#RICK DEES DISCO DUCK SERIES#
#RICK DEES DISCO DUCK TV#

Billboard Top 10 Singles Charts, 1955-2000. New York, New York: Billboard Publications. The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, 3rd Edition. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. West Germany ( Official German Charts) Īll-time charts Chart (1958-2018)

#RICK DEES DISCO DUCK SERIES#

Irwin the Disco Duck, also called Irwin the Dynamic Duck, a fictional character who was featured on a series of children's records from Peter Pan Records, was inspired by this record. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack has now currently sold 40 million copies worldwide, and is the second best-selling soundtrack of all time. According to Dees, his manager at the time made the extremely unwise decision to deny use of the song on the film's soundtrack album because of fears that it would compete with sales of Dees's own record. As it stands, Dees could have made an even more substantial amount of money from the song. It was also featured in a deleted scene added to the PG-rated version. 'Disco Duck' made an appearance in the film Saturday Night Fever, in a dance club scene in which a group of senior citizens were learning to dance disco-style. But when Dees appeared on The Midnight Special and went on a live tour along the East Coast, he hired a band, backing singers and a commercial artist, Michael Chesney, to perform the duck vocals, and they did everything live. This appearance was never seen in the Memphis area due to then-ABC affiliate WHBQ-TV pre-empting Bandstand for wrestling at the time and for the aforementioned Memphis radio avoidance reasons. On American Bandstand (and similar shows), Dees lip-synched to the recording, alone on stage with puppeteer Rickey Provow animating a duck puppet that he had made.

#RICK DEES DISCO DUCK TV#

īy the time 'Disco Duck' had become a hit, Dees and his 'Idiots' started making the rounds of the popular TV music shows to promote the record. After a brief mandatory hiatus, Dees was hired on at WMPS' primary competition, WHBQ, who gave him permission to play his song. When Dees merely mentioned the song on his show one morning, WMPS management fired him citing conflict of interest. įor all its success, 'Disco Duck' got very little airplay in Memphis, including at WMPS, the station Dees worked for at the time Dees was forbidden by station management to play the record on his own show, and rival stations refused to play it for fear of promoting the competition. On the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, it peaked at number one on October 16, 1976, for one week, held the number-two spot for the following four weeks and remained in the Top 10 for a total of 10 weeks. 'Disco Duck' became a nationwide hit in the United States by September 1976. He even parodies Yakky's signature phrase, 'Are you my mama?', saying 'I've got to have me a mama!' Response and impact In fact, the voice emulates that of Yakky Doodle, a Hanna-Barbera animated duck who appeared on TV in 19 and was still seen regularly on afternoon TV cartoon shows in the late 1970s.

For the live tour, the duck vocals were handled by Michael Chesney, another acquaintance of Dees. The voice of the duck was performed by Ken Pruitt, an acquaintance of Dees, as stated on the label of the RSO release.

( March 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī misconception about 'Disco Duck' is that the voice of the duck was provided by Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck in many Walt Disney cartoons, but on several occasions the Disney Company maintained that Nash never contributed to the record. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. The song earned a 1977 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Song. 'Disco Duck' was initially released in the south by Estelle Axton's Fretone label, but it was later released by RSO Records for national and international distribution. It also made the top 20 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, peaking at number 15. It became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week in October 1976 (and ranked #97 out of the 100 most popular songs of the year according to Billboard magazine). At the time, Dees was a Memphis disc jockey. ' Disco Duck' is a satirical disco novelty song performed by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots. Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots singles chronology

1976 single by Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots 'Disco Duck'

Rick dees disco duck