Alicia Bridges

Today we celebrate an out lesbian artist who only had one big hit - but that hit is one of the most iconic Disco songs ever.

Alicia Bridges was born in Charlotte North Carolina. She grew up in the nearby rural hamlet of Lawndale, NC. Alicia began to write songs and play guitar at the age of ten when her dad Myles Bridges taught her to strum her first chords on his Gibson tenor guitar. At 12, she launched her own radio program in Shelby, NC on station WADA. "The Alicia Bridges Show” aired every Saturday morning, with Alicia at the control board, cueing records and accepting requests like a pro. 

At thirteen, Alicia performed with a popular North Carolina group, The Ray Ledford Band. As lead singer of rock band Zachary Ridge, she sang to the Love Generation and Flower Children of the early 70s. Alicia met southern publishing mogul, Bill Lowery of Atlanta and relocated from NC. In 76 Alicia Bridges and Susan Hutcheson partnered and began writing for Lowery. 

Scanning the top ten charts one weekend, Alicia noticed songs containing either ‘Boogie’ or ‘Disco’. Inspired, the writing team penned the now-famed, I Love The Nightlife.  Alicia recorded her Disco anthem in 1978. Her resounding “I Want Some Action” along with the song title “I Love The Nightlife” caught the spirit of the times. This empowering feminist anthem made the top 5 in the US and Canada and was also a big hit all over the world. The way Alicia pronounces the word "action" is a source of endless merriment. The girl should have been a movie director.

Laura Branigan sang the song live on German television and it was included on the very rare compilation album Gut Gestimmt in 1980:

In 1995 the song was released by the band Bronski Beat labeled I Luv The Nightlife:

Bridges' second single, Body Heat, was a rock song with strong electric guitar rhythms. It was a "rock/dance" song released at a time when there was some rivalry between disco fans and rock fans. In consequence, its chart fortunes suffered and it became only a minor hit:

Contrary to the impression created by her success with I Love the Nightlife, Alicia was primarily a singer of rock, blues, and love songs. In an interview, Bridges mentioned Elvis Presley as the singer who originally aroused her interest in rock music but she has always considered herself an R&B singer. She cited Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Patti Labelle as her 70's influences. She said that she didn't care for white female singers as a rule with the exception of Joni Mitchell and Janis Joplin. She complained that white women sounded like they were "sleepwalking" through their performances. "Yeah, I jump around a lot when I'm performing," she said.

Another song that stood out from her first album was Diamond In The Rough:

We Are One was a softer offering from Alicia, but as good:

Her sophomore album, Play It as It Lays (1979), features an impressive cast of session musicians, including the Tower of Power horns and background vocalists Rhodes-Chalmers-Rhodes. Bridges and writing partner Susan Hutcheson prove they are apt in a number of styles, ranging from the gutsy soul of Learned to Dance Too Soon to the fiery rock of What Would You Do if Your Heart Stopped Beating Tonight? The videos are geo-blocked for me, but perhaps not for you. This is the former:

... And this is the latter:

Here she is, in a mellow mood, in Cheap Affairs:

Meanwhile, tunes like Rex the Robot effectively blend disco elements with straight-ahead rock and funk ingredients:

Star Child is one of my favorite songs from this album:

This is the title track:

Finally, from this album, this is another good one, California Sunset:

Bridges tried to fit in with '80s rock trends on her independently released third album, Hocus Pocus (1984). Employing lots of synthesizers and various chant-like background voices, many numbers have interesting melodic elements. I could find no videos on youtube that aren't geo-blocked in my part of the world, but perhaps they'll work for you.

This is This Girl Don't Care:

This is Soul Twister:

... And this is Bullets Don't Talk:

In 1987 she released the EP Hungry Eyes. This is the title track:

Never straying far from her roots, she, along with her partner, Mary LeTellier founded Alicia Bridges Music. Together they released 3 albums, This Girl Don’t Care (2006), Say It Sister (2007), and FauxDiva XX (2008), which were essentially remastered and remixed compilations of her earlier songs.

Bridges is currently active in the music community as a producer and DJ. She had publicly come out as a lesbian during a 1998 interview for The Advocate. It's a pity she hasn't had more hits because she really has a good voice. Still, nobody will forget I Love The Nightlife anytime soon...