An Omen Led to Gloria Gaynor Recording What Became Her Biggest Hit

In 1978, Gloria Gaynor had been releasing music for more than a dozen years. Her debut album, Never Say Goodbye, was released in 1965, with the title track becoming her second hit single, after “Honey Bee”, the first song released from Never Can Say Goodbye.

Videos by American Songwriter

After “Never Say Goodbye”, Gaynor released 18 more songs. Although not all of them were hits, she did have success with songs like “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”, “(If You Want It) Do It Yourself”, and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”. But nothing compared to the success she found when she released “I Will Survive“. Written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris, the song became a platinum-selling, multi-week No. 1 single for Gaynor.

“I Will Survive” appears on Gaynor’s Love Tracks album. The song says in part, “Oh, no, not I / I will survive / Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive / I’ve got all my life to live / I’ve got all my love to give / And I’ll survive / I will survive, hey, hey.”

The Omen That Led to Writing “I Will Survive” for Gloria Gaynor

Before writing “I Will Survive”, Fekaris was in a downward spiral. He was recently fired from Motown Records, where he had been a staff writer for almost seven years.

“I was an unemployed songwriter contemplating my fate,” Fekaris recalls to Songfacts. “I turned the TV on, and there it was: a song I had written for a movie theme titled ‘Generation’ was playing right then.”

It may not have been a big hit, but it was the sign that Fekaris needed. It also led to Gaynor’s big hit.

“I took that as an omen that things were going to work out for me,” he says. “I remember jumping up and down on the bed, saying, ‘I’m going to make it. I’m going to be a songwriter. I will survive!’”

Ironically, “I Will Survive” is the B-side of another song, “Substitute”, which is the single that precedes “I Will Survive”. Gaynor knew that “I Will Survive” would be a big hit, even if her record label refused to listen to her.

“When I read the lyrics, I recognized that this was timeless—in fact, I said that this is a timeless lyric. ‘How can you put that on the B-side?”’ she tells NPR she remembers asking. “They said, ‘Well, that’s the deal we made.’”

Gaynor still remembers her frustration that “I Will Survive” wasn’t released first.

“I’m only the one who’s there with the audiences every night,” Gaynor says. “Knowing what they want and what they need and what they like and what they don’t like, you know? So why would you listen to me?”

Photo by Markus Scholz/picture alliance via Getty Images