NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Nashville Film Festival is officially underway, and with it comes a visit from the singer of one of the most iconic hits of the 70s. Nashville now plays an important role in that singer's story.
Outside the Belcourt on Thursday night, actors Patricia Heaton and Jason Marsden took pictures on the red carpet as faces known from long careers in entertainment.
Then arrived Gloria Gaynor, the voice behind a song the world knows from those first iconic notes.
The story behind I Will Survive is practically music legend at this point. The song was originally a b-side, the other side of the song expected to be the big hit. However, Gloria knew from the beginning I Will Survive was something special. Following a serious injury from an on-stage fall, Gloria recorded the song in a back-brace. She channeled the pain from it into her vocal.
"The song celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit," Gloria said. "That's gotta touch everyone who's living."
In 2015, Gloria arrived to Nashville's Music Row.
"It's become a part of my story in that it's become a part of my life," she said of Nashville.
She was here to record a gospel album to be titled Testimony. Documenting it all was filmmaker Betsy Schechter.
"Something magical happened in that first recording, and I said, 'let's see where this goes,'" Betsy said.
"No matter what genre people pigeonholed my music into, it is always going to be uplifting, inspiring, encouraging people, in the issues of life, the things that concern them in life from God's point of view," said Gloria.
Through following Gloria all over the world, what Betsy saw firsthand was a woman who was unstoppable despite the chronic pain from that onstage fall. She also saw the boundless appeal of a seminal song of disco.
"Her dedication to that song, feeling like it's a gift, she really does know every time she sings it, somebody's going to be touched by it," said Betsy.
"That's what I thought about even when I first heard the lyrics," said Gloria. "Everybody is going to be able to relate to this song. Whatever it is that they're going through at any given moment, they feel is insurmountable and yet they'll survive."
Gloria's return to middle Tennessee for the Nashville Film Festival was to premiere the film started in Nashville eight years ago.
The film is called Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive.
"As we told it, we all, who worked on the film, it changed our lives," Betsy said. "She deserves to be celebrated for her work as an artist and her work as a person."
"It has been so fulfilling," Gloria continued. "It has added more meaning and more purpose to my life. In the process of getting the album and then getting the film done, I've got more means of inspiration and more means of equipping and empowering, inspiring people to be their best."
Expect to see Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive in theaters soon. Gloria also said she has a new fragrance on the way. It's called Survive.
