Alicia Bridges

Alicia Bridges (born July 15, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter who co-wrote and performed her international hit "I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)" in 1978.

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina and raised in the small Cleveland County town of Lawndale, Bridges sang from a very young age, learning 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. From age thirteen, Bridges fronted bands that performed in local clubs: "They were pretty rough places … but these were the only places I could get … performing experience … so I had to adjust to that rough environment and learn to survive in it."

Bridges first recorded for the Nashville-based Mega Records, with two 1973 single releases of her original material. Despite the lack of success of these releases, Bridges came to the attention of Bill Lowery, who became her manager, subsidizing Bridges over a roughly two-year period. During this time, he canvassed record labels on her behalf, which led to her signing with Polydor in 1977.

Bridges's self-titled debut album was the inaugural production by Steve Buckingham, who was assigned to produce Bridges after playing guitar on one of her earliest sessions. Bridges and her personal and songwriting partner Susan Hutcheson had written a song entitled "Disco 'Round", which, at Buckingham's suggestion, was recorded as "I Love the Nightlife", as Buckingham felt that the song was R&B rather than disco ("Disco 'Round" was retained as the song's subtitle): Bridges herself would later admit she had had hopes that the song would be received as a Memphis soul number, calling it "something Al Green might sing". However, club support was a key factor in the success of the track, which became a "sleeper" Top 40 hit, spending 27 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 with a peak of number five, and also appearing on several international hit parades as evinced by the Billboard's "Hits of the World" chart. The song was also in the #7 position on the Record World charts and at #6 on the 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's music was especially popular in Japan. She received an RIAA Certified Gold Record for the sale of over one million copies of her hit single in the United States, as well as a gold record from Canada.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.