Don Downing

Though Don Downing scored his only chart entry via the Memphis soul-tinged “Lonely Days, Lonely Nights,” which reached number 65 R&B in summer 1973, dance-music enthusiasts have long treasured him for “Doctor Boogie.” This pumping brassy number became a massive presence in disco clubs and entered the playlists of major-market stations in Chicago and beyond during 1978. Downing, a native of Texas, is the brother of singer Al Downing, whose double-sided Billboard-charting Chess Records single “I’ll Be Holding On” enjoyed national exposure. Written by Gary Knight and Gene Allan, “Doctor Boogie” was produced by Tony Bongiovi and guitarist Lance Quinn, received a dazzling arrangement by David Vanderpitte featuring cooing background vocals, punctuating horns, and swirling strings, and was co-engineered by Bob Clearmountain. The Doctor Boogie album enlisted top New York session players that included drummers Jimmy Young and Alan Schwartzberg, bassists Bob Babbitt and Wilbur Bascomb, guitarist Jeff Mironov, pianist Pat Rebillot, and percussionist Jimmy Maelan. Its vintage-’70s sleeve depicts Downing surrounded by two of three companions sporting huge Afros against a dark, silvery disco-club backdrop illuminated by multi-colored star-bursting floodlights. Another perennial favorite, “Dreamworld,” was arranged by Meco Monardo, who earned a platinum single under the name Meco for his cover of the Star Wars theme and who also worked on Gloria Gaynor’s “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “Casanova Brown” from her Experience LP as well as Carol Douglas’ “Doctor’s Orders.” The track appeared on RS International through New York distributor HOB Records. The 1998 Collectables CD Very Best of Don Downing: Dream World functions essentially as a compact-disc reissue of the Doctor Boogie LP.