He's the Greatest Dancer

"He's the Greatest Dancer" is a 1979 song by the American vocal group Sister Sledge. Released on February 3, 1979, the song was written and composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, and recorded for the group's successful 1979 album We Are Family. Billboard named the song No. 66 on its list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time."[1]

"He's the Greatest Dancer"
Italian 7-inch single
Single by Sister Sledge
from the album We Are Family
B-side"Somebody Loves Me"
ReleasedFebruary 3, 1979
Recorded1978
StudioPower Station
New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre
Length3:31 (Single Version)
6:16 (Album Version)
LabelCotillion
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Bernard Edwards
  • Nile Rodgers
Sister Sledge singles chronology
"I've Seen Better Days"
(1978)		 "He's the Greatest Dancer"
(1979)		 "We Are Family"
(1979)

Background

The song was released as the lead single from the album at the beginning of 1979, crossing over from the clubs – its 12″ version was shared by the "We Are Family" and "Lost in Music" tracks – to R&B radio, giving Sister Sledge a number one hit on both Billboard's Dance and R&B charts in March 1979. The song reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in May. It might have risen higher except that, in the same month, Atlantic Records, prompted by the overwhelming club response to "We Are Family," sent the last-named track to radio. The song was also a hit in Australia (No. 5), the Netherlands (No. 1) and the UK (No. 6).

"He's the Greatest Dancer" was sampled by Will Smith in his 1997 number one hit single "Gettin' Jiggy wit It," the first selection he released from his album Big Willie Style.[2] In 2000, DJ Tony Touch recorded a version of the song, entitled "I Wonder Why? (He's the Greatest DJ)," whose lyrics were sung by Keisha Spivey and Pam Long of R&B girl group Total. The song was recorded and released by Dannii Minogue in 2007 and was an international Top 40 hit; it was also sampled by a Russian pop group Hi-Fi in their 1999 song "Pro Leto" (Про лето, translated as "About Summer"). Robert Hood released a techno track based on the hook of this song on his label M-Plant. Nick Holder sampled the song on his 1997 album One Night in the Disco.

Lyrics and music

The lyrics were written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers and contains rhymes such as:

Arrogance, but not conceit
As a man, he's complete
...
He wears the finest clothes, the best designers heaven knows, from his head down to his toes... Halston, Gucci,
Fiorucci

Nile Rodgers has speculated that this may have been the first occurrence of the later-widespread phenomenon of brands being mentioned in songs.[3][4] The recording features Rodgers on guitar, Edwards on bass, Tony Thompson on percussion, Raymond Jones on backing keyboards, and orchestration by Gene Orloff's Chic Strings.[5]

Production

Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, who produced the We Are Family album for Sister Sledge, originally formulated all its songs with the group in mind, envisioning the title selection as the lead single. When Atlantic Records wanted a more overtly disco song Edwards and Rodgers gave Sister Sledge "He's The Greatest Dancer," which they had originally intended for Chic.

Nile Rodgers recalled the Sister Sledge members being "furious" at being asked to sing the lyric "My crème de la crème please take me home" – "to them that [line] made them seem like loose women" – and that they suggested a lyric adjustment to "My crème de la crème, please don't go home." Rodgers says he and Edwards refused to change the lyric "because we knew the world that we were writing about obviously more than [Sister Sledge] did because they had never even been in a disco...He ain't going to go home because [he is] the greatest dancer...he's gonna stay there longer than you."[5] Rodgers later described his and Edwards's approach with Sister Sledge as one of "sing this," and admitted to "misrepresenting" them because Rodgers and Edwards had not even met Sister Sledge before the sessions.[4]

Kathy Sledge performed lead vocals on the single.

Usage in media

The song was featured in the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, being performed by contestants Jessica Wild and Tatianna in a "lipsync for your life".

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Dannii Minogue version
"He's the Greatest Dancer"
Single by Dannii Minogue
from the album Club Disco
ReleasedDecember 2006 (2006-12) (UK)
April 14, 2007 (2007-04-14) (Australia)
Recorded2006
GenreElectropop[27]
Length3:05
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Bernard Edwards
  • Nile Rodgers
Producer(s)Lee Monteverde
Dannii Minogue singles chronology
"I Can't Sleep at Night"
(2007)		 "He's the Greatest Dancer"
(2006)		 "Touch Me Like That"
(2007)

“He's the Greatest Dancer” is a cover version of the Sister Sledge song performed by Australian singer Dannii Minogue. In November 2006, Minogue performed the song on BBC One's Children in Need telethon. Later that month a studio version of the song, remixed by Fugitive, appeared on the dance compilation Clubland 10. Though the selection was recorded as the charity single for that year's Children in Need, it was dropped when Minogue pulled out of Strictly Come Dancing to work on rival TV show The X Factor. The single was replaced in favour of a cover of "Downtown" former Spice Girl Emma Bunton had performed. In December 2006, the track was released to dance clubs in the United Kingdom. It was commercially released in Australia by Central Station Records on April 14, 2007.

Chart performance

"He's the Greatest Dancer" reached number one on the UK Upfront Club Chart in December 2006 and became Minogue's eleventh club number one in the country.[28] The track also reached number one on the Commercial Pop Chart.[29] In Australia, "He's The Greatest Dancer" entered the singles chart on April 29, 2007 at number thirty-seven, and remained on the chart for two weeks.[30] The track was more successful in Spain, where it reached number nine fourteen weeks after its debut.[31]

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "He's the Greatest Dancer".

Australian CD single
(CSRCD50532; Released April 14, 2007)

  1. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (LMC edit) – 3:05
  2. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (LMC extended) – 5:55
  3. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (Chris Lake remix) – 6:29
  4. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (Shapeshifters remix) – 5:41
  5. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (Kenny Hayes Dub Addiction remix) – 5:49
  6. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (Riffs & Rays mix) – 8:19
  7. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (Sebastien Leger Electro Vocal mix) – 8:51
  8. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (Fugitive Club mix) – 5:20

Official remixes[32]

  1. "He's the Greatest Dancer" (Sebastien Leger Electro Dub mix)

Charts
Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[30] 37
Spanish Singles Chart[31] 9
UK Upfront Club Chart 1

Notes
  1. "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  2. "Sampling Nile: Five tracks that wouldn't be the same without him". GoThinkBig. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  3. Stoute, Steve (2011-09-08). The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-52911-9.
  4. "Nile Rodgers interviewed by Peter Paphides". Twentyfirstcenturymusic.blogspot.com. November 10, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  5. Peter Shapiro (2006), Turn the Beat Around, p. 169, ISBN 9780865479524
  6. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 276. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. "Sister Sledge – He's the Greatest Dancer" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  8. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 4745a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  9. "Top RPM Dance/Urban: Issue 4763." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  10. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – He's the Greatest Dancer". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  11. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Sister Sledge" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  12. "Sister Sledge – He's the Greatest Dancer" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  13. "Sister Sledge – He's the Greatest Dancer". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  14. "Sister Sledge: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  15. "Sister Sledge Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  16. "Sister Sledge Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  17. "Sister Sledge Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  18. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending May 12, 1979". Cash Box. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  19. "The Cash Box Top 100 Black Contemporary – Week ending March 31, 1979". Cash Box. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  20. "1979 Top 200 Singles". RPM. Vol. 32, no. 13. December 22, 1979. ISSN 0315-5994 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  21. "Hot 100 Songs – Year-End 1979". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 4, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  22. "Top Disco of the Year – Top Audience Response Singles/LPs". Billboard. Vol. 91, no. 51. December 22, 1979. p. TIA-42. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
  23. "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – Year-End 1979". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  24. "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1979 – Top 100 Pop Singles". Cash Box. December 29, 1979. Archived from the original on January 25, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  25. "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1979 – Top 100 Black Contemporary Singles". Cash Box. December 29, 1979. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  26. "British single certifications – Sister Sledge – He's the Greatest Dancer". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  27. O'Brien, Jon. "Club Disco - Dannii Minogue". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022. Away from the singles, the nods to the old-skool continue with a pulsing electro-pop reworking of Sister Sledge's "He's the Greatest Dancer"...
  28. "Number One...Again!" Archived 2009-07-03 at the Wayback Machine. DanniiMusic.com. December 21, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  29. ""He's The Greatest Dancer" Release Advertisement". Central Station Records. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
  30. "Discography Dannii Minogue". Australian-Charts.com. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  31. "Spanish Top 20 Singles Chart". ProMusicAE.org. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  32. "He's The Greatest Dancer Remixes". DanniiMusic.com. Retrieved November 30, 2007.

References
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