Her father played the ukulele and guitar and sang professionally in nightclubs with a group called Step 'n' Fetchit.

The family was relatively poor, but Gaynor recalls the house being filled with laughter and happiness, and the dinner table being open to neighborhood friends.

The album was instrumental in introducing disco music to the public, "Never Can Say Goodbye" becoming the first song to top Billboard magazine's dance chart.

It also marked her first significant chart success internationally, making it into the Top 5 in Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK.

However, in late 1978, with the release of her album Love Tracks, she climbed the pop charts again with her smash hit single "I Will Survive".

The lyrics of this song were written from the point of view of a woman, recently dumped, telling her former lover that she can cope without him and does not want anything more to do with him.

The A-side, a song called "Substitute", then a recent worldwide hit for South African girl-group Clout, was considered more "radio friendly".

As a disco number, the song was unique for its time by virtue of Gaynor's having no background singers or lush production.

And, unlike her first disco hits, the track was not pitched up to make it faster and to render Gaynor's recorded voice in a higher register than that in which she actually sang.

In late 1979, she released the album I Have a Right which contained her next disco hit, "Let Me Know (I Have a Right)", which featured Doc Severinsen of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson fame, playing a trumpet solo.

The album's singles barely registered on urban contemporary radio, where disco music remained popular.

In 1982, having looked into a wide variety of faiths and religious movements,[14][15] she became a Christian and began to distance herself from a past she considered to be sinful.

During the late 1990s, she dabbled in acting for a while, guest-starring on The Wayans Bros, That '70s Show (singing "I Will Survive"), and Ally McBeal, before doing a limited engagement performance in Broadway's Smokey Joe's Cafe.

In late 2002, Gaynor appeared with R&B stars on the "Rhythm, Love, and Soul" edition of the PBS series American Soundtrack.

Her performance of the disco hit "I Will Survive" and new single "I Never Knew" was included on the accompanying live album that was released in 2004.

Forty years after its release, Gaynor continues to ride the success of "I Will Survive", touring the country and the world over and performing her signature song on dozens of TV shows.

[21] In 2017, she made a cameo appearance as a flight attendant in a Capital One commercial, while Samuel L. Jackson, Charles Barkley, and Spike Lee sang "I Will Survive".

[24] In December 2019, "I Will Survive" trended on TikTok and Gaynor performed the dance[25] at the LifeMinute TV[26] studios in Times Square, NY.

[30] In 2022, Gaynor competed in season eight of The Masked Singer as "Mermaid" who rode around on a giant clam-like vehicle that the Men in Black had to push around.

After being eliminated on "Andrew Lloyd Webber Night" alongside Mario Cantone as "Maize", Gaynor did her encore performance of "I Will Survive".