Gino Soccio

Gino Soccio (born September 9, 1955) is a Canadian disco music producer based in Montreal. His only US Billboard Hot 100 entry was the #48 hit single "Dancer" in 1979, but he did hit #1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart twice ("Dancer" / "Dance to Dance" in 1979, and "Try It Out" / "Hold Tight" in 1981, six weeks each). Soccio's third biggest hit, "It's Alright" / "Look at Yourself", from his album, Face to Face, reached #2 for 5 weeks also on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

Career Soccio got his start in disco when Montreal producer Pat Deserio called him in 1975 and asked if he would play keyboards and help compose for the Kébekélektrik album. Prior to this, Soccio was working as a local session musician.

Deserio asked Soccio to make a disco version of Ravel's "Bolero," which he wanted to release with filler tracks under the fictitious act name Kébekélektrik, a Kraftwerk-influenced misspelling of "Quebec Electric." In reality, Soccio played every note. "It was very labor-intensive," Soccio later said, "but at the same time, I had free rein of the entire studio, which had never happened [before]. It was a really great learning experience. I had never done disco. As you're going along doing it, you fall right in love with it." The Kébekélektrik sessions produced his B-side composition "War Dance," described by Wax Poetics' Jered Stuffco as "an orgy of analog squirts and electronic flourishes that Soccio wrote and recorded on the spot, warts and all." It reached #9 on the Billboard disco chart, released on the TK Disco label before the album. It later charted on Billboard's disco chart in 1980.

In 1979, Soccio also recorded a disco album with Guy Lafleur which cost CAD$100 000 to produce.

In the UK, he received airplay from Robbie Vincent on BBC Radio London, and Greg Edwards on Capital Radio on imported RFC Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records.

He also assembled and produced the disco studio group, Witch Queen, best known for their hits, "Bang a Gong" / "All Right Now" (1979), covers of the songs by T.Rex and Free. Together they peaked at number eight on the US Hot Dance/Disco chart.

Discography The discography of Gino Soccio consists of four studio albums, three compilations and seventeen singles.

Studio albums YearTitleChart positionsCANUS US R&B 1979Outline Labels: Celebration, RFC Records/Warner Bros. Records 12 79 34 781980S-Beat Labels: Celebration, RFC/Warner Bros. – – – –1981Closer Labels: Celebration, RFC/Atlantic Records – 96 26 –1982Face to Face Labels: Celebration, RFC/Atlantic – – 45 – "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Compilation albums Remember (1984, Celebration) Greatest Hits (1989, Unidisc) The Best of Gino Soccio (1994, Unidisc)

Singles YearTitleChart positionsAlbumCANUS BB US Dance 1977"Sauve Qui Peut" – – – – –1978"The Visitors" – – 27 – –Outline1979"Dancer" 6 48 1 60 46"Dance to Dance" – – – –1980"S-Beat" – – - – –S-Beat"Heartbreaker" – –4 – –1981"Try It Out" – 103 1 22 –Closer"Hold Tight" – – – –1982"It's Alright" – 108 2 60 –Face to Face"Remember" – – - – –"You Move Me" – – - – –1983"Get It Up" – – – – –1984"Turn It Around" – – 20 – –Remember"Out of My Life" – – – – –1985"Human Nature" – – 50 – –"Temptation Eyes" – – – – –1986"Magic" – – – – –1988"Love the One You're With" 79 – – – – "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.