Shaun Keaveny devoted his Sounds of the 70s to disco on Sunday, marking the start of the station's Radio 2 Loves Disco season. Across two hours he mixed classic tracks with contributions from Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers and a special disco-themed My 70s from DJ and producer Dave Lee.
Rodgers shared memories of writing Chic's "Everybody Dance" between two live shows at Radio City Music Hall, and told the story of Sister Sledge's "We Are Family", explaining that Atlantic Records executives had first suggested he and Bernard Edwards work with the Rolling Stones or Bette Midler before they insisted on an unknown act instead. He also paid tribute to the late Heatwave and Michael Jackson songwriter Rod Temperton, recalling how "Boogie Nights" began as a fake jazz tune to fool a reluctant drummer.
Dave Lee, marking his career remixing artists from Diana Ross to the Pet Shop Boys, picked MFSB's "K-Jee", Shalamar's "Take That to the Bank" and Dusty Springfield's "That's the Kind of Love I've Got for You" for his My 70s segment.
Elsewhere, the show's This Week in Music feature marked the 1976 release of Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, including archive audio of Wonder discussing the album, and noted his upcoming 50th-anniversary UK tour beginning in Birmingham on 13 October. Listener Barbie from Worthing chose the Eagles' Hotel California as this week's classic 70s album, recalling seeing the band at Wembley Stadium in 1975. Keaveny also played the Hollies' little-known disco detour "Wiggle That Wotsit" and archive clips of Mick Jagger discussing record label frustrations.
Next week's My 70s guest will be Elvis Costello, discussing his debut album My Aim Is True.
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