This 1976 One-Hit Wonder Almost Never Saw the Light of Day Because of a Depressing Week of Rain

Before Gloria Estefan scored a hit with her 1994 rendition of “Turn The Beat Around”, Vicki Sue Robinson was cutting the first version of this popular disco track, the one that would designate her as a one-hit wonder, at RCA Studios in late September 1975—much to the chagrin of RCA producer Warren Schatz.

Of course, to Robinson’s credit, it wasn’t her performance that was the problem. It was a double-whammy combination of bad weather and a bad week, both of which threatened to keep one of the most iconic disco songs of all time from ever seeing the light of day.

Her Producer Wasn’t in the Mood for the Disco Track

In James Arena’s Legends of Disco, RCA Studios producer Warren Schatz recalled the week that Vicki Sue Robinson first brought in “Turn The Beat Around” to record. He and Robinson already had a working relationship by that point, so the problem wasn’t who was bringing in the song. The issue was that Schatz was having a bad week. It was rainy. It was hard. One of those weeks, where your brain feels like mush by Wednesday, and the weekend is too far away.

In that frame of mind, being open to new creative endeavors can be particularly challenging. “Turn The Beat Around” didn’t immediately grab Robinson, and he resisted the idea of putting it on Robinson’s upcoming album. It was David Todd, RCA’s disco promotion head, who heard the record and insisted the label put it out.

And thank goodness for Todd, because “Turn The Beat Around” immediately took off. Robinson’s record peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot Dance/Disco chart. The song also garnered Robinson a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The subsequent success of Robinson’s track surprised Schatz, though it was a pleasant one.

“I must have released 120 singles by that time and never had more than a marginal hit,” Schatz said, per Arena’s book. “Nothing like ‘Turn The Beat Around’. It was huge! I was in shock and very happy over the song’s success. For me, it was amazing. Vicki got very busy, and she was appearing all over the place. The Grammy nomination was a big thing for me. But I never got the feeling from her that she was nearly as excited as I was.”

Suffice it to say, that was certainly enough to turn Schatz’s week around.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images