Alec Rupen Costandinos, (born Alexandre Garbis Sarkis Kouyoumdjian in 1944 in
Cairo, Egypt) is a French composer, music producer, songwriter and singer of the 1970s, known for his contributions to disco music. His father was Armenian and his mother was Greek. Costandinos dominated the disco and Euro-disco genres in the late 1970s. He began his career as a publisher and producer for various artists, including French pop star
Claude Francois and
chanteuse
Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...
Dalida
Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...
. After writing
Cerrone
Marc Cerrone Daryl Easlea, "Supernature Boy", ''Record Collector'', #502, February 2020, pp.60-63 (, ; born 24 May 1952) is a French disco drummer, composer, record producer and creator of concert shows. Cerrone is a producer of 1970s and 198 ...
's "Love in C Minor" (1976), Costandinos was signed to Barclay Records. He released his first album, ''Love & Kisses'' in 1977, which featured the hit track "
I Found Love (Now That I Found You)". Costandinos went on to release a number of wildly successful records under the prominent American disco label,
Casablanca. His album, ''Romeo & Juliet'' has been credited for bringing the concept album to dance music.
He also wrote "
Thank God It's Friday", the theme track to the disco film by the same name.
Costandinos was involved as a writer in the development of many productions of
Demis Roussos
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...
. He also contributed to the debut album of Crystal Grass, which featured the club hit "Crystal World", released on the Philips label in France. He has also written under the pseudonym R. Rupen. He often worked with a collective of backing singers,
the Birds of Paris, some of whom later became famous in their own right. According to what he declared in one of his rare interviews on 11 December 2011 at Open House Radio (Miami), his disco works were basically influenced by
Philly sound
Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featu ...
, classical and melodic Italian music.
Discography
* 1977 ''
Romeo & Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...
'' (Casablanca)
* 1978 ''Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (Casablanca)
* 1978 ''Trocadero Bleu Citron'' (Casablanca)
* 1979 ''The Synchophonic Orchestra Featuring Alirol and Jacquet'' (Casablanca)
* 1979 ''Winds of Change'' (Casablanca)
* 1981 ''Americana'' (RCA)
With Love & Kisses
* 1977 ''Love and Kisses'' (Casablanca)
* 1978 ''How Much, How Much I Love You'' (Casablanca)
* 1979 ''You Must Be Love'' (Casablanca)
* 1982 ''Bap Bap/Right Here in My World'' (Disc'AZ)
With others
* 1977 ''Judas'' (as Sphinx) (Casablanca)
* 1977 ''Golden Tears'' (as Sumeria) (Casablanca)
* 1978 ''Trocadero Bleu Citron – Original Soundtrack'' (Casablanca)
* 1978 ''Paris Connection'' (Casablanca)
* 1979 ''Winds of Change – Original Soundtrack'' (Casablanca)
* 1980 ''John And Arthur Simms'' (Casablanca)
The Birds of Paris
* 1981 ''Le Group'' (Disc'AZ)
See also
*
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
This is a list of number-one dance hits as recorded by ''Billboard'' magazine's Dance Club Songs chart – a weekly national survey of popular songs in U.S. dance clubs. It began on October 26, 1974, under the title ''Disco Action'' chart. It is ...
*
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on ''Billboard magazine's'' Dance Club Songs chart. ''Billboard'' began ranking dance music on the week ending October 26, 1974, and this is the standard music popularity chart in th ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Costandinos, Alec R.
1944 births
Living people
Singers from Cairo
Eurodisco musicians
Egyptian emigrants to France
French people of Armenian descent
French people of Greek descent
Ethnic Armenian male singers