Alicia Bridges

Infobox Musical artist


Img_size = 150
Name = Alicia Bridges
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Alicia Bridges
Born = birth date and age|1948|7|15
Origin = Lawndale, North Carolina, United States
Genre = Disco Music
Associated_acts =
Occupation = Singer, songwriter
Years_active = 1977–present (singer)
Label =
URL = [http://www.aliciabridges.com/ www.aliciabridges.com]

Alicia Bridges (born July 15 1948, in Lawndale, North Carolina) is an American singer who cowrote and performed her international hit "I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)" in 1978.

Early years

Alicia Bridges was born near Charlotte, North Carolina and was raised in Lawndale, a small town in Cleveland County. She sang from a very young age and learned to play guitar at the age of 10. At the age of 12 she had her own radio program, "The Alicia Bridges Show", broadcast every Saturday on station WADA in Shelby, North Carolina. Occasionally she would sing on the show, but has said that what she is most proud of is that she "ran all the dials, the turntables, cued the records and made all the announcements live on the air".Fact|date=March 2007

Discovery and fame (1970s)

In 1977 she was signed with Polydor Records.

Her 1978 hit single, "I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)", reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and also appeared on "Billboard"'s "Hits of the World" chart. The song was also in the #5 position on the "Record World" and "Cash Box" charts. It was also a "crossover" hit, which means that it primarily appeared on the dance charts, but was also a hitting high numbers in the various other record charts. It even received play on country music stations.

In 1978 Bridges was a Grammy Nominee and was the opening act, performing "I Love the Nightlife". Bridges’ self-titled LP, "Alicia Bridges", was also rising on the "Billboard", "Cash Box" and "Record World" charts and the LP remained on the charts for up to 35 weeks. Both the LP and the single release were international successes, and "I Love the Nightlife" reached the top of the charts in France and Germany with notable chart numbers in the UK singles chart, Spain and other European countries. Bridges’ music was especially popular in Japan as well. She received an RIAA Certified Gold Record for the sale of over one million copies of her hit single in the USA, as well as a gold record from Canada.

Contrary to the impression created by her success with "I Love the Nightlife", Alicia was primarily a singer of rock, blues and love songs. "I Love the Nightlife" has a definite back beat and organ similar to early 1970s R&B; the original intention was for "I Love the Nightlife" to be an R&B song, but when publishing mogul Bill Lowery first heard the song, he envisioned it as a disco dance tune. Soon after, Jim Burgess created a 12" single remix. Ultimately this mix became a worldwide hit. The song has been featured in several movies, including "Love At First Bite", "The Last Days of Disco" and "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".

Bridges’ second single, "Body Heat", was a rock song with strong electric guitar rhythms. It was a "rock/dance" song released at a time when there was some rivalry between disco fans and rock fans; this time period began to see more songs which mixed the genres of rock and disco to create a "rock/disco" flavor.

Although "I Love the Nightlife" was the only "hit" from the "Alicia Bridges" LP, it should be mentioned that "Broken Woman", a blues/rock song, is also a favorite of many of Bridges' fans.

Recent years

Alicia Bridges Music Publications was founded in 2006 and has produced two albums.

In November 2006, Bridges released a remixed and remastered compilation of her songs titled "This Girl Don’t Care". The remixes and remastering give an edge to the compilation which had not been present in previous mixes.

In 2007 she released "Say It Sister".

A third CD is due out in 2008; this will include a DJ mix of "I Love The Nightlife".

Bridges is currently active in the music community as a producer and DJ. Her works, digital versions of her recordings, a blog and videos can be found on her official web sites, [http://www.aliciabridges.com aliciabridges.com] , [http://www.discoround.com discoround.com] and [http://www.ilovethenightlife.com ilovethenightlife.com] .

Personal

Alicia Bridges is a vegetarian, uses only organic products, and is a strong supporter of animal issues. All of her pets are "rescues", either from animal shelters or from people who have abandoned their care.Fact|date=June 2008

Bridges has been publicly "out" (as lesbian) since her early teen years. As a teenager Alicia realized she was "different from the rest", as she states in her self descriptive song "Diamond In The Rough". The issue was also publicly discussed during a 1998 interview for "The Advocate".citation |title=Where are they now? |periodical=The Advocate |date=1998-07-21 |first=Barry |last=Walters |accessdate=2007-09-06 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_n764/ai_20944425.] Her 2006 album "This Girl Don’t Care" is an aggressive compilation; the CD jacket has three pink triangles as part of the design graphics, as well as a pink triangle on the vest Alicia is shown wearing.

References

ee also

* I Love the Nightlife

External links

* [http://www.aliciabridges.com/ aliciabridges.com] Official web site
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