Euro disco
Encyclopedia
Euro disco is an all encompassing colloquial
term used to describe a variety of Europe
an electronic dance music
that first originated from disco
in the 1970s; incorporating elements of pop
, New Wave
and rock
into disco
-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many eurodisco compositions feature lyrics sung in English
, although the singers often share a different mother tongue.
Eurodisco derivatives generally include europop
and eurodance
, with the most prominent subgenres being space disco
of the late 1970s and italo disco
of the early 1980s. The genre has declined in popularity after 1985 in preference to synth rock and hi-NRG
, with a small revival of italo disco in the late 1990s.
and the Italian Cinebox/Coilorama Video-jukebox machines. Another root is the Eurovision song contest, especially in the 1970s.
The Swedish European Pop Group ABBA
, won the 1974 Eurovision song contest, with the song "Waterloo". The specific song is a typical example of a 1970s European pop song (euro-pop), with a dance manner. The success was huge and many European producers, instantly produced many pop hits that did not necessary sound the same, but kept that dance manner. That created, in a very short period of time, a whole new commercial music industry in Europe, to meet the demand for social dancing
music. The Discofox
dancing style was a result of that situation.
It is reported that the American music journalist Robert Christgau
used the term "Eurodisco" in his late 1970s articles for The Village Voice
newspaper.
Those Eurovision-like hits (with the dance manner) that followed ABBA
's success, became popular on the European Discotheque, where clubgoers met to do social dancing
. The birth of "Eurodisco" became, when Germans took the "Euro" from the "Eurovision" and the "Disco" from the "Discotheques" and created the word "Eurodisco", almost at the same time that the term "Disco" appeared in USA.
The term "Disco" in Europe, existed long before the Eurodisco and the (US) Disco
music styles but had a different meaning. It used in Europe during the 60s, as a short alternative to Discotheque. Discotheques existed in France since the early 50s and spread around Europe during the 60s. In Europe (and partly Canada), "Discotheques" and "Disco" was what at the time called "Clubs" in the UK. Even today (2007), the term Disco-Club exist as an alternative name for the mainstream clubs in Center, Southern and Eastern Europe. In Italy and Spain, the term "Discoteka" or "Discotheque" means mainstream clubs. In Greece, the term "Discotheque" describe the Retro-Clubs. In Germany, Poland and Romania, the term "Disco" is still used to refer to "Dance Clubs".
An example of the term "Disco" with no relation with a specific music style (and dance music in general), is the Disco (TV series)
that aired in Germany on the ZDF
network from 1971 to 1982. This show proves that the term "Disco" was enough widespread at the time, that the second national TV network of Germany used it for a general music TV show in 1971. Another later example, is the show "Discoring" on Italy's RAI channel (Started in February on 1977)
productions and artists such as Swedish group ABBA
, the German group Boney M
, the French Cerrone
, Ottawan
(together with other acts produced by Vangarde
and Kluger) and Amanda Lear
, the Germans Dschinghis Khan
and Silver Convention
, and the Dutch Snoopy and Eurovision song contest winners Teach-In
.
1970s Eurodisco soon had spin-offs and variations. The most notable spinoff is Space Disco
, a crossover of Eurodisco and US'Hi-NRG
Disco. Another popular variation, with no specific name, appeared in the late 1970s: a "Latin"-like sound added to the genre, which can be heard in Italy's Raffaella Carrà
and France's Gibson Brothers
.
group Imagination
, with their series of hits throughout 1981 and 1982. The term "Eurodisco" quickly faded in the 1980s and replaced by the very wide term of "Italo-disco" for more than a decade. Notably, there was also some Canadian Disco productions (Trans X, Lime
), that at the time was called "itado-disco" in Europe, but not in America (the term Hi-NRG
Disco was used there instead).
Italo-Disco was the first successful 1980s Euro-Disco variation. Probably because of this, all the later 1980s Eurodisco variations called "Italo-Disco" by the Europeans (with the exception of eurobeat
). Italo-Disco began to develop in Italy
around 1982, by groups like Gazebo
, Kano
and Lectric Workers". 80s Eurodisco variations soon appeared later in France, Germany, Spain and Greece. The Italian and German Eurodisco productions were the most popular.
That style became very popular in East Europe and remained popular until the early 1990s. In the late 1980s, Italian disco artists Spagna
and Sabrina
combined Italo-disco and Eurobeat
elements and became popular in Europe with euro-disco songs charting in many European countries.
Britain's best-known contributors to the 1980s euro-disco music were during the mid/late 1980s. The Pet Shop Boys
and the Stock/Aitken/Waterman
production team are notable examples. This team produced slickly-produced music by singers such as Rick Astley
and Kylie Minogue
and conquered the airwaves. The S/A/W hits were called Eurobeat
in Europe but marketed as "Hi-NRG
" in USA.
". Even today for many Americans, "Hi-NRG" means Paul Lekakis
and the London Boys
. Those hits (and few others, like Londonbeat's "I've been thinking about you" from 1991) were the last hits called "Eurodisco" in Europe.
By the early 1990s, Eurodisco was influenced by the emergence of Disco-rooted genres such as House
, Acid and the Electro (pop/dance/synth) music styles, and replaced (or evolved) on other music styles. "Eurohouse" and Italo-NRG are the most notable ones and connected directly with the Italo-Disco music scene. In America, especially for the Eurohouse style, they use the earlier term of "Eurodance" to describe this 1990s evolution of "Eurodisco".
Technically speaking, the last form of Eurodisco, is French house
, a music style that appeared in France during the mid 1990s and widespread slowly in Europe. French House is more of a "back to the roots" music style, with 70s euro disco influences far before the Italo Disco explosion (more specific Space Disco
, Hi-NRG
disco, Canadian Disco and P-Funk
).
, Berlin
and the late Laura Branigan
saw a surge in popularity, especially in places where it was not commercially successful after 1984, such as North America
and South America
. A notable Euro disco artist to rise during this decade is Mark Ashley
. His single "Give Me a Chance" became his most successful single yet, making the Top 40 of the Austrian chart.
by 1983, as European producers and songwriters inspired a new generation of American performers. While disco had been declared "dead" due to a backlash there in 1979, subsequent Euro-flavored successes crossing the boundaries of rock, pop, and dance, such as "Call Me
" by Blondie
and "Gloria
" by Laura Branigan
, ushered in a new era of American-fronted dance music.
Branigan (produced by German producer Jack White
) moved deeper into the Euro disco style for further hits, alongside Giorgio Moroder
-produced US acts Berlin
and Irene Cara
. By 1984, musicians from many countries had begun to produce Euro-disco songs. In Germany
, notable practitioners of the sound included Modern Talking
, Sandra. Alphaville
had Falco
, although he was also heavily influenced by rap and rock music.
An Euro disco revival is also contribuited by northern european labels as "Iventi d'azzurro" (The Netherlands) and "Flashback records" (Finland), with rearranged releases of the old hits and unreleased demos resung by the original Italo singers, but also new songs by these. Recording artists like Joey Mauro and karl otto, Diva, Mark Fruttero, Fred Ventura and George Aaron have been recently releasing new albums, and a special place within the scene is occupied by Peter Aresti, formerly known as "Peter Arcade" (though room gossips, in order to explain the apparent "age paradox", claim about a "music project" involving at least two different singers impersonating the P.A. character) which represents an unusual case in the Italo disco world, not belonging to the 80's, officially having started his career in the 90's, and actually one of the most popular performing italo artists, challenging many pop singers, in South America (Mexico among all), where a huge, growing Italo disco and High energy community dwells. Another new person became popular in these last years on italo scene, the talented keyboardist Joey Mauro able to recreate any sound of 80s with his synthesizers and keyboard collections.
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
term used to describe a variety of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
that first originated from disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
in the 1970s; incorporating elements of pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
into disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many eurodisco compositions feature lyrics sung in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, although the singers often share a different mother tongue.
Eurodisco derivatives generally include europop
Europop
Europop refers to a style of pop music that first developed in today's form in Europe, throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and ’90s...
and eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
, with the most prominent subgenres being space disco
Space disco
Space disco is a term used to describe the fusion of disco music with futuristic themes, sounds and visuals, which was popular in the late 1970s...
of the late 1970s and italo disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
of the early 1980s. The genre has declined in popularity after 1985 in preference to synth rock and hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
, with a small revival of italo disco in the late 1990s.
History
Euro-disco is largely an off-shoot of contemporary American music trends going as far back as Jazz, Rock, Soul, Funk and Disco. In the 1950s and 1960s besides the heavy American influence, the French/Italian created pop music off-shoots, with a dance-oriented sound became prevalent in Europe. Those 1950s and 1960s euro-pop hits, spread around West Europe, because of the French ScopitoneScopitone
Scopitone is a type of jukebox featuring a 16 mm film component. Scopitone films were a forerunner of music videos. The Italian Cinebox/Colorama and Color-Sonics were competing, lesser-known technologies of the time....
and the Italian Cinebox/Coilorama Video-jukebox machines. Another root is the Eurovision song contest, especially in the 1970s.
The Swedish European Pop Group ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, won the 1974 Eurovision song contest, with the song "Waterloo". The specific song is a typical example of a 1970s European pop song (euro-pop), with a dance manner. The success was huge and many European producers, instantly produced many pop hits that did not necessary sound the same, but kept that dance manner. That created, in a very short period of time, a whole new commercial music industry in Europe, to meet the demand for social dancing
Social Dancing
Social Dancing is the second studio album by the Scottish musical trio Bis.-Track listing:# "Making People Normal" – 2:28# "I'm A Slut" – 2:44# "Eurodisco" – 4:41# "Action And Drama" – 2:29...
music. The Discofox
Discofox
Discofox or Disco Fox is a social partner dance evolved in Europe in mid-seventies as a rediscovery of the dance hold in the improvisational disco dance scene dominated by solo dancing, approximately at the same time when hustle emerged in the United States. Both dances were greatly influenced by...
dancing style was a result of that situation.
It is reported that the American music journalist Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
used the term "Eurodisco" in his late 1970s articles for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
newspaper.
Those Eurovision-like hits (with the dance manner) that followed ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
's success, became popular on the European Discotheque, where clubgoers met to do social dancing
Social Dancing
Social Dancing is the second studio album by the Scottish musical trio Bis.-Track listing:# "Making People Normal" – 2:28# "I'm A Slut" – 2:44# "Eurodisco" – 4:41# "Action And Drama" – 2:29...
. The birth of "Eurodisco" became, when Germans took the "Euro" from the "Eurovision" and the "Disco" from the "Discotheques" and created the word "Eurodisco", almost at the same time that the term "Disco" appeared in USA.
The term "Disco" in Europe, existed long before the Eurodisco and the (US) Disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
music styles but had a different meaning. It used in Europe during the 60s, as a short alternative to Discotheque. Discotheques existed in France since the early 50s and spread around Europe during the 60s. In Europe (and partly Canada), "Discotheques" and "Disco" was what at the time called "Clubs" in the UK. Even today (2007), the term Disco-Club exist as an alternative name for the mainstream clubs in Center, Southern and Eastern Europe. In Italy and Spain, the term "Discoteka" or "Discotheque" means mainstream clubs. In Greece, the term "Discotheque" describe the Retro-Clubs. In Germany, Poland and Romania, the term "Disco" is still used to refer to "Dance Clubs".
An example of the term "Disco" with no relation with a specific music style (and dance music in general), is the Disco (TV series)
Disco (TV series)
Disco was a pop music program that aired in Germany on the ZDF network from 1971 to 1982. It generally aired on the first Saturday of each month at 7:30PM, each show running 45 minutes. 133 shows were produced. The show was hosted by German actor and comedian Ilja Richter...
that aired in Germany on the ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
network from 1971 to 1982. This show proves that the term "Disco" was enough widespread at the time, that the second national TV network of Germany used it for a general music TV show in 1971. Another later example, is the show "Discoring" on Italy's RAI channel (Started in February on 1977)
1970s
The term Euro-Disco was first used during the mid 1970s to describe the non-UK based discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
productions and artists such as Swedish group ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, the German group Boney M
Boney M
Boney M. is a Eurodisco group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell from Aruba...
, the French Cerrone
Cerrone
Marc Cerrone is a French disco drummer, singer-songwriter and record producer.Marc Cerrone has sold over thirty million albums and has often performed in front of hundreds of thousands of people at huge concerts and events such as The 2005 Dance Party Live in Versailles and The 2000 Los Angeles...
, Ottawan
Ottawan
Ottawan were a French eurodisco duo in the late 1970s and early 1980s.-Career:They were fronted by lead singer Jean Patrick and Annette , with Daniel Vangarde and Jean Kluger the main songwriters. They are best known for their two hit singles "D.I.S.C.O." and "Hands Up "...
(together with other acts produced by Vangarde
Daniel Vangarde
Daniel Vangarde, born Daniel Bangalter in 1947, is a French songwriter and producer. He is the father of music composer Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk.-History:...
and Kluger) and Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear is a French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist....
, the Germans Dschinghis Khan
Dschinghis Khan
Dschinghis Khan was a West German pop band, created in 1979 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. The name of the band was chosen to fit the song of the same name, written and produced by Ralph Siegel with lyrics by Bernd Meinunger....
and Silver Convention
Silver Convention
Silver Convention was a German euro disco recording act of the 1970s. The group was originally named Silver Bird Convention, or Silver Bird.-Career:...
, and the Dutch Snoopy and Eurovision song contest winners Teach-In
Teach-In
Teach-In was a Dutch band, best known for winning Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with the song Ding-A-Dong. The band was founded in 1969 and parted in 1980. Throughout this time there were several changes in lineup.-History:...
.
1970s Eurodisco soon had spin-offs and variations. The most notable spinoff is Space Disco
Space disco
Space disco is a term used to describe the fusion of disco music with futuristic themes, sounds and visuals, which was popular in the late 1970s...
, a crossover of Eurodisco and US'Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
Disco. Another popular variation, with no specific name, appeared in the late 1970s: a "Latin"-like sound added to the genre, which can be heard in Italy's Raffaella Carrà
Raffaella Carrà
Raffaella Carrà , in Italy often simply known as la Carrà and in some Latin American countries sometimes simply as Raffaella, is an Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, and actress...
and France's Gibson Brothers
Gibson Brothers
The Gibson Brothers are a France based musical group, who had their greatest success during the disco boom of the late 1970s. Their best known hit singles included "Cuba" and "Que Sera Mi Vida"....
.
1980s
One of the early representors of the 1980s genre was a BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
group Imagination
Imagination (band)
Imagination were a three piece British soul and funk band, who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They had chart hits in 28 countries, earning four platinum discs, nine gold discs and more than a dozen silver discs around the world between 1981 and 1983....
, with their series of hits throughout 1981 and 1982. The term "Eurodisco" quickly faded in the 1980s and replaced by the very wide term of "Italo-disco" for more than a decade. Notably, there was also some Canadian Disco productions (Trans X, Lime
Lime (band)
Lime was a synth-pop group from Montréal, Canada, during the 1980s. The group was composed of husband and wife Denis and Denyse LePage, although two younger and more attractive singers, Joy Dorris and Chris Marsh, were chosen to tour and appear as the act. They are most noted for their songs "Angel...
), that at the time was called "itado-disco" in Europe, but not in America (the term Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
Disco was used there instead).
Italo-Disco was the first successful 1980s Euro-Disco variation. Probably because of this, all the later 1980s Eurodisco variations called "Italo-Disco" by the Europeans (with the exception of eurobeat
Eurobeat
Eurobeat is a form of italo-disco/hi-NRG music that developed in the late 1980s.In the United States, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music hits....
). Italo-Disco began to develop in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
around 1982, by groups like Gazebo
Paul Mazzolini
Paul Mazzolini , known as Gazebo, is an Italian musician. He has a legend status among the fans of the "Italo disco" music style, a variation of 1980s Eurodisco.-Biography:...
, Kano
Kano (band)
Kano was a post-disco music project formed in 1979 by Italian-based producers/musicians Luciano Ninzatti, Stefano Pulga and Matteo Bonsanto. Kano was the first group to usher in a new style of dance music called Italo-Disco.-History:...
and Lectric Workers". 80s Eurodisco variations soon appeared later in France, Germany, Spain and Greece. The Italian and German Eurodisco productions were the most popular.
That style became very popular in East Europe and remained popular until the early 1990s. In the late 1980s, Italian disco artists Spagna
Spagna
Spagna is an Italian singer and songwriter.-Career:She started her career singing in English and in the early 1980s she provided vocals and wrote songs for an Italo Disco duo project called Fun Fun; as well as writing songs for many other dance music projects until 1986, when she embarked on a solo...
and Sabrina
Sabrina Salerno
Sabrina Salerno , also known in her singing career as Sabrina, is an Italian singer, television hostess, model, actress and record producer...
combined Italo-disco and Eurobeat
Eurobeat
Eurobeat is a form of italo-disco/hi-NRG music that developed in the late 1980s.In the United States, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music hits....
elements and became popular in Europe with euro-disco songs charting in many European countries.
Britain's best-known contributors to the 1980s euro-disco music were during the mid/late 1980s. The Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
and the Stock/Aitken/Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
production team are notable examples. This team produced slickly-produced music by singers such as Rick Astley
Rick Astley
Richard Paul "Rick" Astley is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. He is known for his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was a #1 hit single in 25 countries...
and Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
and conquered the airwaves. The S/A/W hits were called Eurobeat
Eurobeat
Eurobeat is a form of italo-disco/hi-NRG music that developed in the late 1980s.In the United States, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music hits....
in Europe but marketed as "Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
" in USA.
1990s
During the late 1980s, Euro disco hits were produced in Spain and Greece and much later in Poland and Russia. Meanwhile, a sped up version of Eurodisco with Eurobeat elements, became successful in the US, under the term "Hi-NRGHi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
". Even today for many Americans, "Hi-NRG" means Paul Lekakis
Paul Lekakis
Paul Lekakis is a Greek-American actor, model, filmmaker and club music / Hi-NRG singer, who was discovered for his musical and dancing skills at a nightclub while on assignment as a model in Italy.-Music career:...
and the London Boys
London Boys
London Boys were a British/German dance pop duo composed of Edem Ephraim and Dennis Fuller...
. Those hits (and few others, like Londonbeat's "I've been thinking about you" from 1991) were the last hits called "Eurodisco" in Europe.
By the early 1990s, Eurodisco was influenced by the emergence of Disco-rooted genres such as House
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, Acid and the Electro (pop/dance/synth) music styles, and replaced (or evolved) on other music styles. "Eurohouse" and Italo-NRG are the most notable ones and connected directly with the Italo-Disco music scene. In America, especially for the Eurohouse style, they use the earlier term of "Eurodance" to describe this 1990s evolution of "Eurodisco".
Technically speaking, the last form of Eurodisco, is French house
French house
French house is a catch-all term for house music by many French artists, a popular strand of the late 1990s and 2000s European dance music scene and a form of Euro disco. The genre has also been referred to as "neu-disco" , "French touch", "filter house" and "tekfunk" over the years...
, a music style that appeared in France during the mid 1990s and widespread slowly in Europe. French House is more of a "back to the roots" music style, with 70s euro disco influences far before the Italo Disco explosion (more specific Space Disco
Space disco
Space disco is a term used to describe the fusion of disco music with futuristic themes, sounds and visuals, which was popular in the late 1970s...
, Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
disco, Canadian Disco and P-Funk
P-Funk
P-Funk is a shorthand term for the repertoire and performers associated with George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic collective and the distinctive style of funk music they performed...
).
2000s
By the mid-late 2000s, Euro disco saw renewed interest. Artists such as Irene CaraIrene Cara
Irene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
, Berlin
Berlin (band)
Berlin is an American New Wave/Synthpop band. The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by John Crawford . The band contained Crawford, Terri Nunn , David Diamond , Ric Olsen , Matt Reid and Rod Learned . Learned left during the first EU tour and was replaced by Rob Brill...
and the late Laura Branigan
Laura Branigan
Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
saw a surge in popularity, especially in places where it was not commercially successful after 1984, such as North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. A notable Euro disco artist to rise during this decade is Mark Ashley
Mark Ashley (musician)
The producer Steffen Ehrhardt discovered the singer Mark Ashley at the age of 13 in a German discothèque, where he sang songs of Modern Talking. He was born in 1973 in Apolda/Thuringia and currently lives in Bad Salzungen. He had always performed songs at Christmas for his parents, who were the...
. His single "Give Me a Chance" became his most successful single yet, making the Top 40 of the Austrian chart.
Influence in the United States
The influence of Euro disco had infiltrated dance and pop in the USUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by 1983, as European producers and songwriters inspired a new generation of American performers. While disco had been declared "dead" due to a backlash there in 1979, subsequent Euro-flavored successes crossing the boundaries of rock, pop, and dance, such as "Call Me
Call Me (Blondie song)
"Call Me" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie. Released in 1980, "Call Me" topped the singles charts in both the US and the UK ....
" by Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
and "Gloria
Gloria (Laura Branigan song)
"Gloria" is a pop song originally written and composed in Italian by Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi, which -with English lyrics written by Trevor Veitch- became an international hit for Laura Branigan in 1982-83, selling more than two million singles in the US alone.-Origins:Umberto Tozzi...
" by Laura Branigan
Laura Branigan
Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
, ushered in a new era of American-fronted dance music.
Branigan (produced by German producer Jack White
Jack White (producer)
Jack White is a music composer and producer.- Musical work :White started out as a songwriter/producer for German singers in the early 70s and then developed an international style mainly as a producer...
) moved deeper into the Euro disco style for further hits, alongside Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
-produced US acts Berlin
Berlin (band)
Berlin is an American New Wave/Synthpop band. The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by John Crawford . The band contained Crawford, Terri Nunn , David Diamond , Ric Olsen , Matt Reid and Rod Learned . Learned left during the first EU tour and was replaced by Rob Brill...
and Irene Cara
Irene Cara
Irene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
. By 1984, musicians from many countries had begun to produce Euro-disco songs. In Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, notable practitioners of the sound included Modern Talking
Modern Talking
Modern Talking was a German dance pop duo consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. Their music has often been classified as Europop. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching the top 5 in many countries...
, Sandra. Alphaville
Alphaville
Alphaville may refer to:* Alphaville , French science fiction film directed by Jean-Luc Godard* Alphaville , German music trio* Alphaville, São Paulo, neighbourhood on the western edges of São Paulo, Brazil...
had Falco
Falco (musician)
Johann Hölzel , better known by his stage name Falco, was an Austrian pop and rock musician and rapper. He had several international hits: "Der Kommissar", "Rock Me Amadeus", "Vienna Calling", "Jeanny", "The Sound of Musik", "Coming Home " and posthumously, "Out Of The Dark"...
, although he was also heavily influenced by rap and rock music.
An Euro disco revival is also contribuited by northern european labels as "Iventi d'azzurro" (The Netherlands) and "Flashback records" (Finland), with rearranged releases of the old hits and unreleased demos resung by the original Italo singers, but also new songs by these. Recording artists like Joey Mauro and karl otto, Diva, Mark Fruttero, Fred Ventura and George Aaron have been recently releasing new albums, and a special place within the scene is occupied by Peter Aresti, formerly known as "Peter Arcade" (though room gossips, in order to explain the apparent "age paradox", claim about a "music project" involving at least two different singers impersonating the P.A. character) which represents an unusual case in the Italo disco world, not belonging to the 80's, officially having started his career in the 90's, and actually one of the most popular performing italo artists, challenging many pop singers, in South America (Mexico among all), where a huge, growing Italo disco and High energy community dwells. Another new person became popular in these last years on italo scene, the talented keyboardist Joey Mauro able to recreate any sound of 80s with his synthesizers and keyboard collections.
See also
- List of Euro disco artists
- EurodanceEurodanceEurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
- EuropopEuropopEuropop refers to a style of pop music that first developed in today's form in Europe, throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and ’90s...
- Hi-NRGHi-NRGHi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
- Italo discoItalo discoItalo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
- Disco poloDisco poloDisco polo is a musical genre native to Poland, which has existed in its present form since the early 1990s. It was derived from contemporary folk tunes, music from the former eastern territories of Poland influenced by Ukrainian/Belarusian/Russian folk songs and italo disco.The name itself was...
- Disco Lento
- Space DiscoSpace discoSpace disco is a term used to describe the fusion of disco music with futuristic themes, sounds and visuals, which was popular in the late 1970s...
- Spacesynth
External links
- Energy-Brazil.com - Info about Euro Disco in Brazil
- Euro-Flash.net - an article on euro disco
- scheul.de - contains info about chart positions of Euro disco artists in the world.
- Webdjsitalodisco.Ch - contains info about Italo-Disco and its artists, including interviews.
- DiscoStars80 - contains info about big discostars 80th.