Gloria Gaynor Gloria Gaynor Gloria Gaynor (born September 7, 1949) is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (Hot 100 number 1, 1979), "Never Can Say Goodbye" (Hot 100 number 9, 1974), "Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (Hot 100 number 42, 1980) and "I Am What I Am" (R&B number 82, 1983). Gloria Fowles was born in 1949 in Newark, New Jersey, to Daniel Fowles and Queenie Mae Proctor. Her grandmother lived nearby and was involved in her upbringing. "There was always music in our house", Gaynor wrote in her autobiography, "I Will Survive".
Gloria Gaynor family was relatively poor, but Gaynor recalls the house being filled with laughter and happiness, and the dinner table being open to neighborhood friends. They moved to a housing project in 1960, where Gaynor went to South Side High School. "All through my young life I wanted to sing, although nobody in my family knew it", Gaynor wrote in her autobiography. Gaynor began singing in a night club in Newark, NJ., where she was recommended to a local band by a neighbor. After several years of performing in local clubs and along the Country's east coast Gaynor began her recording