Patrick Cowley
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Patrick Joseph Cowley (October 19, 1950 - November 12, 1982) was an American disco and Hi-NRG dance music composer and recording artist. Besides Giorgio Moroder, he is frequently credited with pioneering electronic dance music.
Cowley only released three solo albums, but groups including the Pet Shop Boys and New Order cite Cowley's style as a major influence. He died from complications of AIDS on November 12, 1982.
Musical career
Cowley met San Francisco-based musician Sylvester in the late 1970s. Sylvester had asked Cowley to join his studio band after hearing some of his early synthesizer recordings. He played synthesizer on Sylvester's 1978 album Step II which included the hits "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" and "Dance (Disco Heat)". In addition he wrote "Stars" and "I Need Somebody To Love Tonight" from his 1979 album Stars. Cowley also joined Sylvester's live band and joined him on several world tours.
Cowley's own hits included "Menergy" in 1981, a frank celebration of the gay club scene, and "Megatron Man", which hit #1 and #2 respectively on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1981. That same year, Patrick Cowley became the DJ at the "Menergy" parties at The EndUp in San Francisco. He also wrote and produced the dance single "Right on Target" for San Francisco artist Paul Parker, which also reached #1 on the Billboard dance chart in 1982. A collaboration with Sylvester, "Do Ya Wanna Funk", made #4 on the Billboard dance chart that same year. Cowley also did a 15'45" long remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", which is now a collector's item. His final album, Mind Warp, was composed as he felt the increasing effects of HIV infection, and its songs reflect his increasing detachment from conventional reality as the disease progressed. Cowley only released three solo albums, but groups including the Pet Shop Boys and New Order cite Cowley's style as a major influence.
Cowley wrote and produced songs for several San Francisco musicians including friends Paul Parker and Frank Loverde. He was associated with many other musicians such as Kat Mandu, Maurice Tani and Linda Imperial.
Amid the concomitant emergence of nu-disco in the late 2000s and early 2010s, profiles of Cowley in Gawker and other high-profile outlets have contributed to a resurgence of interest in his oeuvre. 2009 saw the release of Catholic, a compilation of postpunk-flavored collaborations with writer/singer Jorge Socarras from 1976-1979. School Daze, a collection of electronic instrumentals (influenced by Giorgio Moroder, Isao Tomita, and Wendy Carlos) recorded between 1973 and 1981, was released by Dark Entries Records in 2013. The album contains several soundtrack cues from the eponymous gay porn film.
Discography
Albums:
- Menergy (1981)
- Megatron Man (1981)
- Mind Warp (1982)
Notable Singles:
- "Right On Target" by Paul Parker (1982)
- "Die Hard Lover" by Frank Loverde (1982)
- "Do You Wanna Funk" by Sylvester (1982)
