ROCK HILL, S.C. -- James T. "Jimmy" Ellis, who belted out the refrain "Burn, baby burn!" in a 1970s-era disco hit that's still replayed in modern sports arenas, has died. He was 74.
David Turner of Bass-Cauthen Funeral Home in Rock Hill, S.C., said the frontman for The Trammps died Thursday at a nursing home in the city. A cause of death was not immediately known.
The Trammps released "Disco Inferno" – the song with the popular refrain – in 1976. The song was featured in the iconic movie "Saturday Night Fever," its soundtrack winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978. "Disco Inferno" soared up to No. 11 on Billboard's Hot 100 on May 27, 1978.
Turner said a memorial service will be held Friday in Charlotte, N.C.
Clifford is a former Miss New York State, and fronted a jazz music trio before switching to R&B. After winning her title, Clifford started working as an actress, playing minor roles in major films such as The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda, Coogan's Bluff with Clint Eastwood and Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine. Unsatisfied with her roles, Clifford decided to concentrate on her singing career, performing for a year in Miami-area night clubs with the Jericho Jazz Singers, before forming her own group Linda & The Trade Winds.
In 1973, she was signed to Paramount Records and her first single, "(It's Gonna Be) A Long Long Winter", became a minor hit on the U.S. BillboardR&Bchart in the winter of 1974. She moved to Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records label in the mid 1970s. 1977 saw the release of her first album, Linda, but it was her dancecover of "If My Friends Could See Me Now" in 1978 that she had club and pop chart success with. It was her first number one on Billboard dance chart. Album of the same name became her most successful and included also "Runaway Love", a mid-tempo R&B track that proved to be one of her most recognizable tunes. In 1979 she released her disco version of "Bridge over Troubled Water" from the album Let Me Be Your Woman, followed by another record the same year, Here's My Love.
In 1980 Linda released a duet album with Curtis Mayfield, The Right Combination, and recorded a song "Red Light" for the Famesoundtrack in 1980. It became another hit, reaching number one spot on American dance chart. (She would go on to have two more #1 disco hits in the USA: "Shoot Your Best Shot" (1980) and "Don't Come Crying to Me" (1982), what makes four in total.) She released six high-profile albums when she was under contract on the Curtom label, all supervised by Curtis Mayfield, generally produced by Gil Askey (jazz trumpet player and musical director for many Motown acts) with many mixes by Jim Burgess or Jimmy Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson from Ashford and Simpson. The sixth, I'm Yours, was produced by Isaac Hayes with the exception of one song from the Fame soundtrack ("Red Light" written by Pitchford and Gore). Curtom records were distributed by Warner Bros. (in 1977-1978), by RSO (in 1979-1980) and by the end of 1980 by Capitol.
Her contract switched entirely to Capitol for an additional album, her seventh, named I'll Keep on Loving You (1982). It included collaboration by Luther Vandross and the original version of "All the Man That I Need", another song written by Pitchford and Gore; they wrote this particular song with Clifford and her husband in mind and a year later it was covered by Sister Sledge, in 1990 by Whitney Houston and in 1994 by Luther Vandross under the name "All the Woman That I Need". (On his album Songs Vandross even credited Whitney Houston for being the "artist who did the original version of the song", forgetting that it was Linda Clifford and that he was a background vocalist and the vocal arranger of her version!)
Her 1984 offering, Sneakin' Out did relatively well on American R&B chart. Clifford's last studio album to date remains 1985 My Heart's on Fire, supported by the single "The Heat in Me". In 2001, she secured her fourth UK Singles Chart entry with "Ride the Storm", billed as Akabu featuring Linda Clifford.
For the latest info about Linda visit her website http://thelindaclifford.com/
Alicia Bridges was born in Lawndale, North Carolina, a small town in Cleveland County. She sang from a very young age and learned to play guitar at the age of 10. At the age of 12 she had her own radio program, The Alicia Bridges Show, broadcast every Saturday on station WADA in Shelby, North Carolina. Occasionally she would sing on the show but has said what she is most proud of is that she "ran all the dials, the turntables, cued the records and made all the announcements live on the air".
Discovery and fame (1970s)
In 1977 she was signed to Polydor Records. Her 1978 hit single "I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)" reached number five on the BillboardHot 100 chart and also appeared on Billboard's "Hits of the World" chart. The song was also in the #5 position on the Record World and Cash Box charts. It was also a "crossover" hit, receiving play even on country music stations. The cover of the 1978 self titled LP features an early skyline picture of Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1978 Bridges was a Grammy nominee and was the opening act, performing "I Love the Nightlife". Bridges' self-titled LP, Alicia Bridges, was also rising on the Billboard, Cash Box and Record World charts and the LP remained on the charts for up to 35 weeks. Both the LP and the single release were international successes, and "I Love the Nightlife" went top 40 in the UK and Germany, Spain and other European countries. Bridges' music was especially popular in Japan as well. She received an RIAA Certified Gold Record for the sale of over one million copies of her hit single in the USA, as well as a gold record from Canada.
Contrary to the impression created by her success with "I Love the Nightlife", Alicia was primarily a singer of rock, blues and love songs. "I Love the Nightlife" has a definite back beat and organ similar to early 1970s R&B; the original intention was for "I Love the Nightlife" to be an R&B song, but when publishing mogul Bill Lowery first heard the song, he envisioned it as a disco dance tune. Soon after, Jim Burgess created a 12" single remix. Ultimately this mix became a worldwide hit. The song has been featured in several movies, including Love at First Bite, The Last Days of Disco and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Bridges' second single, "Body Heat", was a rock song with strong electric guitar rhythms. It was a "rock/dance" song released at a time when there was some rivalry between disco fans and rock fans; this time period began to see more songs which mixed the genres of rock and disco to create a "rock/disco" flavor.
Recent years
Alicia Bridges Music Publications was founded in 2006 and has produced three albums.
In November 2006 Bridges released a remixed and remastered compilation of her songs titled This Girl Don't Care.
In 2007 she released Say It Sister.
Her third CD, Faux Diva, was released in 2008; this included a remix of "I Love The Nightlife".
Bridges is currently active in the music community as a producer and DJ. Her works, digital versions of her recordings, a blog and videos can be found on her official web sites, aliciabridges.com, discoround.com and ilovethenightlife.com.
Personal
Alicia Bridges is a vegetarian, uses only organic products, and is a strong supporter of animal issues. All of her pets are "rescues", either from animal shelters or from people who have abandoned their care.
Bridges has been publicly lesbian since her early teen years. As a teenager Alicia realized she was "different from the rest", as she states in her self descriptive song "Diamond In The Rough". The issue was also publicly discussed during a 1998 interview for "The Advocate". Her 2006 album This Girl Don't Care is an aggressive compilation; the CD jacket has three pink triangles as part of the design graphics, as well as a pink triangle on the vest Alicia is shown wearing.
Discography
Albums
1978: Alicia Bridges (Polydor, 1978)
1979: Play It as It Lays
1984: Hocus Pocus
2002: The Collection: I Love the Nightlife (Compilation)
2006: This Girl Don't Care (Remixed & Remastered Compilation)
2007: Say It Sister (Remastered Compilation)
2008: Faux Diva (Remixed & Remastered Compilation)
Documentary about how a much-derided music actually changed the world. Between 1969 and 1979 disco soundtracked gay liberation, foregrounded female desire in the age of feminism and led to the birth of modern club culture as we know it today, before taking the world by storm.
Divas Of Discodoor kikachannel
Some of the stars of disco get down one more time, live at the Avalon, Hollywood. Features Linda Clifford, A Taste of Honey, Thelma Houston, France Joli, and Cece Peniston. It's a non-stop dance party as Linda Clifford, CeCe Peniston, France Joli, Thelma Houston and A Taste of Honey perform all of their world-famous disco hits. Come To Me, Don't Leave Me This Way, Finally, If My Friends Could See Me Now...just some of the hits performed live in concert from these best-selling disco ladies.
Dick Clark interviews Paul Jabara on American Bandstand in 1978. They talk about his upcoming movie "Thank God It's Friday" and his character in the movie. Paul talks how he obtained his record deal with Casablanca, working with Donna Summer, and getting started in the music business.
Dick Clark interviews Foxy on American Bandstand in 1978. The band talks about their origins, nationalities, and Cuban influence on their music. Their influences include Elvis and other American artists. They also talk about how Miami is becoming one of the music capitals of the world.
Dick Clark interviews Sylvester on American Bandstand in 1978. Sylvester discusses hiring his new backup singers, their gospel background and his time in San Francisco. He talks about how living in Northern California is about being yourself while Southern California is about playing a part.
The big one! It brought ABBA back to the dance floors with open arms - during a period where high energy/disco music was scarce with the exceptions of a few import singles. The keyboards are the pulsing energy behind this number and I have taken each chord and placed into a new outline. Paul asked about a couple of ABBA ReStructure's and this is one of them.
