Gloria Gaynor has won her second career Grammy Award for her latest album, “Testimony.”
Accepting the award for best roots/gospel album, Gaynor noted that it has been 40 years since she won her last Grammy. She triumphed during the non-televised portion of the Grammy ceremony on Sunday afternoon.
Gaynor, 76, a Newark native, won her first Grammy in 1980 for the dance floor anthem “I Will Survive” in the best disco recording category. It was the first and last time the Grammys would offer the category.
“I want to first thank my lord and savior, Christ, Jesus, for the gifts, talents and abilities that I’ve been given with which to make the strides that I’ve made in my life and my career and to bring forth some music that tells of the mercy, the grace, the love, the faithfulness, the availability of God," Gaynor said in her acceptance speech.
“While sitting there, I was thinking to myself, we all think from time to time and say, ’Oh, that dress is to die for. That song is to die for. This is to die for.’ Well, I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to know that he thought I was to die for. He thought you were to die for. Think about that."
“Testimony,” released in June, reached No. 4 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart.
Gaynor’s Grammy moment isn’t over yet. She’s set to headline the 2020 Grammy Celebration afterparty at the Los Angeles Convention Center alongside Cheap Trick.
The New Jersey legend was also nominated for best gospel performance/song for “Talkin’ 'Bout Jesus," a song from the album.
“Talkin’ 'Bout Jesus," a song co-written by Gaynor, Bryan Fowler and Chris Stevens, features Yolanda Adams.
Gaynor, who was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005, was also inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2018. Her iconic hit “I Will Survive" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979.
Gaynor’s 1974 version of “Never Can Say Goodbye,” a song first recorded by The Jackson 5, reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Love Tracks,” Gaynor’s sixth studio album, released in 1978, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart.
“Let’s Make a Deal/I’ve Got You Under My Skin/Be Mine" hit No. 4 on the dance chart in 1976 and Gaynor’s “I Am What I Am" reached No. 3 as a dance track in 1983. Her music continued to top the dance chart in the aughts: “Just Keep Thinking About You" in 2001 and “I Never Knew” in 2002.
The singer-songwriter was last nominated for a Grammy in 2014, in the best spoken word album category, for “We Will Survive: True Stories Of Encouragement, Inspiration, And The Power Of Song.”
Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
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