GLORIA GAYNOR (US)

Born: 7 September 1943
Birth name: Gloria Fowles

Gloria was born in Newark in New Jersey. Her father played ukulele and guitar in a band called Step ‘n Fetchit which played in nightclubs. She began her singing career as part of a band called the Soul Satisfiers and recorded a single called ‘She’ll Be Sorry’ in her own name in 1965 which was released on Johnny Nash’s Jocida label. In 1971 she signed for Columbia Records but her only output there was a single called ‘Honey Bee’ which didn’t do anything and she would leave the label. Her breakthrough came when she signed for MGM records and saw her single, ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’, go to number 9 in the US and 2 in the UK. She would go on to see 7 US hits, topping the charts with ‘I Will Survive’ in 1979. In the UK she has seen 11 hits with ‘I Will Survive’ also being her only chart topper.

Date of entry	Song	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
11-Apr-1975	Never Can Say Goodbye	8	8
06-Jun-1975	Reach Out, I’ll Be There	11	9
17-Oct-1975	Walk On By	12	6
20-Apr-1979	I Will Survive	2	19
24-Feb-1984	I Am What I Am	12	14
		Total hits	5
		Total weeks	56

Biggest climber awards	4
Star rater climbs	6
Biggest fallers	5
Weeks with oldest in the charts	1
Longest run in the charts (weeks)	19
Weeks with more than 1 in the charts	0
Biggest gap between hits (weeks)	234
Top 30 points ranking	128
Top 20 points ranking	145
Top 30 points	1003
Top 20 points	461

Gloria has the tied 19^th highest weeks count for any female act.