Gloria Gaynor

Gloria Fowles (born 7 September 1943; Newark, New Jersey), known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, songwriter and actress, widely known as the "Queen of Disco."

Early Life

Gaynor was one of seven children born to Daniel Fowles, a singer and ukulele player, and Queenie Mae Proctor, a homemaker; her father was largely absent for much of her childhood. Though her mother had a fine singing voice in her youth, throat surgery later robbed her of it, and she would often ask a young Gaynor to sing her favourite songs in her place.

Gaynor gained early confidence in her own voice at the age of thirteen, when a neighbour, overhearing her practising in the stairwell of the family's apartment building, mistook her singing for the radio. Shortly after finishing high school, she began performing in local clubs.

Career

Gaynor signed her first record contract at nineteen and began recording in the mid-1960s. Her career took off in 1973 with "Never Can Say Goodbye," a cover of the Jackson 5 song that reached number nine on the pop charts and is widely regarded as the first genuine disco hit; the accompanying album was the first to feature a continuous, non-stop dance mix.

She went on to release an album every year from 1973 to 1981, each reaching the top 40. Her biggest success came with 1978's Love Tracks, which included "I Will Survive," originally issued as a B-side before becoming a global anthem; the song reached number one on the pop charts in 1979 and won the only Grammy Award ever given for Best Disco Recording, in 1980.

Alongside contemporaries including the Bee Gees and Donna Summer, Gaynor was part of a disco era that produced dozens of global top ten crossover hits between 1974 and 1983. She left behind a period of alcohol and drug abuse to become a born-again Christian in 1982, subsequently incorporating gospel music into her output, and her career was further revived by the disco resurgence of the 1990s.

In 1999, she appeared for a two-week run in the Broadway musical Smokey Joe's Café, and made television appearances on That '70s Show and Ally McBeal. VH1 named "I Will Survive" the greatest dance song of all time as part of its 100 Greatest Dance Songs countdown, and her life story was profiled on the network's Behind the Music series.

In 2019, she released her twentieth studio album, the Nashville-recorded gospel record Testimony, which won the Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album in 2020, giving her Grammy wins four decades apart. In 2025, she released the five-song EP Happy Tears. In 2026, she continued touring extensively, headlining the Boogietown Festival in Walton-on-Thames, England, and performing a special one-off concert with the Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo at Naples's Arena Flegrea.
 

Personal Life

Gaynor was married to Linwood Simon from 1979 until their divorce in 2005 and has no children. A devout Christian, she lives in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. She has written an autobiography, also titled I Will Survive, and a Grammy-nominated book, We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration, and the Power of Song. She has also launched a charitable clothing line, "I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor," supporting survivors of hardship, and has been involved with numerous charities, including the United Cerebral Palsy Organization, the Rita Hayworth Gala for Alzheimer's, Revlon's Annual Walk for Life, and the Michael Bolton Foundation.

In 2017, she was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Performing Arts category, and in 2025 she was honoured with a Kennedy Center Honor for her lifelong contributions to American culture.

A documentary chronicling her life and career, also titled I Will Survive, premiered in 2023. "I Will Survive" itself has become a global anthem of resilience, embraced by survivors of domestic violence, the LGBTQ+ community, and countless others, cementing Gaynor's legacy well beyond the disco era in which she first found fame.