Gloria Gaynor is an American singer from Newark, New Jersey, born in 1943. She works in disco, dance-pop, philly soul, pop soul, pop, and soul, and is especially associated with the disco era.

Early life and beginnings

Gloria Fowles is born in Newark to Daniel Fowles and Queenie Mae Proctor. She grows up with five brothers and one sister, with her grandmother playing an important role in the family home. Music is a constant presence in the household: she hears artists such as Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan, while her father plays the ukulele and guitar and performs professionally in nightclubs with a group called Step 'n' Fetchit. The family later moves to public housing, and she attends South Side High School, graduating in 1961.

She begins singing in a Newark nightclub after a neighbour recommends her to a local band. During the 1960s she performs with The Soul Satisfiers, a jazz and R&B group. In 1965 she records “She’ll Be Sorry” for Johnny Nash’s Jocida label. After several years of local club work and performances across the East Coast, she signs with Columbia Records in 1971.

1970s success

After signing with Columbia, she releases “Honey Bee” in 1973. She later moves to MGM Records and releases the album Never Can Say Goodbye in 1975. Its first side is arranged as a continuous sequence of “Honey Bee”, “Never Can Say Goodbye”, and “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”. The title track becomes the first song to reach number one on Billboard’s dance chart and also charts on the Billboard Hot 100, the R&B chart, and in international markets including Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The album helps to increase disco’s popularity.

Her 1975 follow-up, Experience Gloria Gaynor, is followed by other albums including I’ve Got You, Glorious, and Gloria Gaynor’s Park Avenue Sound. Singles such as “Honey Bee”, “Casanova Brown”, “Let’s Make a Deal”, “(If You Want It) Do It Yourself”, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”, and “How High the Moon” all find success on dance charts.

In 1978 she releases Love Tracks, which includes “I Will Survive”. The song is first issued as the B-side to “Substitute” before becoming the more successful side. Written from the viewpoint of a woman speaking to a former partner, it becomes widely known as an anthem of resilience and female empowerment. It sells more than 15 million copies worldwide and becomes one of the best-selling singles of all time. Gaynor wins the Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording for the song at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards, and it is also nominated for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. “I Will Survive” later appears on lists including Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and Billboard’s All-Time Hot 100.

In 1979 she releases I Have a Right, which includes “Let Me Know (I Have a Right)”. The recording features a trumpet solo by Doc Severinsen. That year she also records “Love Is Just a Heartbeat Away” for the film Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula.

1980s, faith and later work

Gaynor releases two disco-oriented albums in 1980 and 1981, at a time when disco has declined in the United States. In 1982, after exploring several religious beliefs, she becomes a Christian and releases the album Gloria Gaynor, which includes R&B and pop material. Her final major commercial success of the decade comes with I Am Gloria Gaynor (1984), supported by “I Am What I Am”. The song becomes popular in dance clubs and is later adopted as an anthem within the LGBT community, helping to establish her as a gay icon. Her 1986 album, The Power of Gloria Gaynor, consists mainly of cover versions.

Interest in disco in the 1990s brings renewed attention to her work. She appears as a guest actor in television series including The Wayans Bros., That ’70s Show, and Ally McBeal, and performs in a limited Broadway engagement of Smokey Joe’s Cafe. In 2001 she performs “I Will Survive” at Michael Jackson’s 30th anniversary concert.

In 2002 she releases I Wish You Love, her first studio album in more than 15 years. Its singles “Just Keep Thinking About You” and “I Never Knew” both reach number one on Billboard’s Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and “I Never Knew” also enters the Adult Contemporary chart. Later that year she appears on PBS’s American Soundtrack in the “Rhythm, Love, and Soul” edition. In 2004 she reissues her 1997 album The Answer, also released as What a Life, and performances of “I Will Survive” and “I Never Knew” appear on a live album released the same year.

Recognition and later collaborations

In 2005 Gaynor and her music are inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in both the Artist and Records categories. In 2008 the American Diabetes Association names her honorary spokesperson for its “NYC Step Out to Fight Diabetes Walk”. She continues to make television appearances in the late 2000s and early 2010s, including The John Kerwin Show, The Wendy Williams Show, The View, Last Comic Standing, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

In 2013 she releases a contemporary Christian album. “I Will Survive” remains her signature song and continues to receive radio play, cover versions, remixes, and uses in film and television; it appears in The Martian in 2015. That year she receives an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Dowling College. In 2016 “I Will Survive” is selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. The following year she appears in a Capital One television advertisement with Samuel L. Jackson, Charles Barkley, and Spike Lee, and performs at the Library of Congress’ Bibliodiscotheque event.

After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, she records “Texas Will Survive”, a revised version of “I Will Survive” in support of those affected by the storm. In 2019 the song gains renewed popularity on TikTok. In 2020 she wins her second Grammy Award, receiving Best Roots Gospel Album for Testimony at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. In 2021 she collaborates with Kylie Minogue on “Can’t Stop Writing Songs About You” for the reissue Disco: Guest List Edition, and also records “Brand New” with the contemporary Christian band MercyMe. In 2022 she appears on the eighth season of The Masked Singer as “Mermaid”, performing “I Will Survive” after her elimination.

In 2025 she receives a Kennedy Center Honor and releases the singles “Fida Known” and “When I See You”, followed by the EP Happy Tears.