I WILL SURVIVE
by GLORIA GAYNOR

Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive is a classic anthem of the disco era and one of the UK's best-selling songs of all time.

Written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris, I Will Survive was the second single served from the American singer's sixth album Love Tracks and topped the UK Official Singles Chart for four weeks upon its original release in 1979.

Originally intended to be a b-side to another song Substitute, Gaynor was convinced that I Will Survive would be a hit and tried to persuade the label to release it as the A side. Refusing to entertain the idea, it was indeed released as the b-side, but Gaynor's husband took the song to Studio 54 DJ Richie Kaczor, who loved it. Gaynor gave Kaczor a stack of copies of the song to distribute to his friends and other DJs in discos and radio stations soon played that side of the record instead.

The popularity of "I Will Survive" led to the label eventually releasing the song as an A side with a video shot at Xenon Discotheque in New York. It featured a roller skater Sheila Reid-Pender from a local group called The Village Wizards skate dancing on the dance floor.

As well as its Number 1 success in the '70s, I Will Survive also achieved further UK chart success with a 1993 remix and re-release that reached Number 5.

In November 2023, Official Charts announced it as one of the Top 200 best-selling singles of all time, landing at Number 132 in the list.