We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration, and the Power of Song

by Gloria Gaynor, Sue Carswell, Gloria Gaynor (Read by)

Overview

2015 Grammy nominee for Best Spoken-Word Album (in audio formats)

Gloria Gaynor’s #1 hit single “I Will Survive” debuted in 1978 to overwhelming success. Shortly thereafter, the single went double platinum and over three decades later still strikes a chord among men and women everywhere.

Over the years, the disco legend has received thousands of personal messages from adoring fans whose lives have been transformed by this timeless song. Their remarkable stories reveal that ”I Will Survive” has reached people from all walks of life and touched their lives in thousands of unique ways. From individuals triumphing over illness to those suffering from the painful loss of a loved one to others piecing their lives together after bearing witness to national tragedy, “I Will Survive” has become an emotional anthem for them and for millions of Gaynor’s adoring fans around the world.

In We Will Survive, Gloria shares forty of these inspirational, true stories about survivors of all kinds—individuals who have found comfort, hope, and courage through the power of this one song.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501273032
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	10/20/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Grammy Award-winning singer Gloria Gaynor took the music world by storm in the 1970s, striking platinum with her disco hit “I Will Survive.” “I Will Survive” was the only song to earn a Grammy for Best Disco Recording and was one of only twenty-five songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012. Gaynor has appeared on countless television and radio shows, received numerous national and international music and humanitarian awards, and continues to perform around the world for legions of fans. Her most requested song is, of course, “I Will Survive.”

Coauthor Sue Carswell is a reporter-researcher at Vanity Fair and has ghost-written numerous books. She is a former executive and senior editor at Random House Inc. and Simon and Schuster, a former story producer for Good Morning America, and correspondent for People magazine.

Grammy Award-winning singer Gloria Gaynor took the music world by storm in the 1970s, striking platinum with her disco hit "I Will Survive." "I Will Survive" was the only song to earn a Grammy for Best Disco Recording and was one of only twenty-five songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012. Gaynor has appeared on countless television and radio shows, received numerous national and international music and humanitarian awards, and continues to perform around the world for legions of fans. Her most requested song is, of course, "I Will Survive."

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2014
Iconic singer Gaynor and co-author Carswell (Faded Pictures from My Backyard) collect 40 powerful stories of perseverance over adversity in which the subjects credit the song "I Will Survive" for providing them strength and comfort. A mother recalls hearing the song at her lowest point in caring for her autistic son and a young woman made it her "daily mantra" while recovering from life-threatening injuries sustained in a car accident. Tendai Mwanaka shares his story as the sole survivor after soldiers killed his family and everyone else in his Zimbabwe village on suspicion of protecting rebel forces. Many evoke the lyrics directly in their stories, like Julie Carson, the mother of a man killed on 9/11, declaring, "I went into shock and could not move. It took all the strength I had not to fall apart." For others, the words brought the courage to leave an abusive spouse, like Juliette Summers who refers to Gaynor as her "Disco Doctor." Gaynor shares her own struggles, from growing up fatherless and a victim of sexual abuse to the loss of her sister after a violent attack. Carswell reflects on her stay at a psychiatric hospital and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Wide-ranging in context, these melancholic snippets of real life survival highlight the indomitable nature of the human spirit as well as the powerful ways art and music can affect our lives. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly