Once Again: The Cerrone/Gomez/Costandinos Musical War

[DJ Jimmy M]

Ok, someone requested that I post this story once again for those who don't know about it all. Cerrone was a bad boy in the early days lol. The Leroy Gomez war:

In 1977 Cerrone and Don Ray had a studio project together called Revelacion which the entire side A of this LP was a latin disco remake of the 60's rock classic "The House Of The Rising Sun". What alot dont know is that the idea creator and actual person mainly involved on this project was Leroy Gomez and his production company. Cerrone played a minor part in this creation. However when this LP was released Cerrone took all the credit for it not mentioning Gomez' name nor his production company on it as well and simply put it as "A Cerrone Production". There were no legal documents or proof to this which made Gomez very pissed off and to go prove himself he created his own group and did another remake in latin disco of another 60's rock classic by the same artist "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and hence..Santa Esmeralda was born! What Gomez had done is with the help of his production company used the same exact tune as he did for the Revelacion project and same pattern but just sung a different song over it. Don Ray had even helped Leroy in this production as at the time Don was just an inoccent bystandard in all of it. One year later then Leroy had found out Don Ray did have something to do with it and was trying to make extra "funds" on the side and was hand in hand with Cerrone all along. Leroy then called in vocalist Jimmy Goings to replace him in Esmeralda and had his production team do a whole new recording of "House Of The Rising Sun" under the Esmeralda name and have Jimmy's hard vocals over it. Cerrone and Don Ray's responce to this was to take the Revelacion name once again and record a track called "Don't Give A Damn". The actual track comes off as a song about a man relising he is gay and voicing it loud and proud. In all actuality, this was a cover up. If you listen to the first verse this was aimed at Leroy and the lyrics make perfect sence in this way. Santa Esmeralda then with Jimmy Goings developed a whole new latin disco sound breaking away from that one tune until the final LP in 1982 creating yet one last track as a reminder to all that Cerrone was a theif non the less. Now we take it back to 1975 for the next bad act of Cerrone..The Alec R Costandinos story:

In 1975 Alec teamed up with Cerrone to take a crack at doing disco music after producing pop hits for Demis Roussas and other Europop artists to create his first disco pieces "Love In C Minor" and "Midnight Lady". Once again, Cerrone went ahead and spread out the word that he wrote and produced and distributed this LP all on his own just so he could break stardum and become a star. It worked and even though on later pressings Alec is credited at least as a co writer, the history books still read this line of shit that its "A Cerrone Production". Alec's angry responce to this was to create a few different tracks under different studio alias names to the simmaler tunes of "C Minor" and "Midnight Lady". The first was "Accidental Lover" under Love And Kisses which was a good anger release for Alec as it was lyrics about his lady he was having ups and downs with at the time and of corse his proof that the "C Minor" project wasnt Cerrone and the track speaks for itself right down to the same exact sax solo in the side long track! His second deal was "Simon Peter" under the alias Sphinx and was a compleate "Midnight Lady" over extended instrumental with sections of "Love In C Minor" thrown in and of corse very minimal lyrics. Cerrone on this one had no come back (maybe this is why he did the same to Leroy right after?, just a thought lol). Alec then went on to create some of the best creative work in disco history with a whole different sound moving away from him making his point...untill the 1978 "Paris Connection" LP where apropriately in the middle of "You Lost That Loving Feeling" breaks into a brief instrumental refrain of "Love In C Minor", and if you listen real careful you can hear Alec's angry breathing as this section comes on (headphones pick it up best and loud and clear). Then apropriatly right after breaks back into the lyrics "you lost that lovin feeling now its gone gone gone"..and Alec sure did lose that loving feeling for mr. Cerrone lol.

This is all fact based material from tons of research i did a long time ago on Alec (and it lead me to the Esmeralda story as well). On Winmx in addition to the weekly program I have added a nice mix I found in my archive basicly documenting the whole musical war of Cerrone/Gomez and Costandinos so you may wanna check that out to hear how it all falls into place :)

DJ Jimmy M

[K-Bee]

Way2Go Jimmy,

thanks for taking time out to post all of this. I Really wasn't aware of any of these disputes taking place.

I'll check out the mix in question in a mo....

[efunk_adelic]

Although Cerrone was bad in the early days :P It doesn't take away or causes me judgements on him or make me dislike the song (hence any Milli Vanilli scandal).

I'm glad everything worked out.. or Santa Esmeralda would not have been in production.

thanks for this thread Jimmy, I enjoyed reading it . :D

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

"And if you play 'Cerrone's Paradise' backwards, you can hear them say it...Alec is dead!" Come on! As old as these posts are, I can't believe that anyone could take this kind of over-active imagination, conspiracy theory stuff seriously.

I won't take up the time or space to pick this apart, except to say, there's no connection between Cerrone and Leroy Gomez. Santa Esmarelda was NOT Gomez's project. It was Skorsky's. Gomez wasn't even involved in "House of the Rising Sun"! At that time, he was working with Simon Soussan.

And there's no "war" between Alec and Cerrone. Nobody likes Cerrone because he's an egotistical jerk. Alec included. Period.

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by STEPHEN L FREEMAN

And there's no "war" between Alec and Cerrone. Nobody likes Cerrone because he's an egotistical jerk. Alec included. Period.

I think this "remark in c minor" is as close as it can get! Let's say, and of course we stay polite here, that monsieur Cerrone has a little bit of an "attitude" problem, mmmh.

Let's face it, I met him twice, spoke to him twice, and both times our conversation was about .....Cerrone And I really think that all of the members here (including moi) calling him a "god" isn't exactly helping because...well okay.... have a Happy Easter!



Edited by Videoskooter: Being impolite!>> Hi Stephen, welcome 2 da board! I'm sure you'll be telling us a lot about many Hot Tracks!

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Originally Posted by Videoskooter

Hi Stephen, welcome 2 da board! I'm sure you'll be telling us a lot about many Hot Tracks!

Ahhh... Hot Tracks. Poor, beaten into the ground, bled to death, imploding, milked for it's last dime, then pawned-off on an unsuspecting buyer, Hot Tracks. Or, more directly, Scott Cox gnawing off, chewing up and spitting out the hand that fed him. Yuppers... I'll get into "Hot Tracks".

Cheers...Stephen L.

[ol'skinflint]

funny, all this bickering is usually reserved for records far more commercially successful than the ones in dispute here....

[A2Mark57]

<<"Don't Give A Damn". The actual track comes off as a song about a man relising he is gay and voicing it loud and proud. In all actuality, this was a cover up. If you listen to the first verse this was aimed at Leroy and the lyrics make perfect sence in this way.>>

Whoa! Now THAT's fun! Disco lyrics that are ostensibly about being gay but are really about something else! What a weird twist on the usual disco pattern!

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Originally Posted by A2Mark57

<<"Don't Give A Damn". The actual track comes off as a song about a man relising he is gay and voicing it loud and proud. In all actuality, this was a cover up. If you listen to the first verse this was aimed at Leroy and the lyrics make perfect sence in this way.>>

<Deep sigh> No, it's not about Leroy. It's about coming out. Just like it says in the lyrics. Listen to the entire record, including the "Paper Tigers" section, where the voice-over is a guy on the phone, explaining to a girl why he stood her up for their date. And about his roommate 'Bill'.

Considering the dreamt-up feud between Cerrone and Gomez was supposed to have taken place in 1977. Why, in 1979, would he release a 17 minute piece, just to "aim the first verse" at Leroy??? It's a rediculous story, not even worthy of rumour status.

[Dayna]

I could care less about who likes who or who said this about this one or that one, the bottom line for me is my love for their work and the memories that their music evokes in me and regardless of ego's ...at the end of the day the music speaks for itself~!!

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Originally Posted by Dayna

I could care less about who likes who or who said this about this one or that one, the bottom line for me is my love for their work and the memories that their music evokes in me and regardless of ego's ...at the end of the day the music speaks for itself~!!

Albeit a very nice sentiment, Dayna... The nature of the thread is in regards to exactly "whose" work it was, that's evoking your memories. There's fascinating history attached to all aspects the genre. And although "the music speaks for itself", the history doesn't. And it deserves to have a voice, equally...no?
Otherwise this whole site would be just be nice, complimentary, pats-on-the-back. As opposed to being an informative venue for those who weren't actually there. And, occasionally, a deeper knowledge for those of us that were.

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by STEPHEN L FREEMAN

Albeit a very nice sentiment, Dayna... The nature of the thread is in regards to exactly "whose" work it was, that's evoking your memories. There's fascinating history attached to all aspects the genre. And although "the music speaks for itself", the history doesn't. And it deserves to have a voice, equally...no?
Otherwise this whole site would be just be nice, complimentary, pats-on-the-back. As opposed to being an informative venue for those who weren't actually there. And, occasionally, a deeper knowledge for those of us that were.

Of course everyone and everything deserves a voice and to be heard..My point is I "myself" not speaking for anyone else, am content to enjoy the music rather than make a comment or judgement about a subject I have no knowledge of.Cerrone and Costandinos are 2 of my all time favorites..Welcome to the forum Stephen,Your knowledge will be most welcomed and appreciated
Dayna

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Originally Posted by Dayna

[b][i][color=red]rather than make a comment or judgement about a subject I have no knowledge of.Cerrone and Costandinos are 2 of my all time favorites..Welcome to the forum Stephen,Your knowledge will be most welcomed and appreciated

Then you understand why we, more "rabid", fans of Alec and the French Disco movement, will jump on the rumours, to dispell them.
And I appreciate the welcome. We're quite the neighbors anyway. I'd spun in S. FL from '80 to '97. And you joined the site, just over 2 weeks after me.
P.S. Thanks for the Linda Clifford interview. That deserved a pat-on-the-back.

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by STEPHEN L FREEMAN

Then you understand why we, more "rabid", fans of Alec and the French Disco movement, will jump on the rumours, to dispell them.
And I appreciate the welcome. We're quite the neighbors anyway. I'd spun in S. FL from '80 to '97. And you joined the site, just over 2 weeks after me.
P.S. Thanks for the Linda Clifford interview. That deserved a pat-on-the-back.

Oh yes..On here I know all about "Rabid Fans"...Thanks for the Linda Clifford nod..I love her..And Yes we are quite the Neighbors especially in 1980-81..when I worked at the Copa....Was so sad to hear it closed.