Antigone and her Top 5 Disco Foxes!

What we need is a brand new Disco Fox. And Ms. Antigone fits the bill perfectly. Her new track More Man Than Man is a blousey affair but underneath the chiffon are balls o' steel. It'll be out digitally on Monday 23rd June but you can whizz over to HerSpace to listen now. Here, she talks about her Top 5 Disco Foxes, the dance divas who have helped shape the sound of Antigone...



1 SYREETA WRIGHT

Being the wife and longtime collaborator of Stevie Wonder (imagine!), Syreeta's more soul or old school RnB than disco, but I was introduced to her years back by recording a cover of Can't Shake Your Love on my first foray into dance music with [love] tattoo (my version is still streaming on here). I'm just listening to the original now for the first time in years and it's even better than I remembered it! I love her voice because it is at once so sweet as to make you frown in disbelief at its beauty, but also strong, pure, clean and full of smiles and giggles. So fresh. RIP honey.¨

Can't Shake Your Love (Larry Levan Mix) - Syreeta Wright (zShare)



2 DONNA SUMMER

No point deferring: Donna Summer. But it was her song She Works Hard for the Money that I remember first as a young kid. Doubtless it was the little brats banging on the dinner table with their cutlery that I identified with more in the clip, but I also remember being struck by her strength and attitude, just that take no shit attitude. And for me that's the ethos of femme disco, but blended like top-shelf eyeshadow with soulful seduction and mischievous play. When I heard I Feel Love years later I fell for her and disco hard. Recently I found a clip on YouTube of her performing it live and was spellbound. She had her eyes closed the entire song and nothing but a mic stand and some gestures for company - it was just erotic. Other clips of her wearing crazy glitzy berets in the studio with massive headphones over the top were instrumental in inspiring me to become a session singer then recording artist. So I've got a lot to be thankful for with Donna, bless her.¨


I Feel Love (Live) - Donna Summer




3 GRACE JONES

She is just killer. It's the attitude. Even today she continues to cause it, making trouble on the Eurostar with her blatant disregard for authority (like Naomi Campbell, she seems to inherently mistrust people in uniform when traveling - who can blame them?!). Grace is the epitome of fierce: no drag queen's got nothin' on her. She growls, she prowls, she will not be contained. She bites people doesn't she? She can bite me anytime. Oddly, the only album left I have after random 'loans' of the others is Portfolio. This is the best album to do your housework to, I guarantee it!¨

I Need A Man - Grace Jones (mp3 zShare)



4 CHAKA KHAN

For pure uplifting vocal power you can't beat Chaka Khan can you? I'm Every Woman is just phenomenal. The thing is, after experiencing that song, you seem to agree with her, that she is every woman. Not many women could get away with this claim to Plato-esque woman-ness! Plus this is the only song on the planet where the key change does not make me spasm.¨

I'm Every Woman (Live in Basel) - Chaka Kahn (YouTube)



5 LADY MISS KIER

When I was 15 I gravitated towards the only other cool chick living in my small town and we became inseparable friends. She was a fierce punk, 19, with a newborn to a skinhead boyfriend. She introduced me to S-Express and Bronski Beat, then that summer Deee-Lite's Groove is in the Heart hit our world. I loved it and I loved that woman: wow! Lady Miss Kier was a revelation in sound and image. Years later, at the time when I had realised I wanted to be a professional singer, I began getting into house through their album Dewdrops in the Garden which I'd found in my boyfriend's collection. I had a bit of an existential mirror moment: here was a white girl who had the strength in her voice of a black girl, but she had her own sound and - critically - she wasn't trying to sound black. That made a lot of sense to me and it still does. I'm a white girl and that's OK: I can still sing disco!¨


The Power of Love - Dee-Lite (video 1990)

FOOTNOTE: Cheers to Antigone for those entertaining choices. If I had my way, though, I would have included the UK´s very own Tina I Love to Love Charles, who you could describe as Babycham to Grace Jones´ Veuve Cliquot. Bona!