Dancer (Gino Soccio song)

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"Dancer"
Single by Gino Soccio
from the album Outline
B-side"So Lonely"
Released1979
Recorded1979
GenreDisco
Length
  • 3:30 (single version)
  • 8:23 (album & 12" version)
LabelRFC/Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Gino Soccio
Producer(s)Mix Machine
Gino Soccio singles chronology
"The Visitors"
(1978)
"Dancer"
(1979)
"Dance To Dance"
(1979)

Dancer is a song by Gino Soccio. It was released as a single in 1979 from his album Outline.[1][2][3][4]

The song topped the Billboard Disco chart and remained on that spot for six weeks.[5] It was also Soccio's only Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at No. 48, and his only Top 10 hit on his home country's RPM Top Singles chart, peaking at No. 6.[6]

Background[edit]

The song was part of the playlist at New York City disco Paradise Garage, in an extended mix by DJ Larry Levan. “They would play that song three times in a row sometimes, and it was already an eight-minute song," Soccio told Wax Poetics in a 2013 career retrospective interview. "It was twenty-four minutes of ‘Dancer,’ and people just would not get enough of it. It really was something. It blew me away.”[7]


Chart performance[edit]

Chart (1979) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles[8] 6
US Billboard Hot 100[9] 48
US Billboard Hot Soul Singles[9] 60
US Billboard Disco Top 80[9] 1
UK Singles[10] 46

Legacy[edit]

During Pride Month 2022, "Dancer" was selected by Jezebel as #22 in their list of "69 of the Best Disco Songs of All Time."[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The 30 Best Disco Songs That Every Millennial Should Know". Spin. June 18, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  2. ^ Boles, Benjamin (April 29, 2016). "Junior Boys, Dinamo Azari, Skratch Bastid, and More Pick Their Essential Canadian Disco Songs". Vice. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  3. ^ Lawrence, Tim (February 2, 2004). Love Saves the Day. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822385112. Retrieved January 19, 2021 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Burke, Andrew (November 6, 2019). Hinterland Remixed. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 49. ISBN 9780773559714. Retrieved January 19, 2021 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 238.
  6. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 538.
  7. ^ Stuffco, Jered (May 2013). "Invisible Man: The Gino Soccio Story". Wax Poetics.
  8. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - June 23, 1979" (PDF).
  9. ^ a b c "Dancer (US)". Music VF. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  10. ^ "Dancer (UK)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  11. ^ Juzwiak, Rich (June 7, 2022). "69 of the Best Disco Songs of All Time, for Pride". Jezebel.