Patrick Joseph Cowley (October 19, 1950 – November 12, 1982) was an 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 ...

and

hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the ...

dance music composer and recording artist. Along with

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...

, he often is credited as a pioneer of electronic dance music.

Early life

Patrick Cowley was born October 19, 1950 in Buffalo, New York to Ellen and Kenneth Cowley. The family originated in the

Horseheads Horseheads is a town in Chemung County, New York, United States. The population was 19,412 at the 2020 census. The name of the town is derived from the number of bleached horses' skulls once found there. Horseheads is north of the city of Elmi ...

and Corning areas of New York and lived in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

. During his teenage years, Cowley became a successful drummer with local amateur bands before attending

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

and later the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

to study English. In 1971, at the age of 21, Cowley moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

to attend the

City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a State school#United States, public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local ...

(CCSF) where he studied music, specifically the use of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s, from Gerald Mueller.

Musical career

Cowley met San Francisco-based musician Sylvester in 1978. Sylvester had asked Cowley to join his studio band after hearing some of his early synthesizer recordings. He played synthesizer on Sylvester's 1978 album ''

Step II ''Step II'' is the fourth studio album by American singer Sylvester, released in 1978 on the Fantasy label. Commercial performance The album peaked at No. 7 on the R&B albums chart. It also reached No. 28 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album feat ...

'' which included the hits "

You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" is a 1978 song by American disco/ R&B singer Sylvester. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, and released as the second single from Sylvester's fourth album, '' Step II'' (1978). The song was already ...

" and "

Dance (Disco Heat) "Dance (Disco Heat)" is a song by American singer Sylvester and his backup vocalists Two Tons O' Fun. The song appears on his 1978 album, '' Step II''. Chart performance The song was Sylvester's first Top 40 hit in the United States, where it pe ...

". In addition, he wrote "Stars" and "I Need Somebody to Love Tonight" from his 1979 album ''Stars''. Cowley also joined Sylvester's live band and joined him on several world tours. Cowley's own hits included " Menergy" in 1981, a frank celebration of the gay club scene, and "

Megatron Man "Megatron Man" is a 1981 dance single by producer Patrick Cowley, released by Megatone Records Megatone Records was an independent music label specializing in disco and created in San Francisco in 1981 by Patrick Cowley and Marty Blecman. The ...

", which hit #1 and #2 respectively on the ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Music/Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart in 1981. That same year, Patrick Cowley was celebrated at the Menergy parties at The EndUp in San Francisco. Cowley recorded an album at The Stud in San Francisco. He also wrote and produced the dance single "Right on Target" for San Francisco artist Paul Parker, which reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' dance chart in 1982. " Do Ya Wanna Funk", a collaboration with Sylvester, made #4 on the ''Billboard'' dance chart that same year. Cowley also did a 15'45" long remix of

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

's "

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...

", which is now a collector's item. '' Mind Warp'', his final album, was composed as he felt the increasing effects of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

infection, and its songs reflect his increasing detachment from conventional reality as the disease progressed.

Death

During a world tour with Sylvester in late 1981, Cowley complained of feeling increasingly unwell. Upon returning to the United States, he visited a doctor who diagnosed food poisoning. Weeks later, with his condition only worsening, doctors again failed to identify what was wrong with him. At this early stage in the history of

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

virus – at the time still referred to as "

gay-related immune deficiency AIDS is caused by a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which originated in non-human primates in Central and West Africa. While various sub-groups of the virus acquired human infectivity at different times, the present pandemic had its origins ...

" (GRID) by American doctors – misdiagnosis was common and so Cowley, who was gay, was discharged from the hospital (in 1982) after doctors could do nothing more for him. Cowley died at his home in the

Castro District The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood throug ...

neighborhood in San Francisco on November 12, 1982. He was 32 years old, an early victim of AIDS.

Legacy

Despite never fully achieving mainstream commercial success, Cowley is nevertheless regarded as a pioneer of early electronic music and the creator of

, an uptempo strain of

. Various 1980s artists such as

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...

and New Order have cited his influence as a producer. Cowley has been described as "a musical pioneer whose achievements rippled throughout queer culture and beyond into the disco mainstream". Since the 2010s, Cowley's profile has risen as "listeners and scholars excavate disco's intersection with

gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii ...

." Amid the accompanying emergence of nu-disco in the late 2000s and early 2010s, profiles of Cowley in ''Gawker'' and other high-profile outlets have contributed to a resurgence of interest in his work. 2009 saw the release of ''Catholic'', a compilation of

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

-flavored collaborations with writer/singer Jorge Socarras from 1976 to 1979.

Discography

Albums

Notable collaborations

Cowley wrote and produced songs for several San Francisco musicians including friends Paul Parker and Frank Loverde. He was associated with many other musicians such as Kat Mandu, Maurice Tani and Linda Imperial. * "Right on Target" by Paul Parker (1982) * "Die Hard Lover" by

Frank Loverde Frank Loverde (or simply Loverde; 1947–1990) was an American disco singer and musician active during the 1980s. Based in San Francisco, Loverde worked with record producer Patrick Cowley on his greatest success; ''Die Hard Lover'', released in ...

(1982) * "

Do You Wanna Funk "Do Ya Wanna Funk" is a 1982 dance song recorded by American recording artists Sylvester and Patrick Cowley. It was produced by Cowley, who incidentally died the same year. The song was mostly successful in Europe, especially in Belgium, Finlan ...

" by Sylvester (1982) * "Tech-no-logical world" by Paul Parker (1982)

References

External links

* Daniel Heinzmann �
Patrick Cowley: biography 1

Myspace page

Myspace page for ''Catholic'' album

Bandcamp page for Patrick Cowley

soundcloud page for Patrick Cowley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowley, Patrick 1950 births 1982 deaths American dance musicians American disco musicians American electronic musicians American Hi-NRG musicians Musicians from Buffalo, New York Musicians from Rochester, New York American gay musicians LGBT people from New York (state) AIDS-related deaths in California 20th-century American musicians City College of San Francisco alumni 20th-century LGBT people