ABBA

Arranger, conductor, producer and singer-songwriter who contributed the title song to the 1969 made-for-TV movie, Generation. In 1971, he scored a top-ten hit when Rare Earth recorded “I Just Want to Celebrate”; They also managed a minor hit with “Hey Big Brother”, co-written with Nick Zesses. The Four Tops and The Supremes got their fingers in the Fekaris catalogue, singing “You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart” on their 1971 collaboration, The Return of the Magnificent Seven.

In 1972, he co-produced the Rare Earth album Matrix with Tom Baird and Nick Zesses. Zesses and Fekaris co-penned “Mother Nature”, which was released as a single by The Temptations and appears on their 1972 album, All Directions. In 1973, another Fekaris-Zesses composition, “This Child Needs its Father”, was pressed into vinyl, on Neither One of Us, by Gladys Knight, and Law of the Land, by The Undisputed Truth.

Fekaris did triple duty on the 1974 zombie flick, Sugar Hill, arranging, composing, and conducting the music. He and Zesses co-produced and arranged material for Welcome to the World of Riot, a 1974 album that included a cover of the aforementioned “Mother Nature”. In 1978, he co-produced Stoney & Meatloaf with Ralph Terrana, Russ Terrana, Mike Valvano, and Nick Zesses.

Gloria Gaynor recorded a song they wrote called “I Will Survive”. It was issued in October of 1978 as the B side to “Substitute”. Savvy DJs flipped the record over, and “I Will Survive” was soon getting enough airplay that Polydor flipped the record over, re-releasing it with “I Will Survive” on the A side. It was a smart move by all parties involved, because it became a massive hit. Fekaris and Perren continued to work with Gloria Gaynor in 1979, co-producing and co-writing “Can’t Fight This Feeling”. It was a banner year for the songwriting duo: “I Will Survive” went to #1; Peaches & Herb recorded several of their songs, including the hits, “Reunited” and “Shake Your Groove Thing”; and, “I Will Survive” and “Reunited” were both nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards. They didn’t win, but “I Will Survive” won a Grammy in 1980 for Best Disco Recording, the only year such an award was given. The song has since been used in countless films and TV programs, and has become fodder for parody in cyberspace. It has been covered by rock groups such as Cake and R.E.M. and fictional characters such as Chicken Little and Frank the Pug in Men in Black II.

Fekaris and Perren were understandably unable to repeat their success. In the 1980s, Fekaris collaborated with Curtis Mayfield, co-writing songs and co-producing albums such as Love is the Place. He has continued to be active in the new millennium, co-writing “Supreme” with Guy Chambers, Freddie Perren, and Robbie Williams, who took it to #4 on the U.K. charts. In 2001, he received an inadvertent credit for Angie Stone’s recording of “Snowflakes”: The song features generous helpings of the Fekaris-Zesses song, “Let’s Make Love Now”. As of 2004, Fekaris was a Quarter Note member of the Society of Singers, Inc.

Billie Jo Spears recordings

I Will Survive (Dino Fekaris/Freddie Perren)

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