The Library of Congress is set to honor the disco era with a series of events from April 12 to May 6 with the highlight being a performance from Gloria Gaynor, popular worldwide due to her disco anthem “I Will Survive. ”  The celebration honors the impact of disco on American culture but fair to say its impact was felt in Italy as well where disco took over mainstream pop in the mid-70s.

Marcella Bella was credited with the first Italian disco hit with “Nessuno Mai” and later she even recorded a disco version of “Resta Cu’mme”.  Lucio Battisti incorporated the disco sound in his latest releases and Italian disco music from Raffaella Carrà and Umberto Tozzi even became world-wide hits.  A favorite of that era and one that still enjoys great popularity today in Italy, with two recent films inspired by its lyrics,  is “Se mi lasci non vale” from Latin crooner Julio Iglesias.   The hit, written by singer-songwriter Luciano Rossi and actually released and recorded first by Rossi, was also done in Spanish by Iglesias and later released in English by Canadian Patrick Norman (“Let’s Try Once Again”).