Alicia Bridges--I Love The Nightlife (Disco 'Round) (1978)

     Like fossils in amber, music will many times encase and freeze it's artists into a time frame. So much so sometimes, that they are defined by that certain period to the determent of their later career.  The rise and fall of disco is one of those periods. Many great songs came out of the era, but the trade off was that the artist was seen as a "disco" star, and when it went out of vogue, their career did as well.
     Alicia Bridges saw herself as a rock and blues singer. She had been singing since her days as a young child on her own show at WADA radio in Shelby, North Carolina. She co-wrote, "I Love The Nightlife" with Susan Hutcheson as a R&B number, but publisher Bill Lowery heard a disco tune in it and it was fashioned into a 12'' dance mix. His instincts were correct as the song shot up to #5 on the charts.
     A better representation of her music might be found in her follow up, "Body Heat", which while very danceable, had more of a straight ahead rock sound to it. and it scraped the bottom of the charts. Could she have had more success outside the disco era? It's hard to gauge. She might have been more successful if she had not been labeled a "disco diva"...on the other hand, "I Love The Nightlife" might have been her only shot at success. Either way, the song stands as one of the shining lights on an era, and one of it's best examples.