Music Throughout the Ages

Some of today’s recording artists duplicate the funky sounds of the seventies, selecting instrument arrangements that mentally take people back to the seventies; a time where Disco Techs were the place to be on the weekends. Most people brand seventies music with the sound of Disco. Although disco is the most noted sound of the seventies, other musicians with unique sounds also planted their seeds of music during that decade.

First There Was Disco

Donna Summer

Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines December 31, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who gained prominence during the disco era of music. In the summer of 1975, Summer approached Moroder and Bellotte with an idea for a song. The song, titled “Love to Love You Baby” was Summer’s first big hit in America, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in early 1976 and becoming her first Number-One Hot Dance Club Play chart hit. The album was also released in late 1975 and was soon certified Gold for sales of over 500,000 US copies.

Donna Summer also released a 1977 Album entitled ‘I Remember Yesterday’ with another top 100 Billboard hit ‘I Feel The Love’ reaching #6 on the Pop and R&B charts. In 1978 Summer acted in the film Thank God It’s Friday and released the single “Last Dance” which became her third US million-selling single. Written by the late Paul Jabara. The song became another major hit for Summer, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and resulting in her first Grammy win. Jabara took home the Oscar after the song was nominated for Song Of The Year.

That same year, Donna released her first live album, Live and More. It knocked Linda Ronstadt’s triple Platinum ‘Living In The USA’ out of the #1 position on Billboard’s Album Chart. This was Summer’s first #1 album as well as her first to reach the million-selling Platinum mark. It included her first #1 American Pop single, a cover of the Jimmy Webb-penned “MacArthur Park”. The studio part of the album included the tracks “One Of A Kind” and “Heaven Knows”.

In 1979, Summer released the landmark double-album Bad Girls. Unusual for a disco album, it mixed Rock, Funk, Blues and Soul into electronic beats. It yielded three consecutive million-selling singles: the back-to-back #1 hits “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls”, and the #2 hit “Dim All The Lights”. “Bad Girls” also became Summer’s first #1 song on Billboard’s R&B singles chart. With US record sales at an all-time apex in 1979, Summer had a straight run of five US Gold singles (three of which went on to Platinum status) that year alone. “Hot Stuff” won Summer a second Grammy, for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Summer’s first compilation album, On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2, was a global smash and her third straight #1 US album - also going multi-platinum. With this, Summer became the first artist to have three consecutive number-one double-albums. Summer is the first artist ever to have a #1 Billboard Dance hit in each of the past four decades earning her the true title of The Queen of Disco.

The Bee Gees

The Bee Gees were a singing trio of brothers — Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. They were born on the Isle of Man to English parents, lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England and during their childhood years moved to Brisbane, Australia, where they began their musical careers. No matter the style, the Bee Gees sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognizable. Barry sang lead on many songs, and an R&B falsetto introduced in the disco years; Robin provided the clear vibrato lead that was a hallmark of their pre-disco music; Maurice sang high and low harmonies throughout their career.

In 1958, the Gibb family, including infant brother Andy (born 5 March 1958 in Manchester, England), emigrated to Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. They were introduced to radio DJ Bill Gates by racetrack promoter Bill Goode (who saw them perform at Brisbane’s Speedway Circuit). Gates renamed them the “Bee Gees” after his and Goode’s initials – thus the name was not specifically a reference to “Brothers Gibb”, despite popular belief.

In the later part of the 1970’s the Bee Gees hit #3 in America with “Lonely Days” (from the reunion LP 2 Years On) and had their first U.S. #1 with “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” (from Trafalgar). The trio’s talents were included in the soundtrack for the 1971 film Melody as they performed several songs for the title. In 1972, they hit #16 with “Run to Me” from the LP To Whom It May Concern; the single also returned them to the British top ten for the first time in three years.

Following a successful live album, Here at Last… The Bee Gees… Live, the Bee Gees agreed to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It would be the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was tremendous not only in the United States but also in the rest of the world, bringing the nascent disco scene into the mainstream. Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. They wrote the songs “virtually in a single weekend” at the Chateau D’Heuroville studio, in France. Robert Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze; rather, it prolonged it.

Three Bee Gees singles (“How Deep Is Your Love”, “Stayin’ Alive”, and “Night Fever”) reached #1 in the United States and most countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song “If I Can’t Have You” which became a #1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees own version was the B-Side of Stayin’ Alive. Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song “More Than a Woman” received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated as an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit.

Fueled by the movie’s success, the album broke multiple records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. Saturday Night Fever has since sold circa 40 million copies worldwide, making it the best selling soundtrack album of all time. Yet there was other music besides disco that beautified the seventies with colorful music.

Funk Music

Earth, Wind & Fire is an African-American soul band led by Maurice White that achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. The group was formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969. White recruited Chicago singer Sherry Scott, along with local percussionist Phillard Williams, and then asked his younger brother Verdine whether he’d like to head out West. Verdine White joined the band in 1970 as their new bassist.

In 1972 Jessica Cleaves was added to the group as well as Roland Bautista on guitar, Larry Dunn (keyboard), Ralph Johnson (musician) (percussion) and Philip Bailey. A performance at New York’s Rockefeller Center introduced EWF to Clive Davis, then President of Columbia Records. Davis loved what he saw and bought their contract from Warner Brothers.

Earth, Wind & Fire’s true breakthrough came in the form of the soundtrack to That’s the Way of the World in 1975. In 1974 Earth Wind & Fire worked with Sig Shore, the creator of the motion picture Super Fly, on a new film about the dark side of the recording industry. That’s The Way Of The World starred Earth Wind & Fire as “The Group,” a new recording act. In the film, Harvey Keitel hears “The Group” performing, and produces their first album. The film’s title is repeated throughout the film as a shrug of the shoulders to the music world. Earth Wind & Fire performed the songs in the film, and Maurice had a small speaking part as leader of “The Group.”

Though the film was not a success, the song “Shining Star” became a huge mainstream hit and helped launched the band’s career. It was the first time that the band could afford a full horn section. This album also included the hit songs “Reasons,” “Happy Feeling,” and “All About Love,” which received constant radio airplay on R&B stations. Their second song to reach the pop Top 10, “Sing a Song”.

EWF’s June ‘75 sessions produced “Sing A Song” and “Can’t Hide Love,” the latter written by Clarence “Skip” Scarborough, who wrote or co-wrote many of EWF’s biggest hits. These songs helped take “Gratitude,” which was a double set LP comprised mostly of live concert material from the “That’s the Way Of The World” tour, to a double-platinum status, an unheralded occurrence for any black group of the day; for the first time, the group’s horn section (Don Myrick and Louis Satterfield, both from Maurice’s Chicago session dates, and Michael Harris), which had become an integral part of the EWF sound, was credited on disc.

Earth Wind & Fire released Spirit in October 1976; and had hits with singles such as “Getaway”, which actually came from outside the group. Their concerts during this time were loaded with pyrotechnics, magic, laser lights, flying pyramids and levitating guitarists. Magician Doug Henning directed many of their tours throughout the 1970s, and the band included Larry Dunn (keyboards), Al McKay (guitar, sitar), Fred White (drums) and Andrew Woolfolk (sax, flute).

1978 marked the year wherein EWF picked up three Grammy Awards, the third for their version of The Beatles “Got To Get You Into My Life”, featured (as were the group) in the movie, “Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band”. The year ended with another hit single, “September” (sometimes called ‘Dancing in September”), an additional track added to The Best of EWF (Volume 1), which inevitably reached double-platinum status.

1979 saw the release of I Am, the group’s ninth album (the seventh for Columbia, and the second to be distributed by ARC). Songs from the album included “In the Stone”, “Can’t Let Go”, and the much-anticipated sad ballad “After the Love Has Gone”, which has cracked the number 2 spot on the Billboard Pop and R&B charts.

Maurice loaned Earth Wind & Fire’s signature Phenix Horns - Don Myrick on saxophone, Louis Satterfield on trombone, Rahmlee Davis and Michael Harris on trumpets - to his other production projects, the Emotions, Ramsey Lewis and Deniece Williams. In the eighties, Phil Collins came in contact with EWF’s horn section, and worked on Genesis songs like “No Reply At All” and “Paperlate,” and on his solo hits like “I Missed Again” and “Sussudio.

A good portion of 1979 was spend overseas headlining shows in Europe and Japan. Mid-’79 saw EWF topping the dance music charts with “Boogie Wonderland”, produced by Maurice and Al McKay, and featuring The Emotions. Verdine White claims that “Boogie Wonderland” really was capturing the tail end of the disco era.

Soft Ballads

The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. The Carpenter siblings were both born in New Haven, Connecticut. Richard Lynn was born on October 15, 1946, and Karen Anne followed on March 2, 1950. Richard was a quiet child who spent most of his time in the house listening to records and playing the piano. Karen, on the other hand, seemed to be friendly, outgoing, and liked to play sports. However, she also spent a lot of time listening to music.

In 1966, Karen joined Richard in attending a late-night session in the garage studio of Los Angeles bassist Joe Osborn, where Richard was to accompany an auditioning trumpet player. Asked to sing, Karen performed for Osborn, who was taken with her voice. Richard and Karen received an offer to be on the television program, Your All American College Show in mid-1968. The television show auditioned various groups from colleges nationwide to participate in a competition.

Richard and Karen were rejected by the music industry because they had a very soft sound during a time when rockers like Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Janis Joplin and the Rolling Stones were in demand. However, Richard and Karen still persevered. They and their friends sent their demo tapes to various record labels until A&M Records’ co-owner and trumpeter/vocalist Herb Alpert became attracted to their softer sound. Alpert was Richard’s and Karen’s lucky break, and his decision would change their lives forever.

Richard and Karen Carpenter signed to A&M Records on April 22, 1969, under the name “Carpenters”. Because Karen was technically underage (she was 19 at the time), her parents had to co-sign for her. In the album notes for their 2004 release, Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition, Richard stated: After much thought, we decided to name the act “Carpenters” (No “The”; we thought it sounded hipper without it, like Buffalo Springfield or Jefferson Airplane.)

Their debut album, entitled Offering and released in 1969, featured a number of songs that Richard had written or co-written during their Spectrum period. However, the most significant track on the album was a ballad rendition of The Beatles hit “Ticket to Ride”, which soon became a minor hit for Carpenters, peaking at #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 of the Adult Contemporary chart.

Richard and Karen finally achieved success with the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song “(They Long to Be) Close to You”, which was released in 1970. It debuted at #56, the highest debut of the week ending 20 June 1970. It rose to #1 on July 25, 1970, and stayed on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. It is one of two RIAA Certified Gold Singles (along with “We’ve Only Just Begun”) featured on the best-selling album Close To You, which is placed #175 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Soon after “(They Long to Be) Close to You” reached #1, Carpenters’ version of “We’ve Only Just Begun”, written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is considered by Richard Carpenter to be the group’s “signature tune.” A string of hit singles and albums kept Carpenters on the charts through the early 1970s. Their 1971 hit “For All We Know” was originally recorded for a wedding scene in the movie “Lovers and Other Strangers” in 1970 by Larry Meredith. Upon hearing it in the movie theatre, Richard realized its potential, and subsequently recorded it in the autumn of 1970. It became Carpenters’ third gold single.

“Rainy Days and Mondays peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to Coleman, “Rainy Days and Mondays” is arguably one of Carpenters’ most popular tracks. It became Carpenters’ fourth gold single, and was only kept from becoming #1 because of Carole King’s “It’s Too Late.” “Superstar” written by Delaney Bramlett and Leon Russell became another Carpenters classic, and is acclaimed for Karen’s “haunting” vocals on the song. It is usually described as being “poignant”. It, too, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their eponymous album, entitled Carpenters was released in 1971. It became one of their best-selling albums, having earned RIAA certification for platinum four times. It won a Grammy Award for Carpenters, as well as three nominations.

In 1972 Richard decided to reinvent the power ballad and was arguably the creator of pop ballads with electric guitar solos. “Goodbye to Love”, written by Carpenter and Bettis on a Learjet, was Carpenters’ third single that year, peaking at #7. “Top of the World” was the group’s biggest country hit. Lynn Anderson had heard the album cut version in 1972 (Anderson’s cover is considered a virtual carbon-copy by Richard of the album version of the song) and decided to record her own version. It became Carpenters’ second Billboard #1 hit, and to this day, it is known by people internationally.

Their Now & Then album from 1973 was named by mother Agnes Carpenter. It contained the Sesame Street tune “Sing”, and the reminiscent “Yesterday Once More”. Even though internationally their biggest selling single is “Please Mr. Postman”, their biggest selling single in Britain and Japan remains “Yesterday Once More”. Their first compilation album was entitled The Singles: 1969-1973 and it topped the charts in the U.S. and the United Kingdom and became one of the best-selling albums of the decade, ultimately selling more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone. As of today, it is certified platinum seven times.

In 1975, the Carpenters gained another hit with a remake of The Marvelettes’ chart-topping Motown classic from 1961 entitled “Please Mr. Postman”. Released in late 1974, the song soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1975, becoming the duo’s third and final #1 pop single. It also earned Karen and Richard their record-setting 12th million-selling Gold single in America. Covers of The Eagles’ “Desperado” and Neil Sedaka’s “Solitaire”, both became a moderate hit for the duo that year. Although not fairly credited for it, the Carpenters were also among the first American recording acts to produce music videos to promote their records.

One of the elements that made the music of the Carpenters distinctive was Karen’s use of her low register. Though present in jazz and country music, there were few alto singers in popular music at the time. However, Karen did have a wide vocal range that spanned about three octaves. “Both Karen and I felt the magic was in her ‘chest voice’ (a.k.a. ‘basement’). There is no comparison in terms of richness in sound, so I wasn’t about to highlight the upper voice”, states Richard in the “Fans Ask” section of the Carpenters’ official website.

During their career, Carpenters released 30 pre-posthumous singles. Of the thirty, thirteen were RIAA certified Gold, and twenty-two peaked in the top 10 on the Adult Contemporary Charts. In addition, the Carpenters also had ten albums from 1969-1983. Six of the albums contained two or more top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (Close to You, Carpenters, A Song for You, Now & Then, and Horizon. Throughout the 1970s, Richard and Karen were nominated numerous times for Grammy Awards. They won three Grammy Awards, and had two songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. During a period in the 1970s when louder and wilder rock was in great demand, Richard and Karen produced a distinctively soft musical style that made them one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Classic Rock

The Eagles are an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s.The band formed in 1971 when Linda Ronstadt’s then-manager, John Boylan, recruited Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner from their session musician jobs for Linda Ronstadt. They were short a drummer until Frey telephoned Don Henley, whom he had met at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles. After their tenure with Ronstadt and with her encouragement, they then decided to form their own band, signing in 1970 to Asylum Records. The new group chose the name the Eagles as a nod to The Byrds.

Their first album, Eagles, was filled with natural, sometimes innocent country rock, and yielded three Top 40 singles. The first single, “Take It Easy,” was a song written by Glenn Frey and his neighbor and fellow country-folk rocker Jackson Browne. Frey heard Browne recording it, contributed two lines to it (for which he got co-writing credit) and asked if the Eagles could use it. Browne agreed and the song reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and propelled the Eagles to stardom. The single was followed by the bluesy “Witchy Woman” and the soft country rock ballad “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” charting at No. 9 and No. 22 respectively.

Their second album, Desperado, was themed on Old West outlaws, drawing comparisons between their lifestyles and the lifestyles of modern rock stars. This album introduced the group’s penchant for conceptual songwriting. It was during the recording sessions that Don Henley and Glenn Frey began writing with each other, co-writing eight of the album’s eleven songs. The album marked a significant change to the band, with Henley and Frey co-writing the bulk of the album, a pattern that would continue for years to come. As a result, the pair began to dominate the band in terms of leadership and songwriting.

For their next album, On the Border the band turned to Bill Szymczyk to produce the rest of the album. Szymczyk brought in Don Felder to add slide guitar to a song called “Good Day in Hell,” and the band was so impressed that two days later they invited Felder to become the fifth Eagle. On the Border yielded a No. 1 Billboard single with “Best of My Love,” which hit the top of the charts on March 1, 1975, becoming the Eagles‘ first of five chart toppers.The album marked a significant change to the band, with Henley and Frey co-writing the bulk of the album, a pattern that would continue for years to come. As a result, the pair began to dominate the band in terms of leadership and songwriting.

Their next album, One of These Nights displayed the growing strength of the Henley/Frey songwriting team, particularly on the album’s title track and the Grammy Award winning “Lyin’ Eyes.” “One of These Nights” hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart on August 2, 1975. Leadon left the band in December 1975 and the group quickly replaced Leadon with Joe Walsh. In early 1976, their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) was released. It went on to become the best-selling album in U.S. history, selling over 29 million copies in the United States to date.

The group’s next album, Hotel California, came out in December 1976. “New Kid in Town” was a No. 1 hit in Billboard on February 26, 1977, and the title track on May 7, 1977. “Life in the Fast Lane” was also a major success, becoming a catchphrase in the process and established Joe Walsh’s position in the band with its more hard rock sound. The ballad “Wasted Time” closed the first side of the album, while an instrumental reprise of it opened the second side. The album concluded with “The Last Resort,” the song Frey, to this day, refers to as Don Henley’s greatest work.

In 1977, the Eagles went into a recording studio to produce their next studio album, The Long Run. The album took two years to make, but yielded the group’s fifth and last No. 1 single in Billboard, “Heartache Tonight” (November 10, 1979). Fourteen years after the breakup, an Eagles country tribute album titled Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles was released in 1993. Travis Tritt insisted on having the Long Run-era Eagles in his video for “Take It Easy” and they agreed. After the “Take It Easy” video was completed the following year, and following years of public speculation, the band finally formally reunited. The lineup comprised the five Long Run-era members – Frey, Henley, Walsh, Felder and Schmit.

The ensuing tour spawned a live album titled Hell Freezes Over (named for Henley’s recurring statement that the group would get back together “when hell freezes over”) which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, and included four new studio songs, with “Get Over It” and “Love Will Keep Us Alive” both becoming top forty hits. The album itself proved as successful as the reunion tour, selling 6 million copies in the United States alone.

The Eagles performed at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on December 31, 1999. The concert was released on CD as part of the four-disc Selected Works: 1972-1999 box set in November 2000. Along with the millennium concert, this set included the band’s hit singles, album tracks, as well as outtakes from The Long Run sessions. Selected Works sold approximately 267,000 copies at about $60 a unit.

On October 30, 2007, the Eagles released Long Road out of Eden, their first album of all-new material since 1979. The album debuted at No. 1 in the United States[14], the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands and Norway. It subsequently became their third studio album, seventh release overall, to be certified at least seven times platinum.

With five Number 1 singles and six Number 1 albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful recording artists of the decade. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the ten best-selling albums according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The best-selling studio album Hotel California is rated as the thirty-seventh album in the Rolling Stone list “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, and the band was ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone’s 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. They are also the best-selling American group ever, with Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 being the best-selling album in the U.S. to date.