Thelma Houston don't call her a one hit wonder

Thelma Houston is the quintissential always the bridesmaid never the bride.  Though she will be remembered for that one time she did have a #1 hit in 1977 which also earned her a grammy for Best Female R and B Vocal Performance which is nothing to shake a stick at.
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It was all a long time coming consdering her debut album SunShower came out in 1969.  She really didn't manage any hits until Don't Leave me This Way was released in December 1976 and slowly climbed to the top spot.  I guess if you're going to only have one number hit it might as well be as iconic as this one.  Not only is it one of the definitive classics of the disco era but it was covered many times including the huge hit by The Communards.  Peronally I prefer the lesser known song, the follow-up I'm Here Again, which only made it to #18 on the American Disco Charts

I'm sure many of my readers would know that Don't Leave me This Way was actually a cover of a Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song (featuring the fabulous vocals of Mr. Teddy Pendergrass).  But since it got no pop traction it's nowhere near as well known.

In 1977 she recorded a album of duets with Jerry Butler called Thelma and Jerry which didn't do much but her 1979 disco hit Saturday Night, Sunday Morning was a true Paradise Garage classic and a delicious slab of disco fabulousness.  Though it did not achieve huge success on the disco charts if you were clubbing back then you certainly knew it.

In 1978 Love Masterpiece was on included on the Thank God it's Friday soundtrack and it was another high point for her in the clubs.  She's also had songs on five other soundtracks so even though she hasn't had a multitude of hits she's clearly respected.

1981 gave her a minor hit with the Question Mark and the Mysterians remake of 96 Tears which came just after the wonderful If you Feel it which got her up to number 6 on the disco charts and gave her a minor R and B hit.  This was during her brief stint at RCA from Tamla.

The 1983 album Qualifying Heat saw her embracing the Electro sound.  You Used to Hold me so Tight and I'd rahter spend the bad times with You, Than spend the good times with someone new gave her two Top 10 disco hits.  This move to working with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis was a brilliant step for her career if you ask me.  By then she had moved on to MCA records.

After that she continued trudging by with a few very minor hits until she had another huge dance release in 1991 with Throw you Down making it all the way up to #5 dance.  An album in which she collaborated with Richard Perry.   And then in 1995 a totally revamped and remixed version of Don't Leave me This Way made the record a club hit all over again.  Thanks to Junior Vasquez who pumped it at Sound Factory and did the remix himself.  Factory turned out to be one of the most important clubs of all time.  Oh the memories.....

In 1996 she collaborated with Joey Negro (David Lee) with the minor dance hit I Need Somebody Tonight.

In 2007 she hit again on the dance chart with Brand New Day which I have never even heard cause this old guy just ain't the clubber he used to be.

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Thelma continues to record and tour.  You've got to hand it to her for a woman born in 1948 she has some major stamina.

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On June 25, 2019 The New York Times Magazine listed Thelma Houston as one of the artist was material was reportedly destoyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

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I'm throwing in a morning music set by Roy Thode at The Saint from December 1980 New Years Eve because it came up in my itunes when I wrote Thelma Houston and I'd imagine cause she's on it.

MORNING MUSIC

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY GIORGIO MORODER

Hansjörg Moroder (Giorgio) was born in Ortisei, Italy a beautiful mountain village in South Tyrol, The Dolomites.  A place I love and have skied in.  It is the part of Italy where most people still speak German as it used to be the southern part of Austria years ago.

What can I even say about this man and not sound banal?  I mean he is the king, the God of electronic disco.  Those of us who adore disco owe so much to him.  His innovative style and his perseverance in pioneering with the synthesizer just means EVERYTHING.

And just to think that he really got his peak of fame over the age of 70 with his work with Daft Punk that brought him to such an audience that had never even been born when he was cranking them out during the disco era.  He actually claims to have been a fan of one of their earlier hits One More Time.

I thought it would be only right to spotlight one of his most important solo masterpieces.  The seminal 1977 electronic romp FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.  A record which was from the album of the same name and strangely enough was not even released on a 12 inch maxi single. Here I bring you 250 mb.'s of versions.  From more recent edits to the original versions.  SO MANY VERSIONS OF IT

Who else out of the disco era has three Oscars and three Grammys?  No one else that's who!

Giorgio's first output on vinyl was in 1965.  He often collaborated with lyricist Pete Bellotte.  They worked together on his biggest projects including of course Donna Summer.  I Feel Love is of course the definitive masterpiece of electronic disco as well as the incredible theme from Midnight Express "The Chase" released in 1978.  Not many know that Munich Machine was actually Giorgio Moroder under another name.  Their track Get on the Funk Train was a definitive Paradise Garage classic.  Under this moniker he also used a variety of great vocalists.  

Blondie's biggest hit, #1 of the year when it came out, was from the film American Gigolo, Call Me was of course a Giorgio Moroder collaboration.

He recently worked with Kelis and is in the process of working with Lana Del Rey who is just about my favorite current female vocalist.  So I'm pretty well chuffed about that.

Most recently he's been touring as a DJ and doing gigs.  Considering the popularity of EDM not a bad move.