You know Gloria Gaynor even if you think you don't. Or perhaps more accurately, you don't really know Gloria Gaynor, but you do know her hits, including post-breakup anthem ‘I Will Survive’, lovelorn ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’, Rocky hit ‘The Eye of the Tiger’, and ode to friendship ‘Reach Out I'll Be There’.
Gaynor explains to SBS that she hopes the documentary I Will Survive will leave viewers with a deeper understanding of her long career and a renewed appreciation for her tireless commitment to out-besting herself. Indeed, at 81, she’s still working and talks enthusiastically about her latest single, the powerful disco soul number
“I've been asked if I want this song, or that album, to be better than all the others, and I want everyone to know that every single album that I've done has been the very best album that I could do at that time.”
New Jersey-born Gaynor has dominated dancefloors and headphones for decades with disco-laced, rhapsodic hits that traded in sing-along choruses tailor-made to fill clubs and land on movie soundtracks. Readers of Gaynor's memoir know the essentials of her life and loves, but nothing compares to Gaynor telling her story through video, narrative, music and interviews on screen.
Gaynor tells SBS, “There is a lot of new material. Some of this stuff [in the documentary] is probably talked about in the book, but to get an opportunity to see it is a completely different thing… Places that I performed, the sizes of my audience, things like that are things that are so much better to see than to read about.”
Credit: Alex V Arroyo
The documentary showcases footage stretching back to the 1970s, which was no mean feat to recover. Gaynor says, “I was not keeping any audio-visual records, except my recordings. So, there was a lot of stuff that was very, very difficult to find, and then even more difficult to have access to.”
Emmy Award-nominated producer Betsy Schecter began working with Gaynor in 2015 to share Gaynor’s story of writing and recording her second Grammy-winning album (2019's ‘Testimony”) despite a tumult of obstacles.
It had been a perfect storm in the decade leading up to 2015. In 2005, she divorced her husband, and manager, of more than 25 years. As she reveals in the documentary, he had exerted control over her career and finances since the 1980s, leaving her financial circumstances devastated by the time their marriage and professional partnership ended. Last year, Gaynor sued her former producer for $US2 million, claiming financial misconduct over several decades that encompass the period of the documentary and her Grammy successes. She was also hampered by health concerns (including long-term debilitating back pain that would see her ). Gaynor faced it all the best way she knew, by throwing herself into her faith and her music, and an eight-year project to bring her gospel album to fruition. It was both a reaffirmation of her creative spirit, and a return to her childhood experience of music.
Gaynor faced it all the best way she knew, by throwing herself into her faith and her music...
With five brothers and a sister, Gaynor grew up in a music-loving household that embraced gospel, blues, folk and soul. Standing out amongst seven children likely forged her boldness and perseverance, which was necessary since - as a girl - she was not allowed to join gospel groups with her brothers.
By her late teens, she was singing jazz and R'n'B in Newark nightclubs and touring the East Coast, before landing fortuitously on the shores of big record labels in the 1970s. A first outing with Columbia Records (single ‘Honey Bee’ failed to fire) was followed by her debut album Never Can Say Goodbye with MGM Records in 1975. Clubs and radio DJs went wild for the string of hook-laden singles that are - to this day - the epitome of disco classics. Fifty years later, her music is still playing on radio, in gyms, on movie soundtracks, and sampled by hip hop and dance artists including jamie xx, Raekwon and Method Man.
Despite its iconic status, one of Gaynor’s best-known tracks was originally not considered a worthy radio hit. ‘I Will Survive’ (some will forever associate this with ) was a B-side, only later earning her a Grammy Award and a listing on both Billboard and Rolling Stone's Greatest Songs of All Time. However, Gaynor refused to be a disco queen, shelved when disco was sidelined for synth-pop, rock, post-punk, and electronica. She pivoted, as she always has, to make the sort of meaningful music that connected with existing and new fans. Over the past 20 years, she's explored contemporary Christian music, dance, RnB, and collaborations with artists such as Kylie Minogue ( on Minogue’s 2020 “Disco” album).
Gloria Gaynor is back doing what she loves. Credit: Storyville Entertainment
‘Fida Known’, like ‘I Will Survive’, revels in women’s capacity to get up, brush off the detritus of a broken relationship or failed endeavour, and strut into the future with the wisdom of a survivor.
Gaynor reflects, “The new music is uplifting and encouraging. That's always my purpose, to be uplifting, encouraging and empowering to people. When you're upset about something, or you’re enthusiastic about something, or there’s something you did wrong in the past, you don't say ‘If I had known…’, you say ‘Fida known!’”
She adds, “It's a fun song about looking back and recognising mistakes that you made and that you would not have made had you had all the facts.”
The name of the single, fans will recognise, is drawn from the lyrics of ‘I Will Survive’ (“Fida known for just one second, you’d be back to bother me…”), and Gaynor’s wink and nod to the past in all its messy wonder is as compelling on Spotify as it is in this documentary. Gaynor, like the iconic artist she is, can look back and appreciate her history while keeping us firmly engaged in the present.
Gaynor tells SBS, “The documentary is very personal, and it's kind of raw and over many areas and instances, it really shows the struggles that I've had in the business, and the trials, some of the triumphs, that I've had in the business, especially after the ‘70s, and after COVID started to spread here in the United States. It shows what went on with me and my career after that. I think viewers can get to know a lot more about me than they ever did before.”
Gloria Gaynor: I will Survive is streaming at SBS On Demand until 3.30 pm 28 March.
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Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive
