Died On This Date (May 6, 2009) Viola Wills / Disco Diva
themusicsover Viola Wills (Born Viola Wilkerson)
December 30, 1939 – May 6, 2009
Viola Wills was already a mother of six when she was discovered by Barry White in 1965. In her early career, Wills mostly worked as a back up singer for White as well as Joe Cocker and Smokey Robinson. In 1979, Wills began a streak of disco hits that included “Dare To Dream,” “Gonna Get Along Without You Now,” and “Stormy Weather.” Her chart success lead to her being dubbed “Disco Diva,” and that was during a time when “diva” wasn’t thrown around as much as it is these days. For disco, she was a bit of an anomaly in that she wrote many of her own songs. Wills passed away after a long illness on May 6, 2009. She was 69.
What You Should Own
Vicki Sue Robinson had many accomplishments in music, theater and film, but it would be her smash it “Turn The Beat Around” that would forever make her a disco queen. Her life as an entertainer began at age six when she joined her mother on stage at the storied Philadelphia Folk Festival. At sixteen she was on Broadway as a cast member of Hair. She landed a couple of film roles, most notably Going Home and To Find A Man and by 1973, she was performing in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Then in 1975, while singing backing vocals on a friend’s album, she was offered a contract with RCA Records. 1976 saw the release of her debut, Never Gonna Let You Go, that included the smash hit, “Turn The Beat Around.” The album went to number one on the Billboard pop charts and earned Robinson a Grammy nomination. Robinson’s career continued to flourish through early 2000, but she never matched the success of that first album. Besides making her own records, her later years found her doing plenty of session work as well as acting on film and stage. And of course, “Turn The Beat Around” continued to find new audiences thanks to a popular cover by Gloria Estefan and from Robinson’s live appearances on the disco revival circuit. Robinson died from cancer on April 27, 2000 at just 46.
As one of disco’s family groups, the Sylvers, Edmund Sylvers scored a huge hit with “Boogie Fever” in 1976. He was also the voice of the Marlon Jackson character in the popular Jackson 5 cartoon. After the disco fever died off, Sylvers continued to work as a percussionist and a producer with such artists as Jackson 5, the Whispers, Gladys Knight and Janet Jackson. He succumbed to cancer on March 11, 2004.
Although Andy Gibb was the baby brother of 
Glenn Hughes (not to be confused with Glenn Hughes of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple) was an original vocalist in one of disco music’s most famous and most lasting institutions, the Village People. He was primarily known for his leather biker outfits and awesome handlebar mustache which made him a pop culture icon well beyond the group. And although straight himself, Hughes was cast in a gay leather archetype, thereby becoming a face of that subculture. Around 1976, Hughes responded to producer, 