First tell me how you first came upon the Philly recording sound.

Well, you know I was recalling in Paris, France and buying a lot of records and suddenly I found a record "TSOP" in a record store, listened to it, the sound was fantastic. That's the way it was.

Did you hear any Philly sound records when you were going to the clubs to hear what was being played?

Yes, in 1973 in Paris, France, the DJs started play some records from Philadelphia. And we were wondering from where it was coming. We didn't know. See, until I bought that record and find out that it was from Philadelphia and recorded at the Sigma Sound Studio.

What did you think then?

Well, obviously I loved that sound. And I really promised myself next time I have an occasion to go to America and do a recording there I will do it in Philadelphia. So I went to Sigma Sound with a lot of projects in my mind.

What was it that made you think you could do it too?

Well, perhaps the magic. You know, when you hear to the Philly sound, you feel something really human, alive, a strong heart, energy. So I felt that with my enthusiasm and some of the ideas I had, going to Philadelphia and recording at Sigma Sound Studio perhaps will bring me a hit. And you know we're always dreaming in our business.

What kind of reception did you get when you first arrived here?

Well, mixed, warm, because the Philly people are nice and warm. Strange because that was the first time I think they saw a French guy come in to record in that studio. And they asked me what the hell I wanted? So with my heavy French accent, I said, well, I would like to do a recording. And that's it.

What was it like when you first got to the studio?

Well, I wanted to have exactly the same musicians that were playing on the sound of Philadelphia, the production of Gamble and Huff. So I knew the names in advance. I know that Earl Young was the best drummer, that Ronnie Baker was playing bass, that Bob Eli was playing guitar, Norman Harris too, the strings Don Renaldo, the vibes of Vince Montana and so on and so forth. So I wanted those people. Well, and they didn't know me. So I had to show my money. So they should, so they are sure to get paid. And also, and also it was a strange idea. I have to tell you that I wanted to record "Brazil", that old Brazilian song with Philly, with Philly in it. And at the beginning I didn't understand exactly what I wanted to do.

What was it that you really had this whole combination that you thought was going to work. If you could just tell me what this winning combination was.

Well, working there I learned, watching the people working I learned too, and what I discovered was really fantastic for me coming from Europe. I discovered what black musicians working hand in hand with Italian musicians, strings, and Jewish musicians like Bobby Eli playing guitars, Frankie also and so on. For me it was really a strange world. I saw that America was really, I had the America. And in Philadelphia I discovered really a melting pot. And the feeling of all those people working and playing together with love and devotion, uh, I was really thrilled. And you can feel it in the recordings. The strings are playing really with their heart. Earl Young, when he hit that drum, he hit hard and he loved it.

What's so special about Earl Young?

Well, in France at that time we were calling it the pst, pst. So when I arrived in Philadelphia and I explained to him exactly what I wanted because my English again was not so good. And he said what do you want? I said, well, uh, I want that psh, psh. He says, oh, you want that psh, psh, I will give it to you.

If you could just tell me how strange it was to see all this motley group of musicians.

Well, Richard Rome, the engineer introduced me to all of them. And suddenly I saw all those people from different origins for me just coming from Europe together playing the same type of music and I was so surprised. Earl Young, big tall guy, hitting hard the drums. Ronnie Baker, playing bass. Bobby Eli, already a little fat, playing that guitar, okay? Vince Montana the vibraphone and so and so, and they were all excited and playing with a lot of energy, and you know, a lot of love. God, they loved what they were doing, they loved that.

Now tell me how you got, how the Richard Rome thing came together.

I had the idea for rerecording "Brazil" with the Philly sound, but I was missing the artist. So I asked Joe Tarsia, the owner and chief engineer of Sigma Sound about an arranger. He advised me to use Richard Rome. Richard Rome introduced me to three beautiful black girls, and we called them Ritchie Family. We did an audition, they sang perfectly well, and they had the deal, and they recorded on the tracks "Brazil".

Did they all agree with your idea about doing "Brazil"?

Well, doing "Brazil" was really a strange idea. All of them looked at me and they said, you're crazy man. I said, no I'm not crazy. I would like really to record "Brazil", the old Brazilian song with the Philly sound. They all laughed. But we went to the studio and we started rehearsing the rhythm track. And the energy was so strong, they started to tell me, well, the idea perhaps is not so bad. Let me tell you that 15 minutes later they told me the idea is definitely good. And good it was.

As you were listening, looking for the next thing, where was it that you heard the best dance music?

In New York, in the clubs?

Well, I heard the best dance music in New York in the gay clubs, and also in the club called Studio 54, it was completely crazy, crazy nights. But I have to say the best DJs were playing in gay clubs. Saturday night parties were incredible. The key dance party of Fire Island in the afternoon, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon were incredible. Good music, good vibes, excitement, love, care, no problem.

What was the music like?

Disco, purely disco. Heavy bass drum, boom, boom, boom, and again the pisht-pisht. Nice strings arrangement, horns, and very good singers, with a hook in the lyrics. But a lot of excitement. DJs, a real instrument, no synthesizers at that time, all live musicians and live recordings.

You had told me when we spoke on the phone a few months ago that this really was a happy, upbeat period. If you could just tell me what it was like going to the discos at that time.

Everyone, you know at that time it was really a happy period. Everyone was dressing especially to go to the discos. Everyone was really there to dance and enjoy, and you felt it. No problem. The only problem was to get into the disco at the door. So we were all waiting on line for a chance to get in or get out. But when you get in, you just, you just discover a fantastic, fantastic feeling inside the disco at that time. Lighting, and it was also very new for us, all of us. We were young, we were happy, and well, it was a special period, those disco years.

You talk about getting dressed. How did you dress? What types of things did you wear?

Well, not like "Saturday Night Fever" became after. Fancy. Dress the way you are, you want, with some extravaganza, fancy, but if you don't want to dress, you just come as you are, jeans, boots, and that's it. But in general people were dressing fancy. Glitter, makeup, even for men sometime, very strange feeling. Like a little of the carnival of Rio sometime.

I want to ask you again, when did you come to Philadelphia?

Well, you know, I was listening to a lot of music in Paris, France, and I become exposed to the Philadelphia sound. One day I was buying a record, I bought a record called "TSOP". I put it on my turntable, I heard it, and God, it was something incredible. The drums, the sound of the strings, I really felt in love immediately, and I said to myself, Henri, if one day you dream, you don't dream, if one day you go to America and you do a recording, you're going to do it there in Philadelphia at Sigma Sound.

What was it like when you first got to Sigma Sound? How’d they treat you?

I called from New York, Sigma Sound, and I had a girl, nice girl. Well, I told her, listen, I would like to book a studio with my French accent. And she said, who are you. I said, well, I'm from Paris, France. I would like to record in your studio. She said just a second, so she put someone on the line, Joe Tarsia, the owner of Sigma Sound. And I have to say we became immediately friends. He's Italian, I'm French, half Italian, so we got along. And next week here I am at Sigma Sound. First thing at the entrance is the sign, Sigma Sound. God, I dreamed so much about it, I looked at it and said, here I am. I entered in that studio like if I was entering in a church. Here I am. The sense of, marvelous. Went to the studio and I told them I would like to book some recording sessions but I need the artists, the musicians, and the arranger, everything. They told me, okay, do you have an idea of what you would like to record. I said, yes. I would like to record "Brazil". They look at me, they say "Brazil", the old Brazilian song of 1945, Carmen Miranda movies, I said yes. You want to record "Brazil" with the Philly sound. I said, yes sir. He said, well, as long as you pay, we're going to serve you. So there you are, trying to convince everyone that the young French producer had a nice idea. Found an arranger called Richard Rome. Richard Rome was and is still I hope an Italian arranger, fantastic sense of the melody and writing very well for the strings. And Richard was very nice with me. He introduced me to three fantastic, good looking girls, the Ritchie Family. Three black girls, mmm, Bertha, Cassandra, Cheri and hello. And I told them I would like you to sing on "Brazil". They say, well, as long as you pay us we will sing on everything you want. But I have to tell you everybody was laughing at the beginning. But when we started to record the rhythm track and everyone started to get really into it, and Bobby Eli got that guitar, and Norman Harris to answer to Bobby Eli and Baker to hit that bass, magic was coming, and everyone started to believe in it. And you know what, we do. So we recorded the rhythm track. And after that Richard Rome wrote the arrangements for the strings, we called in Don Renaldo, the famous string conductor, 25 strings here in Sigma Sound, 22 horns, and everyone was swinging and playing "Brazil". At the end of the recording session I have to say that was the first time in my life I had a standing ovation. And for a young French producer coming all the way from Paris, France to Philadelphia to get the standing ovation from all those musicians, I was dreaming about playing with them and working with them, it was definitely something.

Tell me again about that special sound that Earl... What was that sound like? It sounded like a trademark sound.

You know, mainly I wanted to do a record for the dance. And to be played by the DJs in the club, you need really a strong rhythm. You need a bass drum, boom, boom, boom, steady. And with the bass drum, a snare doing psst, psst, psst, psst. And Earl Young for me was know as the psst-psst man. And he had a fantastic bass drum, and he was capable and able to play more than ten minutes without a hitch. Always in tempo, always in time. He was really like a train, a train. And uh, but he was also difficult, Earl Young. He was telling me, I will be there at 10 a.m. He would not come in before noon. And everyone was waiting for me. We knew it, we knew it, so, that was the price to pay. But he was a fantastic musician and I hope he still is a fantastic musician.

So here I am living in New York but recording in Philadelphia. And in New York, those days, let me tell you that the dancing was extraordinary. Everyone, everyone was getting ready for the famous Saturday nights, lined up in front of the discos, Studio 54, God, we are so scared not to get in waiting on line. And inside, the best DJs. The best DJs, best dance, best disco music. Aside from the Studio 54, almost all the gay clubs of New York had the best DJs. The music there was incredible. And I remember especially one of them, Donna Summer was "I Love To Love You Baby". It was something. The first time you heard that in a disco, everyone freaked out. It was something so new. And for the first time I see in a recording, the producer used synthesizer. The producer, he was also a European, Giorgio Moroder, from Germany. And Donna had a voice, and still, still has a fantastic voice. So "I Love To Love You Baby", the "Disco Night," the gay club, the best DJs, New York was something incredible. But not only New York. During the weekend, to keep on dancing, we used to go to the Fire Island on Long Island. And there tea time, the tea party time, 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon, 2000 people dancing, and again the best DJs in the world, the DJs from New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, from everywhere they were coming to Fire Island and they were playing that fantastic music. And you know what? Walking in the streets of New York one day, especially down in the Village, that reminded of [French] in Paris, France, I saw all those characters, those males characters, you know, a cowboy, an Indian, a construction worker, and I said to myself, my God, the American male meets for us the European. Where I am, at the village, in the village, and I say, why I don't form a group called the Village People. And my partner Jacques Morali was walking with me too. So we started immediately to think about that idea and we started to write the songs that would be in the first album of the Village People. So I took you to the Village People, huh?

You know, I was so much into dance music that I went to New York, to San Francisco, to Fire Island, to all those places where they were playing dance music. And to write the songs for the first Village People album, I said to myself and Jacques Morali together, we said, why don't we write songs about all those places, those gay places where the dance and the discos are incredible, and the DJs are incredible. So we wrote the song called "San Francisco", another one called "In Hollywood", another one called "Fire Island" and a song called "Village People". And here we are recording the first Village People album called "San Francisco." It was fantastic. One million albums in three months. The Village People fame was there. Yes?

Tell me about "YMCA".

So we were looking for an idea and we were walking down the streets of New York, and we saw that sign "YMCA". So I asked someone what does this mean. He said, Young Man Christian Association. And I say, YMCA, what a nice idea. So we went back and wrote a song called "YMCA." "Young man, there's no need to feel down." We gave the song to the radio and let me tell you something, in two weeks, it was all over America, and not only all over America, all over the world. Well, I don't like to give figures but roughly 20 million copies sold. Not too bad.

But did you get any flack about "YMCA" about the gay connotation.

Well, you know, around the Village People, around, because we wrote the first song, "Fire Island" things like this, we always had those talks and the controversy about gay, not being gay. Believe me, personally, I didn't give a damn. I'm for the free speech and the free behavior. But yes, we had a lot of question about "YMCA" is a gay song, we say, well, "YMCA" is not a gay song. "YMCA" is only song dealing with happiness, and the fact that you are young, okay, and you are alone in New York, you don't know where to go, you go to the YMCA. But you know, in "YMCA" at least, or at last, everyone saw what he wanted to see into it. That's it. Tell me your dreams, give me your fantasy and I will tell you what really "YMCA" is. Personally, I believe it was only a great song, and fun, fun. But here you are with a fantastic success and you have to think about the future. And again the streets of New York are very spirited. We are walking down the street.