Songoftheday 3/22/20 - I was afraid I was petrified, thinking I could never live without you by my side...
from the album I Will Survive (Doin' It My Way) (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #24 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9
Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Chantay Savage, who grew up in Chicago, before starting her music career first as a songwriter, penning CeCe Peniston's club hit "We Got A Love Thang" which went top 20 in America in 1992. That same year she was a featured singer on house music DJ Maurice Joshua's single "I Gotta Hold On U", which reached #19 on Billboard magazine's Dance Music Play chart. From that exposure, Savage was signed to RCA, releasing her first single "If You Believe" in 1993, which also appeared in the Parker Posey movie Party Girl, and placed her first minor R&B hit at #75. After her debut album Here We Go... was released, her next track "Betcha'll Never Find" went all the way into the R&B top-20 at #17, while scored Chantay her first pop hit at #70, and also getting on to the dance chart at #17. That was followed by "Don't Let It Go To Your Head", which peaked at #80 on the R&B list, while landing her biggest club hit at #14.
With this club success, it was a bit of a shock when Chantay returned in 1996 with the lead single from her sophomore effort. It was a remake of the disco classic "I Will Survive", made famous by Gloria Gaynor and written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. However Savage's treatment of the song changed the dancefloor banger into a ballad, giving new life into the classic...
Chantay's version of "I Will Survive" became her first and only top-40 pop hit in April of 1996. The song peaked up at #5 on Billboard's R&B chart, while the remixes of the song helped it go to #35 on the Dance Club Play tally. Internationally, the single even did bank in the UK, topping out at #12. However, that success didn't carry on, as the follow-up "Baby Drive Me Crazy" stiffed on all the charts. The I Will Survive (Doin' It My Own Way) album got to #14 on the R&B album charts, while lingering in the main Top 200 Albums list at #115 (her sole album placing here).
Savage came back in 1999 with a third album, This Time, but lead single "Come Around" stalled at #62 at R&B, her final charting hit so far.
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Even though the ballad version of Chantay's "I Will Survive" was what became big, there had to be dance remixes to the disco classic, like this one from Steve "Silk" Hurley...
..as well as a hip-hop inspired mix featuring rapper Common...
Up tomorrow: Some true romance from the resurrected Fab Four.
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