July 13, 1974 - George McCrae started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Rock Your Baby', his only US No.1, also No.1 in the UK. Regarded by some as the first Disco No.1. It was a New York City club hit first. Written and produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, "Rock Your Baby" was one of the landmark recordings of early disco music. Having sold 11 million copies, it is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide. The backing track for the record had been recorded in 45 minutes as a demo, and featured guitarist Jerome Smith of KC and the Sunshine Band. The track was not originally intended for McCrae, but he happened to be in the studio, added a vocal, and the resultant combination of infectious rhythm and falsetto vocals made it a hit. Casey and Finch worked for T.K. Records, which was a distributor and a studio, complete with a house band that would become KC & The Sunshine Band. 'Rock Your Baby' became born unto this crazy drum machine that was inside of this Lowry organ. I used to use that as a tempo map, and I would play along with the drum machine. Then we would build on that. We had a 1” 8-track machine and I had a cheap Japanese bass. We were just recording and recording. One night, this one track came out like better than anything else. It was like God was in the building or something - we had been blessed. We knew to build on that track. There were a bunch of records coming out at that point. Hues Corporation had 'Rock The Boat,' and Harry and I were also paying attention to the clubs because club records, according to Henry’s direction, were doing better than just regular R&B Records. Harry and I would sneak into the local Miami clubs and we’d pay attention to what brought the people to the dance floor, and what made them sit down. So we started gearing ourselves to writing more in that direction. 'Rock Your Baby' was inspired by the gathering of all that information." #georgemccrae #thisdayinmusic #1974 #1970s #disco #harrywaynecasey #richardfinch #kcandthesunshineband