Pattie Brooks - Casablanca Records Career

Casablanca Records Career

In the mid-1970s Brooks came to the attention of disco producer Simon Soussain and her solo recording career was born. Her first of four albums on the Casablanca label was 1977's Love Shook (the album was credited as Pattie Brooks & The Simon Orchestra), and the whole album peaked at #2 on the US Dance Chart. Pattie remained with Soussain and in 1978 recorded her biggest club hit, "After Dark". This was selected to be part of the soundtrack to the film Thank God It's Friday and as the soundtrack topped the club play charts, Pattie's contribution was up there with friend and stablemate Donna Summer's "Last Dance" as the most celebrated tracks. "After Dark" was the mainstay of Pattie's second album (now with sole billing) Our Ms Brooks. In 1979 Pattie moved away from Soussain as her third album Party Girl was produced by Bunny Sigler of Instant Funk and Salsoul fame. The result was a far more varied album that encompassed funk, pop and a big ballad as well as pure disco. While the album spawned no huge singles it did include "Got Tu Go Disco", the title song from a notorious Broadway flop musical. In 1979 Pattie branched out from disco by singing "Close Enough For Love", the title song to the Vanessa Redgrave movie Agatha. By 1980 the disco backlash had taken effect in the USA, and Pattie's fourth and last Casablanca offering Pattie Brooks was very much a pop-soul affair, produced this time by Michael Smith. No hits were forthcoming and Pattie left Casablanca.