Lipps Inc ft Patrick Cowley ~ Funkytown 1979 Disco Purrfection Version

Just when the disco train was losing steam, along comes producer/writer Steven Greenberg with this chugging, chunky synthesizer driven song that topped the pop charts for four weeks. He had been trying to create a hit song for several years when he released a limited run of 500 copies of “Rock It“ he distributed to Minneapolis area radio stations, which led to it being the #1 song on a local station. He then set out to find a female vocalist to complete a song he was working on, “Funkytown“ and found Cynthia Johnson who also played the saxophone. She was 24 and working for the police department as a secretary who had been singing with a band known as Flyte Tyme. That funk band began life in Minneapolis, taking its name from the Donald Byrd song. The group featured Cynthia Johnson on vocals, Jellybean Johnson on drums, Tony Johnson on lead guitar, Jimmy “Jam“ Harris and Monte Moir on keyboards, and Terry Lewis on bass. They were not attracting too much attention, so she jumped at the opportunity to record with Greenberg. Once recorded, it was turned down by every label except Casablanca. Once in a while, Neil Bogart would open his office doors and invite all the Casablanca staffers to come in and listen to potential new talent. Steve was seated in the boardroom, certain he was going to be rejected. The next thing he knew the entire staff was dancing around and saying “Yes this is a hit!“ and he was signed to the label. The song took nine weeks to hit #1, but stayed there for a month and became a disco classic. Keyboardist Patrick Cowley, known for his work with Sylvester (You Make Me Feel Mighty Real) and his amazing remix of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love“ lined up “Funkytown“ and added all new synthesizers to beef up the track. This version was only available to DJ’s only and is pretty hard to find on vinyl. Since summer is on the way, I thought it would be fun to revisit this version and put it out there