Gino Soccio
Canadian disco record producer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gino Soccio (born September 9, 1955)[1] is a Canadian disco record producer and songwriter based in Montreal. His only US Billboard Hot 100 entry was the #48 hit single "Dancer" in 1979, but he did hit #1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart twice ("Dancer" / "Dance to Dance" in 1979, and "Try It Out" / "Hold Tight" in 1981, six weeks each).[2] "Dancer" peaked at #46 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1979.[3] Soccio's third biggest hit, "It's Alright" / "Look at Yourself", from his album, Face to Face, reached #2 for 5 weeks also on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.[2] "Turn It Around" was released only as a single in 1984.
Gino Soccio | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 9, 1955 Westmount, Quebec, Canada |
| Origin | Canada |
| Genres | Disco, funk, post-disco |
| Instrument | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Labels | Celebration, Warner Bros. Records, RFC Records, Atlantic |
Early life
Soccio was born in Verdun, Quebec, of Italian descent. Soccio told Wax Poetics in 2013 that he started playing piano at eight and was playing Bach sonatas by eleven. In the early 1970s, he was influenced by electronic musicians Kraftwerk, Stockhausen, and Wendy Carlos and started renting synths, becoming a sought-after Montreal keyboard specialist.[4]
Career
Soccio got his start in disco when Montreal producer Pat Deserio called him in 1975 and asked if he would play keyboards and help compose for the Kébekélektrik album.[5] Prior to this, Soccio was working as a local session musician.
Deserio asked Soccio to make a disco version of Ravel's "Bolero," which he wanted to release with filler tracks under the fictitious act name Kébekélektrik, a Kraftwerk-influenced misspelling of "Quebec Electric." In reality, Soccio played every note. "It was very labor-intensive," Soccio later said, "but at the same time, I had free rein of the entire studio, which had never happened [before]. It was a really great learning experience. I had never done disco. As you're going along doing it, you fall right in love with it." The Kébekélektrik sessions produced his B-side composition "War Dance," described by Wax Poetics' Jered Stuffco as "an orgy of analog squirts and electronic flourishes that Soccio wrote and recorded on the spot, warts and all."[4]
The four-song LP Kébekélektrik was remixed by Tom Moulton and released in the U.S. on Salsoul in 1978.[4]
The Kébekélektrik album helped to launch Soccio's career. In Canada, the Kébekélektrik song "Magic Fly" reached number 69 on the pop charts, October 8, 1977.[6] It reached #9 on the Billboard disco chart, released on the TK Disco label before the album.[2] "War Dance" subsequently became a hit on U.S. dance floors, a song Soccio himself had deemed "filler".[1] It also reached #9 on Billboard's disco chart.[2]
In 1978, Soccio released a dance single, "The Visitors", which was later remixed by Ouimet.[7] It later charted on Billboard's disco chart in 1980.[2] He also played keyboards on the Bombers' 1978 album Bombers.
His debut solo album "Outline" was released in 1979 and contained the hit "Dancer"; the album received critical acclaim and brought him international recognition.[8][9]
In 1979, Soccio also recorded a disco album with Guy Lafleur which cost CAD$100 000 to produce.[10]
In the UK, he received airplay from Robbie Vincent on BBC Radio London, and Greg Edwards on Capital Radio on imported RFC Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records.[11]
He also assembled and produced the disco studio group, Witch Queen, best known for their hits, "Bang a Gong" / "All Right Now" (1979), covers of the songs by T.Rex and Free. Together they peaked at number eight on the US Hot Dance/Disco chart.[2]
Discography
| Gino Soccio discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | 4 |
| Compilation albums | 3 |
| Singles | 17 |
The discography of Gino Soccio consists of four studio albums, three compilations and seventeen singles.
- Studio albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | US [12] |
US R&B [12] |
AUS [13] | |||
| 1979 | Outline
|
12 | 79 | 34 | 78 | |
| 1980 | S-Beat
|
– | – | – | – | |
| 1981 | Closer
|
– | 96 | 26 | – | |
| 1982 | Face to Face
|
– | – | 45 | – | |
| "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||
- Compilation albums
- Remember (1984, Celebration)
- Greatest Hits (1989, Unidisc)
- The Best of Gino Soccio (1994, Unidisc)
- Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | US BB [14] |
US Dance [12] |
US R&B [12] |
UK [15] | ||||
| 1977 | "Sauve Qui Peut" | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 1978 | "The Visitors" | – | – | 27 | – | – | Outline | |
| 1979 | "Dancer"[16] | 6 | 48 | 1 | 60 | 46 | ||
| "Dance to Dance" | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 1980 | "S-Beat" | – | – | - | – | – | S-Beat | |
| "Heartbreaker" | – | – | 4 | – | – | |||
| 1981 | "Try It Out" | – | 103 | 1 | 22 | – | Closer | |
| "Hold Tight" | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 1982 | "It's Alright"[17] | – | 108 | 2 | 60 | – | Face to Face | |
| "Remember" | – | – | - | – | – | |||
| "You Move Me" | – | – | - | – | – | |||
| 1983 | "Get It Up" | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 1984 | "Turn It Around" | – | – | 20 | – | – | Remember | |
| "Out of My Life" | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 1985 | "Human Nature" | – | – | 50[A] | – | – | ||
| "Temptation Eyes" | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 1986 | "Magic" | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 1988 | "Love the One You're With" | 79 | – | – | – | – | ||
| "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||
- Notes
- A^"Human Nature" actually charted at #50 on Billboard Dance/Electronic Singles Sales chart.
