‘I Need Somebody To Love Tonight’, a song that Cowley revisited four years later with Sylvester. On sides three and four things go interstellar with ecstatic space-funk and galactic workouts.
Featuring 75 minutes of music, this compilation contains soundtrack music from two Fox Studio films, ‘Muscle Up’ and ‘School Daze’, plus additional songs from the same era, never before released on vinyl. The tapes were restored and transferred using the same speed and pitch settings, then remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA.
The vinyl comes housed in a extra wide spine jacket and giant fold-out poster featuring a handmade collage using photography and xerox graphics of classic gay porn imagery from the Fox Studio vaults by Berlin-based artist Gwenael Rattke with an essay from Maurice Tani.
For Patrick’s 65th birthday, Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem Records present a glimpse into the futuristic world of a young genius. These recordings shine a new light on the experimental side of a disco legend who was taken too soon. His life was cut short on November 12, 1982, when he passed away two weeks after his 32nd birthday.
For over 40 years, Martha Wash has kept people on their feet as the Queen of dance music, dominating the genre with a gospel-infused voice that fueled a string of Top 10 hits.
Martha Wash began her music career as a backing singer for Sylvester. With fellow backing singer Izora Rhodes, she was half of Two Tons of Fun who would later be renamed The Weather Girls. As such, they were responsible for providing much of the firepower behind several of Sylvester’s earliest releases. Especially the voices of Martha and Sylvester fit perfect, and they where an amazing team.
Sylvester, ‘Stars’ with the hit’s ‘Can’t Stop Dancing’, gay anthem and tittle song ‘Stars’, and the Lieber and Stoller classic ‘I Who Have Nothing’ (Martha Wash recorded the song later together with Luther Vandross as a beautifull ballad).
After Sylvester’s hit album’s Step II, with the mega hits ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’, and his album ‘Stars’ Sylvester wanted something different, something special.
With the San Francisco Symphony, his own band with Patrick Cowley, and Martha Wash, Izora Rhodes, Jeanie Tracy, Sharon Hymes and Eric Robinson as background singers, Sylvester gave a sold out, black tie concert at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, as the first ‘non-classic’ act ever held in an Opera House.
Sylvester, ‘Living Proof’, 1979 Live recorded at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, as first ‘non-classic’ act ever. Sylvester absolutely set the stage and paved the way for all the rest … in many many ways.
After singing some of his classics, they perfomed Thelma Houston’s beautiful ballad ‘Sharing Something Perfect Between Ourselves’ a song where Sylvester and Martha’s voices fits perfect together: Sharing something perfect! The song was followed by Patti Labelle’s classic, ‘You Are My Friend’! While singing this song, it was a good reason for Sylvester to introduce his girls: “Everything I èver needed, was here right all the time”. “You see..these girls: Martha and Izora. I met them three years ago”. “We had our first rehearsel in a Volkwagen on our way to Marin county. And these girls have stuck with me all through èverthing yah, and they are here right now, and I want you to know that! You see… I don’t know if you all have noticed or not, but these women could sing yahh! ….Honey, your ear has to bé in your foot! Tonight here these women could sing! They don’t need these dresses! They don’t need that juwellery! They don’t need that hair! These women could sing yah!! Now folks, seeing is believing… right? I told you everything I could tell yeah… now it’s them to entertain……”
And they did!! Three voices that fit sóo perfect! They blew of the roof. Especially Martha Wash showed the world what she could! Not only on record she sounds clear. But live even better!
Sylvester, on stage with the Two Tons of Fun. Martha Wash (left) and Izora Rhodes (right).
…and fun they had!
Friends forever: Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes as the Two Tons of Fun. Their first album, with the hits ‘Earth Can Be Like Heaven’ and ‘Get The Feeling’.
Typical Patrick Cowley sound ‘Get The Feeling’.
When they left to pursue a career on their own, they achieved success with a handful of disco-oriented tracks, like ‘Earth Can Be Like Heaven’ and ‘Get The Feeling’, both with Partick Cowley, culminating in the 1982 release ‘It’s Rainging Men’, Written and produced by Paul Jabara and who wrote a lot of great dance anthems like Donna Summer’s ‘Last Dance’ and Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand’s ‘No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)’.
‘It’s Raining Men’ a worldwide hit that peaked at No. 2 on the UK Single Chart, No. 1 in Australia, No. 1 on the Euro Hot 100, No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 34 on the U.S. R&B chart, and No. 1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. It reached the top ten in numerous other countries. ‘It’s Raining Men’ receives regular play in dance clubs and R&B radio to this day: it stands as one of the classic songs of the late-disco and Hi-NRG era. The Weather Girls scored moderate, lesser-known hits with ‘Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man for Christmas)’ and ‘No One Can Love You More Than Me’ in 1985.
The Weather Girls ‘Succes’, 1982
The former Two Tons of Fun: The Weather Girls (Matha Wash and Izora Rhodes) performing life at The Tube their monster hit ‘It’s Raining Men’ And fun they had! (1984).
The 80’s, and 1990’s brought a lot of succes. But also a lot of sadness. In 1982, Patrick Cowley tragically died, during those very early days in the Age of AIDS, not long after he founded Megatone Records. But not only Patrick Cowley died, many friends and people in the industry, passed away in that time. Like singer Frank Loverde (Die Hard Lover) and Paul Jabara (1992). As the panic and reality around the pandemic gained steam-cutting down man after man (and woman!) in its prime during the eighties Martha Wash worked tirelessly on many AIDS benefits. She helps raise much needed funds and awareness about the disease.
Later, when the Weather Girls disbanded, Wash continued to lend her vocals to various dance and ‘house music’ tracks. Several of them became massive pop, R&B and dance hits. She sang lead vocals on all three of Black Box’s U.S. top-forty hits, including the top-ten smashes ‘Everybody Everybody’ and ‘I Don’t Know Anybody Else’ as well as ‘Strike It Up’. But when the music videos for these songs were released, Martha was nowhere to be found, as imposters lip-synched her greatest hits however, she was not featured in any of the music videos as it was customary for Katrin Quinol, a French model, to be used to lip-sync the lyrics. All three of these hit singles (still!) continued to receive regular club-play and mainstream radio airplay as of late April 2010. In addition, Wash sang lead vocals on the lesser-known Black Box tracks, ‘Fantasy’, which charted at No. 5 in Great Britain, ‘Open Your Eyes’, and ‘Hold On’. All six of these songs appear on the Black Box album ‘Dreamland’. Also, she performed uncredited lead vocals on Seduction’s ‘You’re My One And Only (True Love)’, and the lead vocals on C+C Music Factory’s ‘Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)’ which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991.
C & C Music Factory and Martha Wash performing Do You Wanna Get Funky?
In reaction to her lack of credit on a number of successful dance songs, and exclusion from their accompanied music videos, Wash sued Black Box label RCA to receive proper credit and appropriate royalties as the vocalist on all of these songs. In an out-of-court settlement, made in December 1990, Martha Wash received financial compensation and a recording contract from RCA, as well as a guarantee to be properly credited for her work in recordings. Wash later sued Clivilles and Cole, the producers for C+C Music Factory, along with the C+C record label Sony for ‘fraud’, deceptive packaging and commercial appropriation’, with $500,000 in damages; all parties settled by 1994. As a result of the settlement, Sony made an unprecedented request to MTV to add a disclaimer that credited Wash for vocals and Davis for ‘visualization’ to the ‘Gonna Make You Sweat’ music video, and a performance in the the video clip ‘Do You Wanna Get Funky’.
Under RCA, Wash released her solo debut album in 1992, with a cover photo só beautiful. The album scored three top ten club/dance hits including ‘Carry On’ and ‘Give It to You’, both of which reached number one.
Martha Wash first solo album.
Martha Wash ‘Carry On’.
In 1994, Wash covered Jean Knight’s ‘Mr. Big Stuff” for the soundtrack of the film Disney’s ‘D2: The Mighty Ducks’. Two years later, in 1996, she recorded a cover version of Elton John’s ‘I’m Still Standing’ for the soundtrack of the film ‘The First Wives Club’. Also in 1996 she recorded with a duet with longtime friend Jocelyn Brown the single ‘Keep On Jumping’. And that was what they did in clubs worldwide. A year later there was an other Todd Terry single: ‘Ready For A New Day’ and ‘Somethin Going’ On’. And 1997 she gave us alo a great duet with RuPaul singing…. ‘It’s Raining Men’. It became, again, a mega hit.
Martha Wash and Jocelyn Brown
Always to be found for charity, she was asked for the ‘Small Voices, Sounds Of A Better World’ project, in 1999. The tittle of the song says it all: ‘Listen To The People (Listen To The Sound of a Better World). In 2011 the song was used for the Arabian Spring movement, for more freedom, human rights and democraty. The single contains some great versions of this timeless song.
Small Voices Calling – Feat. Martha Wash, Listen To The People (Listen To The Sound of a Better World), 1999
Martha Wash, considered a gay icon since The War Memorial Concert in 1979 a few months after the vey Harvey Milk, continues to record new music into the 21st century such as her first new single in more than 5 years, ‘You Lift Me Up’, a fusion of gospel and house, which is the first song produced on her own label, Purple Rose Records in 2005. Wash performed in the opening ceremony of the World’s first ‘Out Games’ in Montreal in July 2006 and she performed at numerous Human Rights Campaign events in the U.S. The gay-themed podcast Gay Pimin’ with Jonny McGovern dedicated an episode to Wash and she obliged them with an extended telephone interview.
In 2006 Wash appeared as a guest on GSN’s ‘I’ve Got A Secret’, and performed ‘It’s Raining Men’ for the all-gay panel.
DJ Tony Moran’s compilation CD ‘The Event’ featured a single featuring Martha entitled ‘Keep Your Body Working’. It reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play chart for the week ending December 22, 2007.
Martha Wash ‘I’ve Got You’ (Click photo to enlarge).
Martha Wash ‘Ive Got You (Official Music Video), 2011
She was a performer at the annual Big Gay Day in Brisbane, Australia on March 9, 2008 and she also performed at the Chicago Gay Pride Street Fest on June 28, 2008, at the Nightingale as part of the Birmingham, England, Bank Holiday festival on August 23, 2008, at Washington, DC Capital Pride on June 14, 2009, and at the Opening Ceremony of the NAGAA Gay Softball World Series in Milwaukee, WI on August 31, 2009. In April 2011, the song and accompanying music video for the song ‘I’ve Got You’ were released. On Oct. 1, 2012, she was on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of ‘It’s Raining Men’, where she ‘blew of the roof’ this classic with Paul Schaffer, six back-up singers, three female dancers and three male acrobats descending from the sky.
In January 2013 Martha Wash released a solo album ‘Something Good’. The album, which has largely garnered very positive reviews, opens with the rock-oriented ‘Alright’, then moves on to the ballad, ‘Destiny’. There are a mere eight tracks on this album, which might put off some potential buyers, but every song is a winner. Quality, people! Pure timeless quality! Martha Wash is a two-time Grammy Nominee, known for her distinctive and powerful dramatic soprano voice. Ms. Wash has been dubbed ‘The Queen of Clubland’ due to her ongoing success in the dance music genre. Martha’s fame would have made her mentor, the late disco pioneer Sylvester, proud. Vèry proud!
Martha Wash ‘Something Good’.
For Martha Wash, it certainly is her time to shine!
The ballad ‘Proud’ is particularly heartbreaking and beautiful; the lyrics reminding me a bit of Bette Mider’s ‘To Deserve You’, Martha’s cover of Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On’ is a surprise, and wonderfully covered by old girl. Her second single ‘It’s My Time’ a power ballad, was written by Swedish singer and songwriter Helena Johansson. An amazing beautiful song, wich reflects Martha Wash powerful voice, has already been successfully remixed as a club number from ‘Something Good’. And the title tune, ‘Something Good’, with a light dance tempo, also seems ripe for the remixing.
In March 2013 she was the special guest for the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus in their spring production ‘Big Gay Sing 6: Club Night Out’. Like every year, we could find Martha performing at World Pride, last year summer 2014 she performed in Toronto, Canada.
First Ladies of Disco: Martha Wash, Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King and Linda Clifford launch new single ‘Show Some Love’ (Photo by Mike Ruiz).
2014, Martha Wash, Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King and Linda Clifford came together and created in 2015 the show ‘First Ladies of Disco’ inspired by James Arena’s book ‘First Ladies of Disco: 32 Stars Discuss the Era and Their Singing Careers’, a best seller in the United States, Canada and Europe.They paying tribute to some of the people that are not in the show, but were part of the disco era, like Donna Summer, and even Sylvester. These legendary vocalists are coming together to bring you what will be one of the most talked about shows in dance music history.
Martha Wash, not only one of the greatest voices in modern music. But also one of the most beautiful and loyal persons in the music business. Loyal to her friends, her colleagues, her fans, and countless ‘unknown’, Always working tirelessly on many benefits, and helps to raise much needed funds.
But now: it certainly is her time to shine! Honey, your ear has to bé in your foot!
Yakymour 