Gibson Brothers ~ Cuba 1978 Disco Purrfection Version

The Brothers Gibson Chris, Alex and Patrick were born in Martinique, West Indies. They began playing music together and then moved to Paris, France where they recorded and released their first single, "Come To America" in 1976, then followed it up with "Non Stop Dance". Both songs were popular in European clubs and they toured there to support the releases. Having built a reputation, they released "Heaven" in 1977 and caught the attention of Henry Stone's Miami based TK Records label, who leased the track for the US. The following year they released "Cuba", a testosterone driven percussive latin disco funk song that took the rest of the world by storm, but somehow got passed over in the US. It sold four million copies and gained 14 gold records in that many countries. It did peak at #9 on the disco chart and #81 on the Hot 100 in early 1979. "Oooh What A Life" peaked at #48 in the fall abut they rebounded with the #5 disco hit "Que Sera Mi Vida" in the summer of 1980, spending 22 weeks on the survey, where "Cuba" had been listed at 19 weeks. They continue putting out albums about once a year and had another career high with the 1987 release of "Emily". From some accounts that LP was recorded in 1984, and had scattered release dates in 1984, 1985 and 1986. A 12" remixed version appeared in France and Canada in 1985. The brothers have soldiered on with sporadic original releases in 1996 and 2005. "Emily" was remastered as a double CD, with tons of bonus tracks in 2014. Listening to "Cuba" again puts me back right at the very moment I stepped into my first disco club in Quebec City in the winter of 1978 and this one came on. I can still smell the "Eau Sauvage" cologne amid the beer and sweat funk in my head. I was totally intoxicated with the sound of "Cuba", even before my first beer that night.