Santa Esmeralda is a French-American

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

group formed in the 1970s. The group had hits with its remake of the 1960s hits "

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for the American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has been cover ...

" and "

House of the Rising Sun A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

". Santa Esmeralda featured original lead singer Leroy Gómez in 1977-1978 and singer Jimmy Goings from late 1978 until 1983. Gómez rejoined the group in the 1990s.

History

The band was formed in 1977 by French producers Nicolas Skorsky and Jean Manuel de Scarano, singer-songwriters who launched a label with the aim of producing artists who would record their compositions. Upon meeting singer Leroy Gómez in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, the duo recruited him for the group's first record, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", which debuted on the independent French label, Fauves Puma. A sudden success in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the record was picked up for worldwide distribution by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label currently f ...

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Originally written in 1964 for

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

, her version had failed to chart, and the song was picked up by rock group

The Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and ...

the following year. The essential nature of the song is Latin and

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

, which combined with that urgency lent itself to the disco sensibility in the 1970s. The song became a hit all over again, first topping the U.S. Disco chart and then matching the #15 peak of The Animals' version on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. The flip side of the record featured the love

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

"You're My Everything" which became a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

request song and received

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

, even though the song never charted. Despite the success of the record, Gomez did not record any subsequent record with Santa Esmeralda's original production team.

"The House of the Rising Sun"

After the band's first album, singer Jimmy Goings was brought in to replace Leroy Gomez. In late 1977 Santa Esmeralda scored a top 20 disco hit with a dance version of another song made famous by The Animals, "

The House of the Rising Sun "The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. ...

". In 1978 they recorded the song "Sevilla Nights" for the '' Thank God It's Friday'' soundtrack. In addition to their contribution to that hit soundtrack, their album ''The House of the Rising Sun'' also appeared on the pop and black charts that year. Following the success of their first two albums, they had a minor club hit with their 1978 album ''Beauty'', and returned to the disco Top 20 with "Another Cha-Cha/Cha-Cha Suite", which peaked at #16 in 1979. The album featured extensive writing from Goings which would continue for the rest of the band's existence. In 1980, the group released ''Don't Be Shy Tonight'' as internal conflict started to form between the producers of the group, this time scoring a hit with "C'est Magnifique". In 1981, Skorsky produced ''Hush'' and 1982's ''Green Talisman''. ''Don't Be Shy Tonight'', ''Hush'' and ''Green Talisman'' marked the band's foray into experimentation with a wider variety of sounds including

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

Tours around the world

Santa Esmeralda also toured extensively throughout the world. During this time the live band included musicians Tony Baker (guitar), Mick Valentino (guitar), Charlie Magarian (bass), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), Tom Poole (trumpet) and Reggie Graham (keyboards). In 2011, footage of the band's performance at the

Viña del Mar International Song Festival , image = , caption =Overture to the closing night of LI Viña del Mar International Song Festival (2010) , location =Viña del Mar, Chile , years_active =1960-present , founders = , dates =3rd week of February , ...

, Chile, in 1979 was released on DVD by the European company Soul Collectors. Santa Esmeralda (starring Leroy Gómez) is still touring throughout the world (EEG - Europolis Entertainment Group).

Later recordings

In 2002, Gómez, who had been touring with a new incarnation of the group, released ''Lay Down My Love'', an album of new material, and in 2004 ''Santa Esmeralda - The Greatest Hits'', featuring newly recorded versions of the band's disco-era hits, including those which had been sung by Goings. Essentially unaffiliated with the original producers and musicians aside from Gómez, the new releases feature a much more synthesized sound then previous recordings. The group re-entered the popular consciousness in 2003 when "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the first volume of

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

's ''

Kill Bill ''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) an ...

''.

Discography

References

External links

Official website
(English/French) * Entry at Allmusic
Visit Santa Esmeralda on MySpace for more info.

Visit Santa Esmeralda on Facebook for music, photos and latest updates.
{{Authority control French disco groups Musical groups established in 1977