Claudja Barry was one of the few artists who had a very successful transition from the disco era right up into the 80's. Born in Jamaica her family moved to Canada wen she was 7 and she was raised in Toronto. Her first release in 1975 Reggae Bump didn't make much of a stir. But the next year and signing to Salsoul brought out the classics Sweet Dynamite and Love for the sake of Love.
These Tom Moulton mixes are about as classic disco as classic disco goes.
In this post I've chose to give her a retrospective. Her most well known disco classic is from 1978,
Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes. Another production by Jurgen S. Korduletsch, dancin' shoes really had that Euro sound that had burst wide open a few years before with Donna Summer's
I Feel Love. Korduletsch her one time producer and husband had his hands on most of her releases.
1982's Work Me Over bridged the next gap from Euro to out and out High Energy. And what would you expect with the production being trusted to the legendary Bobby O? She was also the vocalist on one of his album cuts Whisper to a Scream.
The clubs I was going to in Washington, D.C. pumped
Work me Over in a big way, in 1982 and 1983. I remember dancing to it fondly. It left it's mark. The B side a Hi Energy version of the 60's hit I Will Follow Him also got play but not nearly as much.
I CLAUDIA LP Down and Counting in 1986 marked the first time she made it to #1 on the dance charts. It was also part of her short lived period on a major, Epic. Unfortunately she had no more big hits with them. But she did come back with a Top 10 in 1991 on Radikal Records No La Di Da.
She's had 9 full length albums spanning the years 1976 to 2015, just under 40 years of dance music delights.
What a beautiful woman. You can add her in Facebook. She's very friendly and will engage with you.
