Patrick cowley donna summer biography
Patrick Cowley
American composer and recording artist (1950-1982)
Patrick Cowley | |
|---|---|
Cowley with Sylvester | |
| Birth name | Patrick Joseph Cowley |
| Born | (1950-10-19)October 19, 1950 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Origin | Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 12, 1982(1982-11-12) (aged 32) Castro District, San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Multiple instruments |
| Years active | 1976–1982 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
Musical artist
Patrick Joseph Cowley (October 19, 1950 – November 12, 1982) was an American disco and hi-NRG dance music composer and recording artist, best known for his collaborations with disco singer Sylvester. Along with Giorgio Moroder, he has been credited as a pioneer of electronic dance music.
Early life
Cowley was born October 19, 1950, in Buffalo, New York, to Ellen and Kenneth Cowley. The family originated in the Horseheads and Corning areas of New York and lived in Rochester. During his teenage years, Cowley became a successful drummer with local amateur bands before attending Niagara University and later the University at Buffalo to study English. In 1971, at the age of 21, Cowley moved to San Francisco to attend the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) where he studied music, specifically the use of synthesizers, from Gerald Mueller.
Musical career
Cowley met San Francisco-based musician Sylvester in 1978. Sylvester had asked Cowley to join his studio band after hearing some of his early synthesizer recordings. He played synthesizer on Sylvester's 1978 album Step II which included the hits "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" and "Dance (Disco Heat)". In addition, he wrote "Stars" and "I Need Somebody to Love Tonight" from his 1979 album Stars. Cowley also joined Sylvester's live band and joined him on several world tours.
Cowley's own hits includ
Patrick Joseph Cowley (b October 19, 1950 Buffalo, New York - d November 12, 1982 San Francisco, California) was a Disco and Hi-NRG dance music composer and recording artist. He recorded in a similar style to Giorgio Moroder, and is often credited with pioneering electronic dance music.
Born in Buffalo, Cowley moved to San Francisco in 1971, beginning an intensive study of the synthesizer. Working at the City Disco, as a light technician, he met Sylvester (originally of the Cockettes gay Theatre group) who was there performing. They began to collaborate, and Cowley's aggressive synthesizer style became associated with Sylvester. Their club-dancing fan base responded enthusiastically to hits like "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Dance (Disco Heat)", and their most successful single, "Do You Wanna Funk".
Cowley's own hits included "Menergy" in 1981, a frank celebration of the gay club sex scene, and "Megatron Man". In 1982, Patrick Cowley became the DJ at the "Menergy" parties at The EndUp in San Francisco. He also wrote and produced the dance single "Right on Target" for San Francisco artist Paul Parker, which reached #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Cowley also did a 15+ minute long remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", which is now a collector's item. His final album, Mind Warp, was composed as he felt the increasing effects of HIV infection, and its songs reflect his increasing detachment from conventional reality as the disease progressed. Cowley's released work to-date includes six LP full length albums (ranging from Hi-NRG to trance inducing long-form ambient/krautrock synth exploration pieces) and a dozen singles and EPs. Groups including the Pet Shop Boys and New Order cite Cowley's style as a major influence.
Patrick died from complications of AIDS on November 12, 1982, an early victim of the disease.
Patrick Joseph Cowley, aka Patrick Cowley, was born in Buffalo (New York) United States on October 19, 1950. In 1971 he moved to San Francisco to study music at the "City College Of San Francisco" and specialized in the use of the synthesizer. From 1973 to 1975 Patrick composed music for the soundtracks of pornographic films. In 1978 he worked as a lighting technician at “The City Disco”, one of the most famous clubs in San Francisco. It was in that place that he met the singer Sylvester, who often performed with his shows. Thus was born a deep friendship and a collaboration among the most important of that musical period. "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "I Need Somebody To Love Tonight", "Dance (Disco Heat)", "Don't Stop" and "Do Ya Wanna Funk" are the most successful songs of the Cowley-Sylvester collaboration. In 1981, Patrick Cowley released "Menergy", his first solo album. A few months later a new album was released: “Megatron Man”. Unusual to release two albums in a few months for an artist. Patrick had not been in good health for a few months and perhaps he had a bad feeling. In 1982 he performed as a disc jockey at the “Menergy” parties at the “TheEndUp” nightclub in San Francisco. The drama was upon us... Patrick Cowley was informed by doctors that he had contracted a new virus (unknown at the time), Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Patrick immediately began arranging what was to be his third and final album: "MInd Warp". At the same time he collaborated with "Donna Summer" on a remix of "I Feel Love", with Paul Parker on the single "Right On Target" and with Sylvester on "Do Ya Wanna Funk". San Francisco - November 12, 1982. At the age of 32, Patrick was one of the first celebrities to die from the AIDS / HIV virus. Following this tragic event, the female voices who had participated in the projects of Pa The usual avenue for top-quality bootlegs in the disco era was via a company called Sunshine Sound in New York, run by a mastering engineer called Frank Trimarco, based in a tiny office on 1650 Broadway – later the home of legendary house label Strictly Rhythm. Sunshine Sound was Trimarco’s sideline. Trimarco cut acetates for his clients (an acetate is a weighty, lacquered disc that wears out after a limited amount of plays), so DJs could play exclusive edits and mixes on regular turntables. He then began to sell small runs of the best of these mixes. It was through Trimarco that Cowley’s version originally emerged. It swiftly came to the attention of the pioneering disco remix company Disconet, whose clientele were subscriber DJs. In June 1980, on Volume 3, Program 7, Patrick Cowley’s episodic version of ‘I Feel Love’ finally made it onto vinyl – if not general release. While on a tour of Brazil with Sylvester’s band, Cowley became ill with an ear infection, the start of a series of ailments that never seemed to end. In July 1981, the New York Times reported that 41 gay men, mainly in New York and San Francisco, had been diagnosed with a rare cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. A few months later Cowley was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Perilously ill – in fact, dying of undiagnosed AIDS – he was somehow discharged from hospital and, aided by friends who would prop him up in the studio using cushions, Cowley recorded his final album, the dark masterpiece ‘Mind Warp’, as well as writing and producing ‘Do You Wanna Funk?’ for Sylvester. Two months after it made the UK charts, on November 12, 1982, Patrick Cowley died. Sadly, he never saw the heights his ‘I Feel Love’ remix eventually attained: released as a 12” by Casablanca it became a club hit, and an edited 7” made it to No 21 in the UK singles charts less than a month after his death. “He was a little guy and a pretty wild spirit,
The master: Patrick Cowley created the definitive ‘I Feel Love’ remix