After radio turned the volume of disco down to -10 in late 1979, the genre seemed to fragment like shards of mirror all over the place. In reality, disco had pulled itself together from various genres and sounds. Looking back at the charts provided by Vince Aletti, the king of the Disco reports for Record World there is a wide array of sounds that were played in clubs drawing from funk, soul and R&B. For example on his November 16, 1974 chart Carl Carlton \"Everlasting Love\", Gloria Gaynor \"Never Can Say Goodbye\" , BB King \"Philadelphia\", Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes \"Get Dancing\" shared little in sound and form except that they all had beats that suited the DJ's and clubbers needs for something to dance to. Over time, the sound coalesced into the slick, clearly 4/4 beat with the open hi hat between beats, filled out with strings and synthesizers that became the hallmarks of what most consider to be disco in 1978-79.
Once the disco bubble burst, songs like Shalamar's \"Second Time Around\" , Whispers \"And The Beat Goes On\", Lipps Inc \"Funkytown\" and SOS Band \"Take Your Time (Do It Right) filled the need for boogie fever. Gloria Gaynor said that \"disco never died, it just changed names to protect the innocent\" a very apt and insightful quote. People still wanted to dance in clubs and new synthesizer centered tunes took over and out of that comes the seriously funky strains of \"Mama Used To Say\" from Junior in 1982.
Born Norman Giscombe Jr in the London borough of Wadsworth on November 11, 1961, he showed extensive musical talent and joined a band to pursue his love of Doo Wop, Motown, Soul and Reggae. He soon decided to write and record his own music once his cover of Jessie Green \"Nice & Slow\" and then his first UK hit \"Hot Up & Heated\" fell on receptive ears who ran out to buy his offerings. He was a founding member of the UK band Linx, whose \"You're Lying\" went to #71 on the US disco chart in 1981 and #15 on the UK pop chart in late 1980. He left that band and then Phonogram Records signed the \"future of UK Soul\" in 1982 and released the LP \"Ji\" with the infectious beats of \"Mama Used To Say\" that peaked at #4 on the US Disco Chart that same year.
The follow up, \"Too Late\" did not do as well, peaking at #67. In 1983, he recorded \"Unison\" for the movie \"All The Right Moves\", a song later covered by Celine Dion and Laura Branigan in the 1990's. His version got all the way to #16 on the US disco chart. He did have a song on the hugely successful \"Beverly Hills Cop\" soundtrack called \"Do You Really Want My Love\". After some success on the US R&B charts, he took time off from recording to re-establish himself and find the direction he wanted his career to take. He still writes and produces for a variety of artists and has had his big chart successes covered by the likes of Heavy D, Cam'ron, Brand New Nubians and Warren G.
