"He's the Greatest Dancer" is a

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

song by the American vocal group

Sister Sledge Sister Sledge was an American musical vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1971, the group consists of sisters Joni, Kim, Debbie, and Kathy Sledge. The siblings achieved international success at the height of the disco era. I ...

. Released on February 3, 1979, the song was written and composed by Bernard Edwards and

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

, and recorded for the group's successful 1979 album '' We Are Family''. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' named the song No. 66 on its list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time."

Background

The song was released as the lead single from the album at the beginning of 1979, crossing over from the clubs – its 12″ version was shared by the " We Are Family" and " Lost in Music" tracks – to R&B radio, giving Sister Sledge a number one hit on both Billboard's Dance and R&B charts in March 1979. The song reached number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in May. It might have risen higher except that, in the same month, Atlantic Records, prompted by the overwhelming club response to "We Are Family," sent the last-named track to radio. The song was also a hit in Australia (No. 5), the Netherlands (No. 1) and the UK (No. 6). "He's the Greatest Dancer" was sampled by

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

in his 1997 number one hit single " Gettin' Jiggy wit It," the first selection he released from his album '' Big Willie Style''. In 2000, DJ Tony Touch recorded a version of the song, entitled "I Wonder Why? (He's the Greatest DJ)," whose lyrics were sung by Keisha Spivey and Pam Long of R&B girl group Total. The song was recorded and released by

Dannii Minogue Dannii Minogue (; born 20 October 1971) is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. As a child, she became known for her appearances on the television talent show ''Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988). She went on to play the r ...

in 2007 and was an international Top 40 hit; it was also sampled by a Russian pop group

Hi-Fi High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

in their 1999 song "Pro Leto" (, translated as "About Summer"). Robert Hood released a

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

track based on the hook of this song on his label M-Plant. Nick Holder sampled the song on his 1997 album ''One Night in the Disco''.

Lyrics and music

The lyrics were written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers: Nile Rodgers has speculated that this may have been the first occurrence of the later-widespread phenomenon of brands being mentioned in songs."Nile Rodgers interviewed by Peter Paphides"
Twentyfirstcenturymusic.blogspot.com. November 10, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2011. The recording features Rodgers on guitar, Edwards on bass, Tony Thompson on percussion, Andrew Barrett on piano, Raymond Jones on backing keyboards, and orchestration by

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from th ...

's Chic Strings.

Production

Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, who produced the ''We Are Family'' album for Sister Sledge, originally formulated all its songs with the group in mind, envisioning the title selection as the lead single. When

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

wanted a more overtly disco song Edwards and Rodgers gave Sister Sledge "He's The Greatest Dancer," which they had originally intended for Chic. Nile Rodgers recalled the Sister Sledge members being "furious" at being asked to sing the lyric "My crème de la crème please take me home" – "to them that inemade them seem like loose women" – and that they suggested a lyric adjustment to "My crème de la crème, please don't go home." Rodgers says he and Edwards refused to change the lyric "because we knew the world that we were writing about obviously more than ister Sledgedid because they had never even been in a disco...He ain't going to go home because e ''is''the greatest dancer...he's gonna stay there longer than you." Rodgers later described his and Edwards's approach with Sister Sledge as one of "sing this," and admitted to "misrepresenting" them because Rodgers and Edwards had not even met Sister Sledge before the sessions. Kathy Sledge performed lead vocals on the single.

Usage in media

The song was featured in the second season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

'', being performed by contestants Jessica Wild and Tatianna in a "lipsync for your life". It was also featured in the 2002 film '' The Hot Chick'' and in a trailer for '' Chicken Little''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Dannii Minogue version

“He's the Greatest Dancer” is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the Sister Sledge song performed by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n singer

. In November 2006, Minogue performed the song on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's ''

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

telethon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...

. Later that month a studio version of the song, remixed by Fugitive, appeared on the dance compilation ''Clubland 10.'' Though the selection was recorded as the charity single for that year's ''

,'' it was dropped when Minogue pulled out of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' to work on rival TV show ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

.'' The single was replaced in favour of a cover of "

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

" former Spice Girl Emma Bunton had performed. In December 2006, the track was released to dance clubs in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was commercially released in Australia by Central Station Records on April 14, 2007.

Chart performance

"He's the Greatest Dancer" reached number one on the UK Upfront Club Chart in December 2006 and became Minogue's eleventh club number one in the country. The track also reached number one on the Commercial Pop Chart.""He's The Greatest Dancer" Release Advertisement"
Central Station Records. Retrieved February 16, 2007. In Australia, "He's The Greatest Dancer" entered the singles chart on April 29, 2007 at number thirty-seven, and remained on the chart for two weeks."Discography Dannii Minogue"
Australian-Charts.com. Retrieved November 21, 2007. The track was more successful in Spain, where it reached number nine fourteen weeks after its debut."Spanish Top 20 Singles Chart"
ProMusicAE.org. Retrieved November 21, 2007.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "He's the Greatest Dancer". Australian CD single
(CSRCD50532; Released April 14, 2007) #"He's the Greatest Dancer" ( LMC edit) – 3:05 #"He's the Greatest Dancer" (LMC extended) – 5:55 #"He's the Greatest Dancer" ( Chris Lake remix) – 6:29 #"He's the Greatest Dancer" ( Shapeshifters remix) – 5:41 #"He's the Greatest Dancer" (Kenny Hayes Dub Addiction remix) – 5:49 #"He's the Greatest Dancer" (Riffs & Rays mix) – 8:19 #"He's the Greatest Dancer" (Sebastien Leger Electro Vocal mix) – 8:51 #"He's the Greatest Dancer" (Fugitive Club mix) – 5:20 Official remixes"He's The Greatest Dancer Remixes"
DanniiMusic.com. Retrieved November 30, 2007. #"He's the Greatest Dancer" (Sebastien Leger Electro Dub mix)

Charts

Notes

References

*Ed Hogan. * * {{authority control 1978 songs 1979 singles 2006 singles 2007 singles Sister Sledge songs Dannii Minogue songs American funk songs American soul songs Songs written by Bernard Edwards Songs written by Nile Rodgers Song recordings produced by Nile Rodgers Song recordings produced by Bernard Edwards Songs about dancing All Around the World Productions singles Cotillion Records singles Eurodance songs