The “Queen of Disco” after years of touring the U.S. and Europe now embarks on a new second act: teaching.
Gloria Gaynor, singer, actress and author is back in school studying psychology and hopes to one day open a Los Angeles healing and recreational center. Her goal to teach teens and parents life skills. “I want to teach them how to survive.”
And who better - her famous chart-topping, disco song, “I Will Survive”, is still played in nightclubs and radio. Its rated 97 on Billboard’s “Greatest Songs of All Times” with over 14 million copies sold and earned her a Grammy Award.
Gloria’s life long passion for song roots back to her early childhood where she was one of six children growing up in a tiny Newark, NJ flat.
Listening to the radio with dreams of becoming a singer as great as Nat King Cole or Sarah Vaughn.
Honing her skill, she joined school choirs and glee clubs. After high school, singing with house bands in local bars and clubs.'
Soon thereafter, on the road and auditions.
Columbia Record label signed her and she recorded her 1975 first disco hit, “Never Can Say Goodbye”.
The National Association of Discotheque Disc Jockeys crowned her disco queen in 1976.
Two years later Gloria took a serious spill on stage that left her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. Emergency surgery, months in a half body brace, and while still in recovery, Gloria records “I Will Survive”.
She is not surprised by the song’s staying power all these years - it just magnifies her own personal belief with its timeless lyrics.
As many OGR’ers know, like Gloria, we can not only fulfill our childhood dreams but then go on to reinvent ourselves too.
Ciao for Now!! Winnie
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