Santa Esmeralda - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood [Full Album + Bonus] (1977)
The spectacular debut of Santa Esmeralda is one of my absolute favourite LP's of the disco years. American singer Leroy Gomez teamed up with French producers Nikolas Skorsky & Jean-Manuel de Scarano for a unique pairing of his soulful vocals and a fusion of disco, rock and flamenco, covering Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, originally sung by Nina Simone in 1964 and covered in a more well-known version the following year by The Animals. The sessions took place in Paris and were arranged by Cerrone's collaborator Raymond Donnez aka Don Ray. The song took off like wild-fire, reaching #1 in France and Germany, and was also quickly signed to Casablanca Records in the US where the single hit #15 on the pop charts and #4 on the disco charts. Also the single's B-side You're My Everything was popular. In Germany the LP also topped the album charts.
The idea for the whole project had come from Gomez' friend Sam Choueka who did not receive any financial compensation from the success and subsequently took the producers to court where Gomez and Don Ray sided with him. Skorsky & de Scarano were not pleased and went ahead and quickly recorded the second album with a new singer, Jimmy Goings, unbeknownst to Leroy Gomez who ended up agreeing a settlement to continue as a solo-ist. He released the LP's Gypsy Woman (1978) and I Got It Bad (1979), none of which found much success. He reemerged in the mid-90s with the single Wonderful World, regained the rights to the name Santa Esmeralda and started touring as well as recording new material - an album with re-recordings and new songs emerged in 2000, and Lay Down My Love was released in Italy in 2004. He released a string of download singles between 2010 and 2012, including Everybody In Love, and has most recently released a new recording of Gloria in 2018.
00:00 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/Esmeralda Suite
16:06 Gloria
19:40 You're My Everything
25:16 Black Pot
Bonus:
32:24 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Single Version)
