A far l'amore comincia tu - Raffaella Carra

Raffaella Carrà (born 18 June 1943, Bologna, Italy), in Italy often simply known as la Carrà and in some Latin American countries sometimes simply as Raffaella, is an Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, and actress. She is a popular figure in Italy, Spain, Greece and Latin America and Russia, both as a result of her many well known taped presentations and records, and because of her many popular TV shows.

Since 1961, Raffaella Carrà has sung and danced on the variety shows of Italian television. In particular, since the early 1970s, they have featured elaborate choreography, mesmerizing elaborate themes, and her uninhibited style. In accordance with local tradition, she has been the first television figure who has shown her belly button before the cameras. This was met with heavy criticism from the Vatican.

Raffaella Carrà had a hit song with the sensual "Tuca Tuca" (1970), written for her singing and dancing television presentations by her long-time collaborator and former boyfriend, Gianni Boncompagni. Similarly, in 1971 Carrà achieved another hit with "Chissà se Va".

Her greatest international hit single was "Tanti Auguri" ("Best Wishes"), which has become a popular song amongst the gay community. The song is also known under its Spanish title "Para hacer bien el amor hay que venir al sur" (which refers to Southern Europe, since the hit was recorded and taped in Spain). The Estonian version of the song "Jätke võtmed väljapoole" was performed by Anne Veski. "A far l'amore comincia tu" ("To make love, your move first") was another success for her internationally, known in Spanish as "En el amor todo es empezar", in German as "Liebelei", in French as "Puisque tu l'aimes dis le lui", and in English as "Do It, Do It Again". It was her only entry to the UK Singles Chart, where she remains a one-hit wonder. In 1977, she recorded another hit single, "Fiesta" ('The Party' in English) originally in Spanish, but then recorded it in French and Italian after the song hit the charts. It is about a woman who ended up being kicked out of a party after she was caught flirting with the hostess' boyfriend/husband.

In 1985, Carra's Starlight Express video was released featuring characters, costumes and sets from the show. In 2008, "Do It, Do It Again" was featured briefly in the Midnight episode of the fourth series of Doctor Who. "A far l'amore comincia tu" has also been covered in Turkish by a Turkish popstar called Ajda Pekkan as "Sakin Ha" in 1977.

Most recently, Raffaella Carrà has gained new attention for her appearance as the female vocal soloist in the proto hip-hop gibberish song Prisencolinensinainciusol (1973) by Adriano Celentano. A remixed video of her dancing and singing in the song went viral on the internet in 2008.

Penny McLean - Lady Bump (1975)

Divine

Divine (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), born as Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century",Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theatre, and also appeared in drag for his musical performances, although nonetheless considered himself to be a character actor, and as such performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with the independent filmmaker John Waters, and starred in ten of Waters' films, usually taking a leading role. Accompanying his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world"
Born in Baltimore, Maryland into a conservative family, he became involved with John Waters and his acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, in the mid 1960s, and starred in a number of Waters' early films, such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble, which have since become cult classics. In the 1970s, he made the transition to theatre, and appeared in a number of shows, including Women Behind Bars and The Neon Woman, alongside continuing to star in such films as Polyester, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray.
The New York Times said of Milstead's films in the 1980s, "Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick. He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century… [who] was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom." Since his death, Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly amongst the gay community.

Early Life: 1945-1965

Divine's High school yearbook photo at age seventeen.

Harris Glenn Milstead was born on October 19, 1945 at the Women's Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland at the under-average weight of 5 pounds 14 ounces. His father, Harris Bernard Milstead (May 1, 1917 – March 4, 1993), after whom he was named, and his mother, Frances Milstead (née Vukovich; April 12, 1920 – March 24, 2009), were relatively wealthy, conservative and conventional, adhering to the Baptist denomination of Christianity. Harris Glenn would prove to be their only child, but Frances had suffered two previous miscarriages in 1940 and 1943 Later describing his upbringing, Divine would recollect that "I was an only child in, I guess, your upper middle-class American family. I was probably your American spoilt brat." Indeed, his parents would lavish almost anything that he wanted upon him, including food, and he soon developed a problem with his eating, becoming overweight, a condition that he would live with for the rest of his life.
At the age of twelve, his family moved to Lutherville, a Baltimore suburb, where Milstead attended Towson High School, from which he graduated in 1963. It was here that Divine was bullied, partly because of his weight, and he later reminisced that he "wasn't rough and tough" but instead "loved painting and I always loved flowers and things. I've always been into the arts and water sports, such as boating and swimming."Because of his interest in flowers, he took a job at a local florist’s shop whilst aged fifteen, and several years later he went on a diet that enabled him to drop in weight from 180 pounds to 145 pounds, giving him a new sense of confidence.^[ Aged seventeen, his parents sent him to a psychiatrist, where he first began to realise his sexual attraction to men as well as women, something then taboo in conventional American society. Soon after, he began attending Marinella Beauty School, where he learned to become a hair stylist, and soon gained employment at a local salon.
Milstead eventually decided to give up his job, and for a while was financially supported by his wealthy parents, who catered to his "expensive taste" in clothes and cars. In December 1964, he then came to brief local attention when gossip spread that he was the chief suspect in the murder investigation of his friend Sally, although he was later cleared as the real culprit, a serial killer who had already killed ten other people, was apprehended.^[

John Waters and Divine's first films: 1966-1970

It was in the mid-1960s that he became acquainted with John Waters, a man the same age as him who lived in his neighborhood. Waters was an aspiring filmmaker, intent on making "the trashiest motion pictures in cinema history", and had collected an assortment of actors for the purpose, whom he termed the Dreamlanders. After meeting Harris through a mutual friend named Carol, Waters invited him to appear as the Smoking Nun in his second film, Roman Candles, which was created in 1966 and featured Harris and the other Dreamlanders shoplifting and then modelling their shoplifted clothes. It was Waters who first came up with the idea of calling Harris "Divine", a name that he would subsequently use for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, Divine then appeared in Waters' third film, Eat Your Makeup, in 1968, where he dressed in drag to play Jackie Kennedy, who was kidnapping models and forcing them to model and eat their own make-up. In 1969, he then appeared in Water’s next short film, The Diane Linkletter Story, in which he played the eponymous Diane Linkletter, a teenager who rebels against her parents and then commits suicide. Based upon a true story, the film would not be publicly released at the time, largely for legal reasons. In 1969, soon after the production of The Diane Linkletter Story, Waters set about filming for a full-length motion picture, Mondo Trasho, which starred Divine as one of the main characters, a "portly blonde bombshell" who drives around town and runs over a hitchhiker.

Divine as Lady Divine, getting raped by the giant lobster Lobstora in Multiple Maniacs (1970).

In 1970, Divine played the role of Lady Divine, the operator of an exhibit known as The Cavalcade of Perversion who turned to murdering visitors, in Waters' film Multiple Maniacs. At the end of the film, a scene was filmed that involved Lady Divine being raped by a giant lobster named Lobstora, before she runs around Baltimore in a craze attempting to kill anyone who passed her by. Multiple Maniacs was the first of Waters' films to begin to receive more widespread attention, and as such, so did Divine, with KSFX^{[disambiguation needed]} remarking that "Divine is incredible! Could start a whole new trend in films."
Divine kept his involvement with Waters and these early underground films a secret from his conservative parents, whom he felt would not understand them or the reason for his involvement in such controversial and "bad taste" films. Meanwhile, aged twenty-three, he moved away from his parents' home and opened up a short-lived vintage clothes shop, Divine Trash, in Provincetown, using his parents' money to rent the premises.^[ In May 1971, Divine suffered a falling out with his parents, and he would not visit them for another ten years, albeit wrote occasional letters to them, always without a return address. He later closed up his shop and decided to spend some time in San Francisco, a city which at the time had a large gay subculture that Divine, who was then embracing his homosexuality, was attracted to.

Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and theatre work: 1971-1979

Divine as Babs Johnson in Pink Flamingos.

Following his vacation in San Francisco, Divine returned to Baltimore to get involved with John Waters' next project, a film entitled Pink Flamingos. Designed by Waters to be "an exercise in bad taste", the film featured Divine as Babs Johnson, "the filthiest person alive", who is forced to prove her right to the title from challengers, the Marbles. At the end of the film, Divine notoriously placed fresh dog feces in her mouth, symbolising the characters’ right to the title. Pink Flamingos proved to be one of the biggest cult hits of the 1970s, and made Divine somewhat famous amongst the underground circuit.
With the footage for Pink Flamingos completed, Divine returned to San Francisco, where, along with fellow Dreamlander Mink Stole, he became the star in a number of small budget plays performed by a group known as The Cockettes, including Divine and Her Stimulating Studs, Divine Saves the World, Vice Palace, Journey to the Centre of Uranus and The Heartbreak of Psoriasis
In 1974, Divine once more returned to Baltimore to film Waters' next motion picture, Female Trouble, where he played the lead role, a teenage delinquent, Dawn Davenport, who holds to the idea that "crime is art" and who is eventually executed in the electric chair for her violent behaviour. Divine also played his first on-screen male role, Earl Peterson, in the film, and Waters included a scene during which these two characters had sex as a joke on the fact that both were played by the same actor. Female Trouble would prove to be Divine's favourite of the films that he had played in, because it both allowed him to develop his character and because it had allowed him to finally play a male role, something he had always felt important because he did not want to be type-cast as a female impersonator.
Soon after, he returned to theatre, this time taking the role of the prison matron Pauline in Tom Eyen's prison-based comedy Women Behind Bars. Being performed in New York City, the play proved popular, and it was later taken to perform in London as well, where it proved less successful. Eyen was however particularly impressed with Divine’s performance, and decided to write a new play that would feature him in a starring role: the result, The Neon Woman, was set in the 1960s, and featured Divine as Flash Storm, the owner of a Baltimore strip club.

 Disco Diva and later cinema work: 1980-1988

After abandoning his former agent, Robert Hussong, for the former English theatre director Bernard Jay in 1979, Divine began to gain an interest in expanding out into the club scene, first appearing at a gay club in Fort Lauderdale, where his unscripted act comprised of shouting "fuck you" repeatedly at the audience and then getting into a fight with another drag queen, something that proved popular. Following this, he saw the commercial potential of including disco songs in with his act, and with the composer Henry Krieger created the song "Born to be Cheap" He then teamed up with the young American composer Bobby Orlando, who wrote a number of singles for Divine, including "Native Love (Step By Step)", "Shoot Your Shot" and "Love Reaction". To help publicise these singles, which proved to be successful in many discos across the world, Divine went on a series of tours, where he combined his musical performances with comedic stunts and routines that often played up to his characters' stereotype of being "trashy" and outrageous.^[ Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Divine would take his musical performances on tour across the world, appearing not only in his native United States, but also across Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, Israel, South Africa, Australia and Hong Kong. However, Divine and his management felt that despite the fact that Divine's records were selling well, they were not receiving their share of the profits, and so they went to court against Orlando and his company, O-Records. Successfully nullifying their contract, they went on to sign to Barry Evangeli's company, InTune Music Limited, for whom Divine released several new disco records, including "You Think You're A Man" and "I'm So Beautiful".

Divine performing on the video for I'm So Beautiful.

Meanwhile, in 1981 Divine appeared in John Waters' next film, Polyester, in which he starred as Francine Fishpaw, a figure who unlike earlier roles, was not a strong woman, but a meek and victimised woman who falls in love with her dream lover, Todd Tomorrow. This character was played by Tab Hunter, who Divine himself got on very well with, and various tabloids picked up on the story, speculating that the two had become lovers, something both of them always denied, claiming that they were simply good friends^] The film was released in "odorama", thereby being accompanied by "scratch n' stiff" cards that the audience could smell at key points in the film. Shortly after the production of Polyester, he auditioned for a male role in Ridley Scott's upcoming science-fiction film Blade Runner, and although Scott did not think that he was right for the part, he did comment on how much he was a fan of Divine's work, and was very interested in including Divine in another of his films, but this never came about.
The next film that he worked on, Lust in the Dust (1985), saw him reunited with Tab Hunter, and was Divine's first role in a film not directed by John Waters. Set in the Wild West during the nineteenth century, Lust in the Dust was a sex comedy that starred Divine as Rosie Velez, a slut who works as a singer in saloons, and has her competing for the love of Abel Wood (Tab Hunter) against another woman.Divine followed Lust in the Dust with a very different role, that of the male gangster Hilly Blue in Trouble in Mind (1985). The part had actually been written with Divine in mind, and although not being a major character in the film, attracted some mixed media attention. Nonetheless, Divine had been very anxious to have the role, as he was really keen to play more male roles and leave behind the stereotype that he was simply a female impersonator.
Divine subsequently once more got involved with John Waters’ latest project, this time the film Hairspray (1988), which was set in the 1960s. In it, Divine played two roles, one male and the other female, just as he had done in Waters' earlier film, Female Trouble.
Appearing on American television chat shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Thicke of the Night and The Merv Griffin Show to promote both his music and his film appearances, Divine became a well known celebrity, and merchandise began to be produced involving him, including Divine greeting cards and The Simple Divine Cut-Out Doll Book, whilst famous artists, including David Hockney and Andy Warhol, created portraits of him Meanwhile, it was around this time that he decided to visit his parents after a decade long estrangement. They subsequently mended their broken relationship, and he would lavish many gifts upon them, informing them of how wealthy he was despite the fact that, according to Bernard Jay, he was already heavily in debt.

 Death and Funeral: 1988

Milstead's grave at Prospect Hill Park Cemetery, Towson, Maryland.

On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after Hairspray was released, he was in Los Angeles staying in the Regency Hotel. The next day, he was due to audition for a part in the Fox network's television series Married... with Children. After dining with friends, Milstead returned to the hotel, and before entering his room he leaned over the balcony and sang "Arrivederci Roma". Known for his punctuality when working, people became concerned when he did not appear on the set the next morning. His manager, Bernard Jay, went to the hotel at noon to check on him, and used his pass key for access. The autopsy found he had died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at the age of forty-two.
The request was made that no money be donated to charity in Divine's name, but for people to buy flowers, because he loved them so much. Elton John sent a huge batch, as did Tab Hunter and Whoopi Goldberg – along with a card that read, "See what a good review will do?"According to the E! True Hollywood Story documentary about Divine, the card from Fox read, "If you didn't want the job, all you had to do was say so."^{[citation needed]}

Drag persona and performance

Divine: "How much did you pay to get in tonight?"
Audience: "Ten dollars."
Divine: "Well now, that's eight dollars to see the show - and two dollars to fuck me right after. All line up outside the dressing room and I'll be here till Christmas!"

Divine to his audience

After developing a name for himself as a female impersonator known for their "trashy" behaviour in his early John Waters' films, Divine decided to capitalise on this image by appearing at his musical performances in his drag persona. In this role, he would be described as displaying "Trash. Filth. Obscenity. In bucket-loads." Divine himself would describe his stage performances as "just good, dirty fun, and if you find it offensive, honey, don't join in." As a part of his performance, he would constantly swear at the audience, often using his signature line of "fuck you very much", and at times would get audience members to come onstage, where he would fondle their buttocks, groins and breasts.
He became increasingly known for outlandish stunts onstage, each time trying to outdo what he had done before. At one performance, held in the Hippodrome in London, that coincided with American Independence Day, Divine rose up from the floor on a hydraulic lift, draped in the American flag, and declared that "I'm here representing Freedom, Liberty, Family Values and the fucking American Way of Life."When he performed at London Gay Pride parade, he sang on the roof of a hired pleasure boat that floated down the Thames passed Jubilee Gardens, whilst at a performance he gave at the Hippodrome in the last year of his life, he appeared onstage riding an infant elephant, known as Bully the Elephant, who had been hired for the occasion.Nonetheless, Divine was not overly happy being known primarily for his drag act, and would tell an interviewer that "my favourite part of drag is getting out of it. Drag is my work clothes. I only put it on when someone pays me to."
Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular amongst gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world’s biggest gay clubs, such as Heaven in London. According to Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, this was "not because Divine happened to be a gay person himself… but because it was the gay community that openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine".

 Personal life

"I think I've always been respectable. What I do onstage is not what I do in my private life… It's an act… It's how I make my living. People laugh, and it's not hurting anyone."

Divine (1983)^[43]

Despite some claims made to the contrary, Divine always considered himself to be male, and was not transsexual. He used the term "Divine" as his personal name, telling one interviewer that both "Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" were "both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past twenty-three years. I guess it's always Glenn and it's always Divine. Do you mean the character Divine or the person Divine? You see, it gets very complicated. There's the Divine you're talking to now and there's the character Divine, which is just something I do to make a living. She doesn't really exist at all." At one point he had the name "Divine" officially recognised, as it appeared on his passport, and in keeping with his personal use of the name, his close friends nicknamed him "Divi".
Divine was homosexual, and during the 1980s had an extended relationship with a married man named Lee, who accompanied him almost everywhere that he went They later separated, and Divine would go on to have a brief affair with the gay porn star Leo Ford, something that was widely written and gossiped about in the gay press Divine would also regularly engage in sexual activities with young men that he would meet whilst performing, sometimes becoming infatuated with them: in one case, he met a young man in Israel who he slept with and subsequently wanted to bring back to the United States, something that his manager prevented him from doing. Divine initially avoided informing the media about his sexuality, even when questioned by interviewers, and would sometimes hint that he was bisexual, but in the latter part of the 1980s decided to change this attitude, and began being open about his homosexuality. Nonetheless, he avoided getting into discussions regarding gay rights, partially at the advice of his manager, realising that it would have had a negative effect on his career.
Divine had suffered from problems with obesity ever since he was a child, for the reason that he "liked to eat - and eat - and eat - and drink gallons of Coca-Cola", with his hunger being increased by his daily smoking of the drug marijuana, which was illegal in the United States during the period when he regularly smoked it.In the last few years of his life, when Divine began to realise that his career in disco was coming to an end, and he was having difficulty finding acting jobs, he began to feel suicidal and would threaten to kill himself on a number of occasions. Meanwhile, Dutch friends of Divine gave him two bulldogs in the 1980s, which he doted on, and named Beatrix and Klaus after the Queen Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus of the Netherlands. On numerous occasions he would have his photograph taken with them, and sometimes use these images for record covers and posters.

 Legacy and influence

Two books have been published about Divine since his death. The first, which was entitled Not Simply Divine!, was written by his manager and friend Bernard Jay, and published in 1992 by Virgin Books. The second, My Son Divine (2001), was written by his mother, Frances Milstead, and dealt with her sometimes fractious relationship with her son. She was later portrayed in a film Frances: A Mother Divine.As of 2009, I Am Divine, a documentary on Milstead's life, is being developed by Los Angeles production company Automat Pictures and producer Jeffrey Schwarz.
Divine was the inspiration for the design of Ursula the Sea-Witch, the villain in the Disney classic The Little Mermaid
Antony Hegarty of the band Antony and the Johnsons wrote a song about Divine which was included in the group's self-titled debut album, released in 1998. The song, titled "Divine", was an ode to Divine, who was one of Antony's life-long heroes. His admiration is especially evident in the lines: "He was my self-determined guru" and "I turn to think of you/Who walked the way with so much pain/Who holds the mirror up to fools".
In 2008, Irish electronic singer Róisín Murphy paid homage to Divine in her music video for her song "Movie Star" by reenacting the attack by Lobstora from his 1970 film Multiple Maniacs and by the appearance of Divine lookalikes.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1966	Roman Candles	The Smoking Nun
1968	Eat Your Makeup	Jacqueline Kennedy
1969	The Diane Linkletter Story	Diane Linkletter
	Mondo Trasho	Divine
1970	Multiple Maniacs	Lady Divine
1972	Pink Flamingos	Divine / Babs Johnson
1974	Female Trouble	Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson
1981	Polyester	Francine Fishpaw
1985	Lust in the Dust	Rosie Velez	Nominated for Worst Actor at Razzie Awards
	Trouble in Mind	Hilly Blue
	Divine Waters	Himself	Documentary
1988	Hairspray	Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile	Nominated for Best Supporting Male at Independent Spirit Awards
1989	Out of the Dark	Det. Langella
1998	Divine Trash	Himself	Archive footage used for documentary
2000	In Bad Taste	Himself	Archive footage used for documentary
2002	The Cockettes	Himself	Archive footage used for documentary
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Tales from the Darkside	Chia Fung	1 episode

 Discography

In the 1980s, Divine released several dance music records which were club music hits in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Divine's records comprised synth-heavy Hi-NRG music, most of it composed, created, performed, and produced by Bobby Orlando. In the United States, Divine's highest-charting songs were "Native Love", peaking at #21 on the Club Play Singles chart, and "Shoot Your Shot", which reached #39 among Club Play Singles. Divine's early UK releases on the Design Communications label included "Love Reaction" (which "borrowed" elements of New Order's big hit "Blue Monday")^[56], "Shake It Up", and "Shoot Your Shot". All of these releases were big gay club hits and minor mainstream chart hits^{[citation needed]}. The Stock, Aitken & Waterman-produced song "You Think You're A Man" was Divine's most successful UK hit, reaching #16; the song was also a Top 10 hit in Australia, reaching #8 (thanks in part to a popular promotional tour in that country which included an appearance on the popular Australian music show Countdown.) Among the material Divine released on the Proto label in the United Kingdom was "I'm So Beautiful" (the follow-up single to "You Think You're A Man"), "Walk Like A Man" and "Twistin' the Night Away". These Proto label tracks saw their initial CD release on the "Maid In England" album and compilation of tracks from his Proto catalogue, entitled The Essential Divine, is currently available on iTunes.

] Albums

• My First Album - (1982) 
• Jungle Jezebel - (1982) 
• The Story So Far - (1984)
• Maid in England - (1988) 

 CD reissues

• The Story So Far - (1988, Receiver Records, KNOB 3)
• The Best Of & The Rest Of - (1989, Action Replay Records, CDAR 1007)
• Maid In England - (1990, ZYX Records, CD 9066)
• The Best Of Divine: Native Love - (1991, "O" Records, HTCD 16-2)
• The 12" Collection - (1993, Unidisc Music Inc., SPLK-7098)
• Jungle Jezebel - (1994, "O" Records, HTCD 6609)
• The Cream Of Divine - (1994, Pickwick Group Ltd., PWKS 4228) UK compilation featuring the Proto label 12" versions.
• Born To Be Cheap - (1994, Anagram Records, CDMGRAM 84) - Live album.
• Shoot Your Shot - (1995, Mastertone Multimedia Ltd., AB 3013)
• The Remixes - (1996, Avex UK, AVEXCD 29) - new remixes by Jon of the Pleased Wimmin, Mark Moore, Hybrid, Checkpoint Charlie, Hyper Go Go, & Aquarius.
• The Originals - (1996, Avex UK, AVEXCD 30)
• The Best Of Divine - (1997, Delta Music, 21 024)
• Greatest Hits - (2005, Unidisc Music Inc., SPLK-8004)
• The Greatest Hits - (2005, Forever Gold, FG351) - Dutch compilation featuring some rare mixes.
• Greatest Hits: The Originals and the Remixes - (2009, Dance Street Records, DST 77226-2) - US 2CD reissue of the 1996 Avex UK CDs.
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Paul Parker-Right on Target (Fabrice Potec Bootleg Remix 2010)

http://www.mediafire.com/?louz52us9obx3lu

"An excellent NEW underground, unreleased 2010 remix from France!"

Patrick Cowley - Mind Warp 1982

Patrick Cowley

                                   

1974 : Patrick Cowley playing drums at Arthur Adcock's  house.(San Francisco )

 

BEGINNING : Arthur, Maurice and Pat                                     

1976 : Maurice Tani and Patrick Cowley, cut out of a band publicity photo.

In 1971, at the age of 21, he moved from Rochester to the San Francisco Bay Area  to begin his synthesizer studies at the City College of San Francisco. and later making his own recordings and productions.

 

In 1972 Jerry Mueller started the Electronic Music Lab at City College of San Francisco. There were three students in the class : Arthur Adcock, Jerry Judnick and Patrick Cowley.
Six months later Maurice Tani joined the group. They used to meet for class in Mueller's basement until a room became available at the college.

                            " Patrick and I played in a couple of bands together, created radio jingles, songs, electronic pieces, costumes, back up singers....all kind of stuff. His disco music was really just the latest thing he has done. He was the student in charge in the Electronic Music Lab while other student used the school's equipment.
                           Patrick, Arthur and I continued to do a lot of experimental music, blending various types of music and adapting them to the synth. Some avant-garde, artsy stuff.
                           After Patrick made some money with Megatron Man, he bought his own Electrocomp synthesizer and an Otari 1/2'' 8-track machine. "  (MAURICE TANI )

 

At the time there were only three brands of synthesizers available : 'Moog', which was the name that most people associated with music synthesis and which was expensive, 'Buchla', also expensive, and 'Putney', made in England and relatively cheap.

 

So they bought a 'Putney'; It had a pin-matrix instead of patch cords, but it worked quite well. Later, they switched to an E-mu system (which Patrick used ) and finally to a 'Serge' synthesizer, which was ,and still is, excellent; It's the only analog piece of equipment left in the City College's digital studio nowadays.

 

 

"E-mu system" sinthesizer. In 1973, Patrick was a Master performing at the City College.

                             "Patrick was a master of the E-mu system, but he did it intuitively.
                          Everyone else could talk the lingo: 'This oscillator is modulating the filter', but Patrick couldn't tell you how he got his sounds; he just did it." (JERRY MUELLER )

 

                      "One day,  I came into the studio and heard a tune called 'A White Shade Of Pale". I assumed Patrick was playing a tape, but it turned out he'd synthesized the whole thing ! Not an easy thing to do !
(JERRY MUELLER )

 

                          " Arthur Adcock had a little money from his family and bought his own Electrocomp system. He was very generous with his equipment and would let Patrick come over and use the gear a couple days a week. Patrick introduced me to Arthur and we all shared the gear for the next few years.
                           Patrick, Arthur and I formed a production company called Short Circuit that produced musical segues, 'stingers', sound effects for radio stations, etc. "  (MAURICE TANI )

  His career as a songwriter began when Sylvester, another San Francisco based musician, asked him to join  his studio, after listening to what he was doing with synthesizers. He was amazed with Patrick's innovative technologies.
  Here is a review of the main dance music clubs that existed  in San Francisco at the end of the 70's and wherever "disco Music" was developing :

1976 : Patrick Cowley in a band playing at Embarcadero Center in downtown San Francisco. (below the white  arrow ). Sexy Candida Royale on the stage and Maurice Tani. (second guitarist).

Mind Shaft ( on Market Street) , I-Beam (on Height Street),  Dreamland ( on Harrison Street) ,  Disco International ( in Oakland) ,  Trocadero Transfer ( on Fourth Street),  Dance Your Ass Off ( in North Beach) and most famous of all  “The City” ( on Montgomery and  Broadway).

  Patrick was employed as The City's light technician ,in North Beach,  in the basement showroom where Sylvester's band was making shows.  The City was the biggest and most important gay disco club in the Bay Area and Sylvester with his band played a demo ("You Make Me Feel") so  Patrick could make the modern arrangements.

The band had no idea at all that he was doing music, he kind of kept it under the hat for a long time. He let them hear some tapes he had recorded . He asked them if they would like to go down and do backups music on some songs he'd been working on.

1976 : Jorge Socarras (singer of Indoor Life) and Patrick Cowley, proposed record cover for the duo 'Catholic'. Artwork shot by Archie Connely, aka Archie Style.

 Jorge Socarras & Patrick

                 " In the mid-late 70's, before I started 'Indoor Life' , Patrick and I were best friends for many years and  produced over an album's worth of very edgy new-wave material under two names: 1) Catholic 2) Lesser Man.

                  We tried to get his label to release it, but it was way too out there for him. These songs, highly influenced by the likes of Eno, Devo, Nico, and other two-syllable names, feature him playing most synths parts, and my singing, with some guest spots by Sylvester's band.

                 Patrick was surrounded himself with people from many styles of music: disco, rock, gospel, new wave, ... and I was the most new-wave. That was so amazing in Patrick."      ( JORGE SOCARRAS )

It was really quite astonishing for them to hear those powerful and innovative sounds. Patrick did "kickin' In" and "Love Me Hot" which have  never been released as well as  many others which surely  still remain in Megatone's vault  (today Unidisc) . It was just at that moment when Sylvester became very intent on somehow integrating that synthesized music into their basic R&B (Rhythm and Blues) sound of that time, hired Patrick who, since then (1978) would go with him on tour by Southamerica and Europe with his keyboards and synthesizers.     

1982 Left to right: Michael Finden, Frank Loverde, Linda Imperial, James Tip Wirrick and Patrick Cowley having a good time in San Francisco.

By then, Sylvester was working on his second album, with his guitar player and songwriter James 'Tip' Wirrick ,who  later became his producer. Patrick and Tip Wirrick were neighbour in San Francisco; they would  become very close friends. There was a little tension in the beggining between Patrick and the other band members. They didn't give him much credibility as a player at the time because his sound and techniques were quiet ahead of the times for 1978 .However things really started to change after a while and he eventually became a very respected and beloved member of that group. 

               

                                      "Patrick Cowley came along and basically created a sound in music that became known around the world as a San Francisco identity sound. It was a druggy sound. It was an 'up' sound. Patrick created a synthesized sound that would enhance a drug induced high and the song which really launched that sound was 'Menergy'. " (CASEY JONES)   

  

                               "Patrick has a lot of fun to work with. He'd say : 'Hey, let's have a joint and make some music', and that's just what we did. Of course that was before he ever started getting sick. We always had a good time."  (LAUREN CARTER)

   

PATRICK  &  SYLVESTER                                         

                                                                                        

Patrick on tour with Sylvester's band, in The Coliseum, Rome.

 

Silvester James, such was his name, was a gay star. He was a  transvestite who was very successful in the gay disco comunity in San Francisco, and he was characterized by make people frenzy in each of his shows. 

Patrick's performance with analog synthesizer work, electronic instruments, modified guitars and self-constructed equipement became in synonymous of Sylvester's sound and covered with synthesized sounds the edition of hits like  “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, “Dance Disco Heat”, and “Can’t Stop Dancing”.

                                          " It's almost amazing that Sylvester had Patrick tour with us, because synthesizer technology was so primitive at the time that Patrick was constantly patching and unpatching his board to make sounds when we were performing. Frecuently he had problems on stage due to the technical limitations of sound systems vis a vis live use of synthesizers.
                                 But one night at Roseland Balroom in New York Patrick played a solo that was so amazing that Tip Wirrick, Michael Finden and I were just in awe.
I remember Patrick shrugging in a humorous way and telling us : Some nights it goes well !! " (ROBERT KINGSOM )

Resting by day, performing by night. Patrick on a tour of Florida.

Patrick and Sylvester in the studio working on 'Do Ya Wanna Funk'

This gave life to the "Step II" album that skyrocketed Sylvester to international fame. It was Patrick's recording work which really pushed Sylvester's 'Step II' album into a highly marketable category, to the point that it sold  more than 500.000 records in United States; it became a gold record. Another important  experience of Patrick with Sylvester's band was the recording live of his Living Proof  album,  at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, on March 11,  1979.

                               "Patrick was a really fun person who was also very spontaneous, in example, he frequently yelled at me publicity (but then, I was 18 or 21 years old and totally folish, so i couldn't blame him. But in the same moment he would hug me and we would laugh it off. " (ROBERT KINGSOM )

Robert Kingsom playing bass for Sylvester at The Roxy Theater in Hollywood in 1979.

Patrick Cowley on  synthesizer and Robert Kingsom on  drums performing for Sylvester in the  Roxy Theater in Hollywood during 1979. Incredible picture.

A PART  OF  HISTORY                     

Legendary producer John Hedges, ex-president of Megatone Records and pioneer of dance era.

Back in the 70's John Hedges was living with Gerry McBride and Danny Williams. John Hedges was the person who in many ways invented disco/ dance music. He was a DJ at Mind Shaft . One night he happened to listen to the song 'Rock Your Baby', he liked it so much that he figured out a way to make the song last longer, he mixed it and made it danceable. And ever since more and more dance sounds started to appear.                                

 John went from the 'Mind Shaft' to 'Oil Can Harry's'  and then to 'City Disco' where he was the head DJ. John and Gerry Mcbride were from Elyria, Ohio. They had an old friend, Marty Blecman, whom they convinced to move to San Francisco. Previously Marty was working at a Revlon factory.  So,  Marty Blecman, Danny Williams, John Hedges and Gerry McBride moved in to SF.

Famous 'City Disco' !  Patrick started working as light technician in 1977.

                                 " More music things followed and eventually Patrick Cowley joined the DJ family, although he never lived with us.
                                 John Hedges and Marty Blecman were finding all kinds of musicians along their careers such as Barry Beam and others. i wrote the lyric for a hit called 'Castro Boy', and also did the vocals on the recording." ( DANNY WILLIAMS )     

             

 

 

PATRICK  &  MARTY  BLECMAN                     

What a  trío ! ... Marty Blecman, Sylvester and John Hedges, working at  Megatone records.

Even though he was on tours with Sylvester,  Pat remained close to San Francisco 's disco scene and joined forces with his friend Marty Blecman ( Martin Sander Blecman) to found  'Megatone Records' in the summer of 1981, whose offices would be located  on  470 Castro Street, Suite 3209, San Francisco. At that time, Marty was employed as DJ at The City Disco; formerly he'd been working at  Fantasy Records.

 Big "Fantasy's" stars (Tip Wirrick, Martha Walsh, Jeanne Tracy, among others  ), would later be in Megatone. Patrick Cowley  and Marty Blecman  began their productions on "Studio C" of  "Automatt Recording Studios" , on 829 Folsom  Street in San Francisco . 

The Automatt had three recording studios,Its owner was David Rubinson and its studio manager was  Michelle Zarin. Studio "C" was on the second floor of the building .It was large and had very good technical equipment. It was similar to  Wally Haider's ( several engineers who were working there went on to work at the Automatt at that time). This legendary recording studio in which Patrick recorded  Megatron Man and  Mind Warp albums torn down in 1984.

Patrick  making arrengements, on a tour of Florida.

                                     " Usually in Patrick's sessions, were his singing vocals, two technicians and sometimes Marty Blecman would show up, but Marty was always there for the final mix.  His sound engineers were Maureen Droney (my wife ) and I.
                          I recorded and mixed the most of Patrick's productions , and Maureen took an active part on Mind Warp. After Pat was finishing to fine tunning the sounds, it would take 3 days to record them and one day to mix.
                           Obviously it was Mind Warp album the hardest one, because Patrick was very weak because of his advanced decease." ( KEN KESSIE )  

     

The 'Eight track analog machine' , Patrick recorded his first hits with it.

Before establishing himself in the Automatt Studio,  he worked at his home studio. Many of his first hits , like "Menergy", "I Wanna Take You Home" and  "Right On Target" were recorded there with an 'eight track analog machine'.  He showed there all his ingenuity and his talent potential since he spent lot of hours working and modifying programs to be able to fit all his sounds into just eight recording tracks . 

Patrick Cowley's home studio was near Fulsom and Mission, it was at 8th and Minna.  He rented a small space in what looked like a bombed out building, occupied by squatters. A brick warehouse building. His  place had a door, and when entered, recording machines and a desk for mixing, with wires running could be seen  just about everywhere.  

                               " The walls were just 2x4 , with insulation covering them for sound proofing. Patrick shared his space with Tip Wirrick and there was a heavy dividing door that went to another space where Maurice Tani  had the studio. They worked with Katie Guthorn who was later in Modern Rocketry .
                                 Some years later, Jo-Carol Block and Lauren Carter rented the space uptairs and had their recording studio there.
                                For recording his songs, Patrick played all parts on an '8- track recorder machine', meticulously mixing down the first 6 tracks, and recorded 4 more, then mixed down once again, added vocals, and then mixed it all finally. He was an obsessed man , and surely each song took weeks of work, sometimes twenty hours continuosly ! (PAUL PARKER )

 

 

The 'PROPHET V' ... In this synthesizer Patrick was creating all his magic !

 Patrick Cowley composed and worked all his wonderful productions almost exclusively on his "PROPHET V  poliphonic  analog synthesizer" ( five voices) , about 3 feet long, 60 note keys , it created "fat" or "bass" sounds across oscillators that were easaily controlled by the many knobs on its control panel . Almost all marvels  this man created in his mind  were pumped out  from  his PROPHET V.

Patrick played his  Robotic voices  with an "studio effect box" . Most of his effects were adapted onto the synthesizer as he played it. He also used a "drum machine".... Everyone could say that Patrick could make a song with just his "Prophet V" and a drum machine.

Another sight of Automatt Recording Studios

                  

The "Automatt Studio", the place where Patrick recorded  'Megatron Man' and 'Mind Warp' albums.

                   "Patrick did not need special scores, by the time he would be in the studio with me and he would have all the parts written in his head.
                He would just spend  a little time fine tuning the sounds, then he would record." (MAUREEN DRONEY )

                      "While recording 'Megatron Man' we didn't talk much cause we had a lot of work to do in a short time. He was the best synthesizer player I have ever met. " (KEN KESSIE )    

                               

             

MENERGY ! ... THE  FIRST  HIT !                                        

Patrick Cowley's first success released by Fusion Records.

 In  1978  Patrick recorded an 16 minute long extended Remix version of the song " I Feel Love"  performed by  Donna Summer . Later, in 1981 , this Megamix was released by Casablanca Records. The Original  1977 version, which was  composed by Giorgio Moroder , lasted 8 minutes . This work also would be a great success, specially among DJ's of whole world over.  

 His first great hit  was single 'Menergy ', reaching the top of the charts at the end of October of 1981 as well as 'I Wanna Take You Home '. These first  productions by Patrick were released at Fusion Records , but with Marty Blecman as associate producer, and later in the Megatone's first album. 

 'Teen Planet ', the only song  released with Patrick's original voice and 'Sea Hunt' were also released. To compose the latter one, Patrick was inspired on the TV series with the same name, starring  by Lloyd Bridges (whom he admired) , Jo-Carol Block played some keyboards and sang the mermaid call  vocals.  

Patrick's friends : Frank's brother,  Frank Loverde, Michael Finden, Linda Imperial and Don Miley.

Another first hit released on Fusion Records was 'I Got A Line On You',  Patrick Cowley's new version of the song that was performed by Randy California in the year of 1969. He aslo met Frank Loverde at The City Disco, for whom he composed the song "Die Hard Lover", which was released by Moby Dick Records,  which in turn would have another version performed by Linda Imperial. 

The new sound  would later be known as Hi-NRG, and it would be the standard of “dance” music in the following years on  dance floors all over the world.

Original painting of 'Megatron Man' (Mister X), created by Dean Motter.

Under the auspices of his partner  Marty Blecman,  he wrote the successful dance single 'Megatron Man' that opened the doors to the album of the same name, released on March, 1982. Editing, recording and mixing of this album were done at night.The sessions began at around ten PM and ended byl four o'clock in the morning.

   

This singular success called the attention of an  important dance music producer from New York, Audrey Josephs. By then, Patrick's fame was remarkable, and many people called him  "the great records seller".

THE  PATRICK  COWLEY  SINGERS                                   

Jo-Carol Block (today Davidson, sadly deccesead in 2003) one of  Patrick Cowley's talented voices.

As an independent producer, Patrick Cowley counted on exellent singers Lauren Carter , Jo-Carol Block and Carol McMackin.
Jo-Carol, born on May 13th , 1956 ,had moved to San Francisco a couple of years before and was 25 at the time she met Patrick.  

 Lauren , Carol and herself were singing in a 6 person jazz acapella group called 'Acapella Gold'  with 3 guys. One of them was Michael Finden, who used to be in Sylvester's band playing B3 organ.

Michael Finden brought the 3 of the girls to Patrick's studio  and the 4 of them sang on 'Menergy', then the 3 of the girls sang all of the songs after that on the 'Megatron Man' album.  After Patrick's dead, Jo-Carol y Lauren would be known as 'Jo-Lo'. They really wanted to be like  'Hall and Oates' since they were both songwriters as well as keyboard players and vocalists. 

1982 : 'The Patrick Cowley Singers' : Carol McMacken, Lauren Carter and Jo-Carol Block.

Patrick loved their singing , he'd light up a joint, they'd have a few hits and then ...sing, sing. Although Patrick had ideas, he counted on them to come up with the harmonies and give him vocal ideas. 

They also sang with Patrick at the  Automatt Studio during  'Mind Warp' production.

                          "Singing at the Automatt was great...very profesional studio. Back in those days you had to sing everything !
                   There were no computers to fix things or copy parts. You had to get it perfect  and it took time. We loved singing there and being in the studio. " (JO-CAROL BLOCK)  

PATRICK  COWLEY' S  PROFILE                                         

Patrick's legendary  image on Megatone Records.

He looked handsome and youthful. He was rather short and  blonde, he always wore a moustache and  sometimes, a light beard. He liked to wear  leather motorcycle jacket, jeans and white running shoes. He was quite interested in observing people, and proving his sociability. Engaging, with a born instinct for leadership, while also being very rebellious. He never bragged, although he would very offhandedly tell some very outrageous stories, but not to show how wild he was, but because there was something funny in the story itself.

Patrick never had a long term love relationship with a person; there was always someone special  in his life, but it was usually with music in mind that a relationship would grow.

                                "He was a very quiet man. He was actually a very dedicated and creative workaholic but when he was stricken by inspiration, he quite often ended up exhausted. He was a sweet, talented, unassuming person who was driven by music; very dedicated and very prolific.
                                He really didn't have much of a social life. He loved music , and the world's music, he loved the many percussive sounds that were out there but Americans couldn't hear. His life was practically music and  'baths' only. That´s probably how he got sick.
                                He constantly was in the studio all day long  and he'd get out real late when there wasn't much  to do." (FRANK LOVERDE )

PATRICK  AND  PAUL  PARKER                

Friends to be  friends !  : Patrick Cowley  and   Paul Parker. 31 and 28 years old, just before they worked on 'Right On Target' and 'Lift Off'.

Patrick Cowley lived in The Castro, the area in San Francisco that developed into Gay Mecca. He met Paul Marion Parker through a mutual friend. Paul had two demo songs that a friend, another songwriter, had composed, and Patrick invited him to come over to his studio to try singing a few songs he had finished, and they became close friends immediately. 

Paul , born in 1952 in San Francisco, was working as a furniture moving man, truck driver, and several other jobs. He had been in a small band previously, but had quit  by the time he met Patrick. They both dreamed of being a songwriter/singer team together. As many musicians, theyl wore short hair, moustaches, jeans, work boots, and t-shirts, not really to dress the same, but because they were the cheapest and most comfortable clothes available at the time. They went to Army-Navy Surplus  stores for almost everything .This look would later become known as the Clone look  in England and Europe. 

                                "Patrick was fun. He was funny and never too serious. At the time he was very into his Masculine Music trip. We often talked of doing these great gay records about hanging around in deep dark places doing these nasty and wonderful things." (SYLVESTER)

Paul Parker in action in 1982.

 But from the songs that Patrick Cowley composed and produced , the one that undoubtedly  left a fire mark in Paul Parker's career was 'Right On Target' , which reached the top of ' Billboard’s Disco charts', on july 31, 1982, remaining there for two weeks, only five months after he did it  with 'Megatron Man'. 

                           " Patrick had already created the track for 'Right On Target', and the basic chorus and words for the  written verse.
                          We had somewhat grown apart  at this time, as I had moved across town and gotten a steady job. I had already given up on the whole idea of singing.
                           However Patrick told me to drop by and just sing, and to use a blues style just like some of the black singers had done  when he had worked with them. So I adlibbed for several hours.
                                  A few weeks later, I performed the song at a local bar during the disco night. I realized that night how 'Right On Target'  should be completed, and went  to Patrick's studio to sing again." (PAUL PARKER )

Paul Parker singing 'Right On Target' at The Saint. (New York 1982)

 The final singing was already made. This song was actually one of the first ones to be completed, even before 'Menergy', 'Wanna Take You Home', and some others. It gave Patrick and Paul a clue of how to actually write a song and complete the lyrics and the melody. 

Old times : Jo-Carol Block, Lauren Carter and Paul Parker singing in San Francisco.

Most of their songs before 'Right On Target' had been demo material only, but never saw the light of day.

THE  DECEASE                                         

 

He got the decease when his music was reaching top.

 Patrick Cowley left Sylvester's band because he already was sick, also because he could not stand touring, but also  he wanted to do his own productions with his own singers . However, Sylvester himself had let him go, after the UK tour of Mighty Real, Disco Heat, with the idea that synths were over, and R&B would be his new direction, and Patrick was no longer necesary.

However, he joined Sylvester again a short time later, because the gay star broke off his contract with Fantasy Records; they were not pleased with gay image anymore since Harvey Fuqua (his producer) wanted a straight photo on the cover for his new record, Fuqua did not even want Cowley's presence in the production or in Fantasy's studios. However,nothing was better for Sylvester than going to work with his old friends ,Patrick Cowley and Marty Blecman, at Megatone Records.

                           "One night, Marty Blecman was having a party and Patrick had a long talk with me who, at that time, was working at University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. Patrick kept looking very sick and I, very worried about him, convinced him to go to UC Med Center and see a specialist, which he did.
                             At that time AIDS, the decease, was unknown. He first got sick in South America , and everybody thought it was the food he had eaten." (DANNY WILLIAMS )

      

   

Ken Crivello and Paul Parker. (1982 ) Both nursed Patrick after hospital.

 Patrick had a "mysterious undiagnosable illness". Physicians could  not  diagnose any certain desease. They thought he had parasites caused by  food or a psychosomatic illness. They also treated him and prescribed  medicine  for pneumonia.

  Marty Blecman finally had admitted Patrick into the UC Med Center in November of 1981, precosely as the album was hovering to the top ten on Billboard. Then, by  New Year's eve, he was taken to intensive care. His family had arrived  in San Francisco and they feared the worst thing due to his critical condition. A little while later, Sylvester  arrived after touring and upon arriving at the hospital,  his friends asked him to tell and promise Patrick anything just to give him some hope or something to live for. Patrick was, somehow, asking them to let him die and his father was freaking out that they, his friends,  were telling Sylvester to do this. 

                                   "I would go there as much as I possibly could, and read my bible and just be with him. I finally just told him that he had to get better.I told him that we just had to do a record together, that everyone was waiting on a joint project from us, and that he just had to try harder. I told him I wasn't going to have it anymore and to get his ass up so we could go to work."  (SYLVESTER)

 

Patrick playing billar.

So ,miraculously, Patrick got on his feet again and left the hospital. He went over to Paul Parker and Ken Crivello's house to get over. It was a very difficult time. Paul was working in a hospital at that time in a cancer unit  as a unit coordinator.
Other friends would not come around, because AIDS was so unknown, they thought they might catch it like catching a cold. Paul and Ken took care of him the best they could, carrying him  upstairs 72 steps and nursing him for about a month.

After that, Patrick would sometimes visit them, but he was so thin and weak that Paul had to carry him upstairs on his back  whenever he dropped by and whenever they could receive him.. It was a great pleasure for Patrick, at those moments, to watch  those stairs from Paul's back. Paul weighed 185 lbs. of solid build at the time, but Patrick weighed less than 100 lbs.

After a time, as though his friend Sylvester were a real Messiah, Patrick was again on his feet into the studio and with a $500 budget, they recorded one of the all time dance clasics, 'Do Ya Wanna Funk'. Sylvester was going down at that moment, but this hit gave him a chance to retrieve fame. 

Patrick Cowley image in Megatron Man album.

His musical fellows watched his life fade away, though he was always brave and funny. He never complained, and he kept making his art till the end. He would go into the studio and work, making jokes about  his hospital stays. He even had a sense of humor even about his pain; he got so thin  that it hurt him to be sitting for a long time because his bones were so close to the skin; there was no fat tissue on them and Pat would laugh about that instead of complaining. Despite having a great talent, he would listen to his friends's ideas and work on them.

                    " Paul y Ken were very beautiful and supportive through the whole thing. You kind of forget how close we all were at one time, with us doing our own thing and everybody else doing theirs, but at one time we were all like a family and spent a lot more time together." (JO-CAROL BLOCK)

                      " Working with Patrick was always a joy,  because he always tried to bring out the best in me and show it off and I'm grateful for that. He had no ego with me and vice-versa and even while he was sick he put a lot of joy into his music, for the sheer pleasure of it and not for any ego-gratification whatsoever." (LINDA IMPERIAL)

     

Great picture of group 'Loverde' : Left to right, Peggy Gibbons, Frank Loverde and Linda Imperial.

                          "On the last day od Patrick's life I came over and found his nurse talking on the phone and smoking a cigarette. I blew up at her because one thing Patrick would never allow was smoking in his home.
                    I yelled at her, and told her nover to do it again. When I finally went in to see Patrick there was water welling up in his eyes, but he couldn't talk at that point.
                    By the time, I got home from his house, they called and said  he was gone. " (KEN CRIVELLO)

THE  LAST  ALBUM                                         

Patrick Cowley's jolly image.

  Cowley seemed to reach the top of success as well as  his disease's with the release of "Mind Warp" which had wonderful special effects. This would be his last album, amazingly made with a Patrick who already was in a wheelchair.

"Mind Warp", the album of death, as his fellows called it, would have as collaborators among others to Michael Bailey ( mix consultant), Jo-Carol Block , Lauren Carter y Paul Parker (vocals ), Peter y Mary Buffet (chant),  John Hedges, Jeff Mehl y Jim Saunders (chant), David Frazier ( percussion), Tip Wirrick ( guitar),  Maureen Droney and Gordon Lyon (sound engineers), Ken Kessie ( engineer and remixer) y Marty Blecman (remix and associate producer).

This album was recorded by Maureen Droney and mixed by Ken Kessie. They started early in the morning until 11:00 am , the time that Maureen had to leave.

                                      "During that period of Patrick's life it was very obvious through his song-writing what was on his mind. 'They Came At Night' was a very ominous , paranoid kind oi song, dealing with the forces of darkness and things involved with the unknown. He died a short while after finishing 'Going Home' which was also indicative of his situation at the time "  (PAUL PARKER)

                             " What really destroyed me was how (at the end) he became so bitter. All of the plans we had made for future proyects were getting so far out of reach for him. He was so bitter, and I was so unhappy, but I was still there with him until i had to leave to tour Europe.
                        I remember I went to visit him the day before I left. He looked terrible and was in a very foul mood, saying some mean things to me, and i said : 'Patrick, I'm not going to allow this to taint the way I feel or what i have to say to you, because I love you, and we're gonna try to pull it all together.
                       If you can't do it now, just wait and then we'll really do it, we'll just really do it. ' He just looked at mewith those enormous blue eyes that he had and just smiled (sort of) not saying anything." (SYLVESTER)

Megatone had released  "Mind Warp" and  Marty Blecman and his people made a tribute to Patrick at the Galleria Design Center ( 101 Henry Adam Street ) with the presentation of the album. Patrick Cowley was so sick that he couldn't attend. Part of his medical team put him in a wheelchair and snuck him out of the hospital so that he could see the party.
Then, upstairs on a balcony in his wheelchair , very weak and sick, and by moments quite moved, he just watched the great party taking place downstairs as the result of his musical genius.     

1982 :The great party that Megatone gave at the Galleria Design Center in tribute to Patrick Cowley with the release of 'Mind Warp'.

                  " I remember that night ! Lauren and I were singing 'They Came at Night'... we had this choreography, I remember - we were choreographed by one of the choregraphers from the TV show Dance Fever...
                 we were on stage and there were all these lasers going and something was dripping on us and we thought we were going to be electrocuted!
                  Patrick was in a wheelchair, but they set up this big fabulous leather chair for him in the center of the balcony to hold court and watch the show. It was very emotional."  (JO-CAROL BLOCK)                                                  

       

          

Sylvester, Paul Parker and Pamala Stanley.

                                                                                                                             

MEGATONE :   THE  SUCCESSORS                                        

Look at Nº5 !   ' Megatron Man/Get A Little'  at Billboard's week 2/ 13/ 1

                             " About a month before Patrick passed away, I called him from the Saint club, in NY.  At that time the 'Saint' was  at the top of the list of Gay Clubs. I had just peformed 'Right On Target' and 'PushingToo Hard'  the night before, and called to tell him how exciting it had been.
                  It was Halloween, 1982.  Road Warrior was the basic costume of the night.  Five thousand people in a jam-packed club, and I started my show at 5:30 am.  One of the most exciting appearances I had  ever performed.
                    Patrick was weak, but told me:' Well, I guess you're launched'.  I went back home and  the month after, Patrick passed away. How bittersweet it all was, since the beginning of my rise was Patrick's end."   (PAUL PARKER )

Patrick Cowley died on November 12, 1982 when he was 32. One month later, in december, a ceremony was done in his memory. Paul Parker and Ken Crivello already had a commitment in New York where Paul was going to sing his songs in an AT&T convention with some changes on the lyrics for the commercial interest of the company, for that reason Paul could not be in the ceremony, and Megatone's people were upset arguing that Paul had prefered going to New York.

                     "Anyone who knew him would know that Patrick would have wanted him to be in New York doing that AT&T convention, the epitome of mainstream success! So Patrick's music was played for all of these high-powered executives, that was Paul's tribute to Patrick basically." (KEN CRIVELLO)

Only Arial Records run a memorial ad in the trades when Patrick passed away. Scanty recognition for someone who contributed with so much talent to the record industry and to the comunity. 

                          "I left America and was gone for about a week. I did a concert in London (at heaven) Someone called me from the states, and it was so matter-of-fact. After chit-chatting for a while, they said: 'Oh, isn't it terrible?' I said: 'What?' .                     Patrick had died that morning. Well, I had to go on stage after that and sing 'Do Ya Wanna Funk' (which was the biggest record out at that time) to this crowd, and I just freaked. Patrick was specially loved in europe, I had to tell these people that he was dead and then sing. It was a very 'heavy-duty' thing for me." (SYLVESTER)

Patrick Cowley : Master of Sound.

                           "I thank God for him every day because just his name associated with 'Died Hard Lover' gave it a big boost, specially in Europe. I mean, we were interviewes countless times and usually ahlf of the questions were about Patrick Cowley.
                       He touched a lot of people and they still want  to know and talk about him. His music was that innovative and moving."(FRANK LOVERDE) 

 On December 16, 1988, Sylvester died  of AIDS related complications; he was 41 years old. Two years later, in 1990, Frank Loverde passed away.

Also,  in 1990, Marty Blecman released "The Patrick Cowley Collection" dedicated to Patrick's memory. An important dedication appeared on the cover to his partner and friend. Blecman continued heading Megatone up to his death on September 20, 1991, of AIDS. 

                          "Before computers and synthesizers could punch up a sound effect, Patrick was crafting his art the hard way. Painstakingly patching his own programs by hand and creating what was to become famous as 'The Cowley sound.' "(MARTY BLECMAN )

Patrick's friend David Diebold. He wrote the famous 'Tribal Rites'.

The staffer man and collaborator David Diebold continued heading the label, but he also caught  the virus. Terrence Brown became Megatone's chairman , he said he had to move the label out of San Francisco 'because everyone was dying'.  In 1994, Megatone moved to 349 Hollywood Boulevard  (Hollywood, CA), but Brown himself was hospitalized with the deadly desease. 

  John Hedges continued heading Megatone Records, who in turn was forced to sell it to pay for his own HIV-related expenses. Hedges, in 1976, was awarded with the “Billboard’s First Best Disco DJ” award . His partner at that moment was no other than Marty Blecman. Both of them made the transition from DJs to promoters to sponsor Sylvester.

  Megatone Records, whose legendary co-founder was  Patrick Cowley was immediately taken over,  after its imminent bankruptcy by the Canadian label Unidisc, from  Quebec, Canada.  

  By the late '80s, AIDS had devastated the San Francisco's disco community and Patrick had been one of the city's first casualties. Other speciality labels followed Megatone's lead. Moby Dick and CNM were founded, and for a few years in the early '80s, San Francisco churned out top-flight disco records on a regular basis.

Patrick's legacy

                      "AIDS ravaged the entire industry. Not just DJs and performers but also the writers, the producers, the promoters.
                   Everyone at Moby Dick, exept the one girl who worked there, was desvasted by AIDS. The entire label. Same with CNM Records.All our stars and producers were dropping like flies."  (JOHN HEDGES )

  Patrick's productions earned a reputation strong enough to lure one of disco's most important promoters. A little after Patrick's death,  Audrey Josephs, from New York city,  helped to edit Patrick's last work .

HIS  MASTERLY  WORK : "THE  COWLEY  SOUND"                   
( see the "ALBUMS" section )                 

Patrick Cowley, legendary and haunting figure.

Patrick Cowley passed away on November 12, 1982. Twenty years have gone by since his death, and still, through the time and years, we feel  astonished when we  listen to that incredible scale of sounds emerging from his excellent productions.

Patrick Cowley was a 'brillant' man who  shook the foundations of dance music.

                         "At least Patrick did, in his life, get to do what he really wanted to do which was to become a record producer. He wrote and produced many dance singles which millions of people danced to, loved and were inspired by.
                      I still meet people around the world who ask me about him and want to know what he was like. They all know that we were close in friendship. Even that is amazing that so many people knew about a friendship." (PAUL PARKER)

   

Patrick's success after hospital

                                   "Cowley actually went on to become a guru, a 'Lord over sound', a trademark sound which bore his name , and would hanceforth be referred to countlessly in other productions as 'The Cowley Sound'  and 'The San Francisco Sound'.
                       Since then, a lot of the international producers of hi-NRG dance music who aspire to keep the spirit of the music alive, have gone on to mimic the keyboard wizardry of Patrick Cowley.
                     So his flame actually lives on today in the new music. He definitely was a founding father of today's dance music. 'HI Energy' itself is actually a term which has its very roots in Patrick Cowley." (CASEY JONES)

©-2002 'Patrick Cowley Official Biography' - All Right Reserved - Daniel Heinzmann