The first single ever certified platinum by the RIAA was not by Elvis, the Beatles, or Michael Jackson. It was Disco Lady, the 1976 hit by Johnnie Taylor, a gospel-trained soul singer from Crawfordsville, Arkansas. This deep dive explores how Taylor shapeshifted through gospel, rhythm and blues, Southern soul, and disco while surviving the deaths of his mentors and the collapse of the labels he recorded for.

We follow him from the Highway QCs and replacing Sam Cooke in the Soul Stirrers in 1957 to signing with Cooke's SAR Records, the label's collapse after Cooke's 1964 death, and his arrival at Stax in 1966. We explain how a distribution contract cost Stax its master recordings after Otis Redding died, and how hits like Who's Making Love helped keep the company afloat. The story continues through Columbia, the 1984 signing with Malaco Reco ...