Alicia Bridges

Alicia Bridges is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and activist best known for her international hit “I Love The Nightlife (Disco Round)”. Bridges was writing songs at ten and hosting an AM radio show at twelve. In her teens, she was performing in local North Carolina rock bands. She released two singles under her own name in 1973.

In 1976, Bridges moved to Atlanta to write songs full time with her then-partner Susan Hutcheson for music publisher Bill Lowery (Brenda Lee, Billy Joe Royal, Atlanta Rhythm Section). Lowery assisted in the release of her debut album Alicia Bridges, which includes “I Love The Nightlife (Disco Round)” – a song written after Bridges had noticed one weekend that the words ‘boogie’ and ‘disco’ appeared in several titles in the US top 10.

“I Love The Nightlife (Disco Round)” was originally written as an R&B song, but since the subject of its lyrics were about going out to dance, Lowery had it remixed as a disco song and released it as the first single of her debut album. It became an international smash, reaching the top 40 in seven countries including a #5 peak in the US, sending the album to #33 there. Her second single “Body Heat” was a minor hit only in the US peaking at #86.

Her 1979 sophomore album Play It As It Lays and its two singles, “Rex The Robot” and the title track, did not chart. AVI Records released her 1981 single “If You Only Knew”. Bridges then asked Hutchenson to contact Olivia Records (known as a “women’s music” label with an agenda of “feminist solidarity and lesbian pride”). Olivia’s president July Dlugacz took interest and released her 1984 album Hocus Pocus on their new sister label Second Wave Records. Many of its songs drew inspiration from Bridges and Hutcheson’s personal relationship ending at the time. Its single “Under The Cover Of Darkness” was a minor dance club hit.

In 1987, Bridges released “Hungry Eyes”, written by producer Doug Johnson, then went largely silent into the 1990s. “I Love The Nightlife (Disco Round)“, however, did re-chart in the UK in 1994, reaching #61. In 1998, Bridges came out as lesbian, despite already feeling that "everybody knows it, don’t they?”

Bridges and her partner Mary LeTellier formed the label Alicia Bridges Music in 2006 and released three albums: This Girl Don’t Care in 2006, Say It Sister in 2007, and FauxDiva XX in 2008. Many of her earlier songs, including “Body Heat”, “Play It As It Lays”, “Under The Cover Of Darkness” and “I Love The Nightlife (Disco Round)” were re-recorded and included on them.