"You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" is a song credited to British singer
Leo Sayer
Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer (born 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter whose singing career has spanned five decades. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009.
Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom ...
, taken from his 1976 album ''
Endless Flight''. It reached No. 1 on the U.S.
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, making it his first top single in the United States, and reached No. 2 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
''Billboard'' ranked it as the
No. 13 song of 1977. Credited songwriters Sayer and
Vini Poncia won a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
for the song in
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government).
* January 6 ...
in the category
Best R&B Song
The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record four times, while Bab ...
.
Ray Parker Jr. has stated that he was the original song writer, and that when he gave the tune as a demo his accreditation as such was missed.
Like other Sayer songs from that time, it features extensive use of the singer's
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentou ...
voice, a very popular
vocal register
A vocal register is a range of tones in the human voice produced by a particular vibratory pattern of the vocal folds. These registers include modal voice (or normal voice), vocal fry, falsetto, and the whistle register.
Registers originate in ...
in the songs of the
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 p ...
era.
Music video
In Australia, a live performance from the TV show ''
Countdown
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and ev ...
'' is frequently used in place of a music video.
Personnel
*
Leo Sayer
Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer (born 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter whose singing career has spanned five decades. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009.
Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom ...
– vocals
*John Barnes –
clavinet
The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tens ...
*
Larry Carlton
Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts such as Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. He has participated in thousands of recording sessions, recorded ...
,
Ray Parker Jr. – guitar
*
Steve Gadd
Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the '' Modern ...
– drums
*
Clydie King
Clydie Mae King (August 21, 1943 – January 7, 2019) was an American singer, best known for her session work as a backing vocalist. King also recorded solo under her name. In the 1970s, she recorded as Brown Sugar, and her single "Loneliness ( ...
, Becky Louis,
Sherlie Matthews
Sherlie Matthews (born November 10, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter and former Motown Records producer, best known as a backing vocalist for pop, R&B and rock groups from the mid-1960s to the present time.
Early life
Matthews started ...
– background vocals
*
Chuck Rainey
Charles Walter Rainey III (born June 17, 1940) is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,00 ...
– bass
*
Gene Page
Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s.
His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffer ...
– string arrangements
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Cover versions
* A
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
ed version of "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" credited to ''Groove Generation featuring Leo Sayer'' charted on the UK Singles Chart in 1998, peaking at No.32.
[
* In 2008, ]the Wiggles
The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. The group are currently composed of Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce and Tsehay Hawkins, as well as supporting members Evie Ferris, John Pearce, Ca ...
sang the song as the title work of their DVD ''You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
"You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" is a song credited to British singer Leo Sayer, taken from his 1976 album '' Endless Flight''. It reached No. 1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, making it his first top single in the United States, and rea ...
'', with Leo Sayer guest starring.
References
{{Authority control
1976 singles
1976 songs
Leo Sayer songs
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Number-one singles in New Zealand
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Songs written by Vini Poncia
Songs written by Leo Sayer
Song recordings produced by Richard Perry
Chrysalis Records singles
Warner Records singles
Songs about dancing