Disco Lady

{{short description|1976 single by Johnnie Taylor}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Disco Lady

| cover = Disco_Lady_-_Johnnie_Taylor.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Johnnie Taylor

| album = Eargasm

| B-side = You're the Best Girl in the World

| released = January 1976

| recorded = 1975

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

• Disco{{cite book|title= Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s|first1=Don|last1=Breithaupt|first2= Jeff|last2= Breithaupt|date= October 15, 1996|chapter= Boogie Down: The Dawn of Disco|page= 183|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=031214704X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RMPCAwAAQBAJ}}{{AllMusic |class=album|id=mw0000951292|title= Various Artists - Sounds of the Seventies: 1976 - Take Two (1991) Review|last= Sendra|first= Tim|access-date= February 14, 2025}}
• funk
• soul{{cite web|first= Tom |last= Breihan |title= The Number Ones: Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady"|website= Stereogum |date= August 26, 2019 |url= https://www.stereogum.com/2056354/the-number-ones-johnnie-taylors-disco-lady/columns/the-number-ones/|quote=...Johnnie Taylor’s “Disco Lady”...was a sweaty, swampy soul-groove.|accessdate= June 28, 2023}}
• R&B{{cite book|first=Alice|last=Echols|title=Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture|chapter= I Hear a Symphony: Black Masculinity and the Disco Turn|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Hot_Stuff_Disco_and_the_Remaking_of_Amer.html?id=DzrvOAA2tvAC|date=March 29, 2010|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-06675-3|page=23}}

| length = 4:02 (Promo Version) 4:28 (Album Version)

| label = Columbia

| writer = Harvey Scales, Albert Vance, Don Davis

| producer = Don Davis

| prev_title = Try Me Tonight

| prev_year = 1975

| next_title = Somebody's Gettin' It

| next_year = 1976

}}

"Disco Lady" is a 1976 single by American singer Johnnie Taylor that went on to become his biggest hit. It spent all four weeks of April 1976 at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and six weeks atop the Billboard R&B chart in the U.S.[https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1976-04-24/ Billboard Hot 100, Week of April 24, 1976 – Billboard.com.] Retrieved May 13, 2023. It was also the first single to be certified platinum by the RIAA;{{cite web |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070701162808/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=historyx |archivedate= July 1, 2007|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=historyx |title=History Of The Awards |work=RIAA.com |accessdate=2008-12-11}} ultimately it sold over 2.5 million copies.{{cite book |last=George |first=Nelson |author-link=Nelson George |date=1988 |title=The Death of Rhythm & Blues |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZafAAAAMAAJ&q=%22disco+lady%22+%222.5+million%22 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Pantheon Books |page=150 |isbn=0142004081 |access-date=2015-06-10}} Billboard ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1976; Cash Box had it the year's No. 1 song.Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1976

The single was Taylor's first for Columbia Records, where he signed after his long-time label, Stax Records, went bankrupt. The song was produced by Taylor's long-time producer, Don Davis.[{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t2586739|pure_url=yes}} Disco Lady song review], Allmusic.com Among the guests on the song were four members of Parliament-Funkadelic: bassist Bootsy Collins, keyboardist Bernie Worrell, guitarist Glenn Goins, drummer Tiki Fulwood, and background vocals by BRANDYE (Cynthia Douglas, Donna Davis, Pamela Vincent).

"Disco Lady" was the first Hot 100 No. 1 hit with the word "disco" in the title (though the song was a ballad and not a disco record). The single also reached No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart.{{Cite web|url = http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/johnnie%20taylor/|title = Official Charts - Johnnie Taylor|date = 1976-04-24|accessdate = 2014-06-14|website = officialcharts.com|publisher = Official Charts Company|last = |first = }}

In the finale of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, broadcast in October 1976, Paul Lynde and the entire cast sing Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" (gender-neutralized to "Disco Baby").{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1qFfItfnXY | title=Disco Baby - Paul Lynde Halloween Special | website=YouTube | date=27 October 2015 }}

It earned Taylor his second Grammy Award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

In 1998, a remake of the song "Disco Lady 2000" (along with a "radio slam" remix) can be heard on the album Taylored to Please released by Malaco Records.