Was any disco made by women?

[infrasound]

One of my lesbian pals asked me if any women produced or created disco/italo/hi-nrg in the 70s or 80s, and I completely drew a blank. I couldn't think of any. Was there any "dance music" that was made by women?

[paul]

She has got to be kidding. I almost feel like this is a trick question and I'm the dummy responding.
I guess you drew a blank because your brain couldn't believe the question :lol:
Perhaps I'm wrong but here goes -
Taste Of Honey
Labelle
Diana Ross
Gloria Gaynor
Madonna
Donna Summer
Bonnie Pointer
The Pointer Sisters
etc, etc.

[infrasound]

I guess to be more specific - disco made by women who made all of the music without the help of a male writer/producer. Obviously there are loads of women in disco and dance music, but I'm looking for a list of female artists that primarily made all of their own music as well, independently - more than just vocalists/singers.

[paul]

Music with no men. I guess knowing the source this makes more sense. Well, I can't think of any. I don't even believe there was any music that was exclusive all male, from writer to production and distribution.
By the way, this sounds so antidisco.

[infrasound]

Hmmm..well, it's definitely not anti-disco. I clearly see her point. She likes to listen to music that is made/written by women. (She, by the way, likes all different kinds of music.) Of course, very little music is either exclusively all-male or all-female, but there's a difference between a vocalist who sings a song written by someone else, and one who writes the song herself. Maybe not to you, but to some people. I guess Madonna is a good example for my friend - a lot of her tracks are credited to her as the writer. But then, a lot of her hits are Jellybean or some other producer.

This came up because I made her a CD of my favorite artists, lots who are women, but she noticed through her own research that most of the tracks were written or produced by men. It does seem that women are often vocalists in disco music, and the tracks are credited to a songwriter, and the instruments were played by someone else too....It may be a tough question to answer, but it certainly is a valid question, not meant to offend anyone.

Maybe it's just more common these days that female musicians feel strongly that their music should be 100% their music... not just as a feminist statement but a creative one.

Thanks for your attempt to answer the question! :)

[QUINNY]

I've never seen many all female bands. I think you're gonna have lean pickings.

[markydefad]

I can't recall any famous FEMALE record producers of the Disco era. It seemed ALL-MALE.

There were women songwriters like Valerie Simpson, Donna Summer, Pam Sawyer, etc.

But the FEMALE producer is hard to come by til maybe Madonna and definitely Missy Elliott today.

Oh wait...What about Sylvia Robinson??? (Sugarhill Records founder and producer of Sugarhill Gang)

Also a performer who did "Pillow Talk" in the early 1970s.

[paul]

As they say, "it's all good" infra. Perhaps you can invite your friend to visit the boards. Warn her though that I'm a potty mouth breeder with a thick skin so I won't be easily offended :D

[QUINNY]

Originally Posted by markydefad

I can't recall any famous FEMALE record producers of the Disco era. It seemed ALL-MALE.

There were women songwriters like Valerie Simpson, Donna Summer, Pam Sawyer, etc.

But the FEMALE producer is hard to come by til maybe Madonna and definitely Missy Elliott today.

Oh wait...What about Sylvia Robinson??? (Sugarhill Records founder and producer of Sugarhill Gang)

Also a performer who did "Pillow Talk" in the early 1970s.

And even Sylvia Robinson would have had an all male band laying down the tracks. Maybe A Taste Of Honey is about as close as you're gonna get to a female band?

[Leatherman]

Patrice Rushen wrote and (co) produced most her disco period material. I'm pretty sure Teena Marie did the same after a couple of LP's.

[K-Bee]

What about Klymaxx. Now that was an all girl band who played their own instruments. They did use male producers like the Calloway brothers however.

Remember "never underestimate the power of a woman"?

[Marcio**]

A female disco group with female singers in quantity (and quality, I guess) is the five sisters of The Nolans.

:D I'm In The Mood For Dancing by The Nolans

[QUINNY]

Yeah, but did they play their own instruments on those sugary sweet backing tracks and more importantly, were they Disco?

[Leatherman]

Does it have to be a totally 100% woman only production? I'm sure that isn't what the original question asker meant! Ladies like Patrice Rushen and Teena Marie pretty much directed and produced their own material. So there was some male involvment as far as musicians went, but the girls were the masterminds of the project and played some of the instruments. If we are gonna be really strict about it, I'm sure they weren't many records which were totally guys (taking into account female BV's, orchestra players etc),

[QUINNY]

I got the impression her friend wants only all female productions. I expect there may be a few, but............................ :o