Alec R. Costandinos

Alec R. Costandinos' recording career may have been short-lived, but the Euro-disco producer dominated the disco world during his late-'70s reign. After having made a name for himself after co-writing Cerrone's "Love in C Minor" in 1977, Costandinos signed to the French label Barclay where he released his first record as Love and Kisses. This self-titled 1977 LP featured the timeless disco hit "I've Found Love (Now That I've Found You)." Soon he was releasing hit records on America's most recognized disco label, Casablanca. Perhaps more importantly, though, he introduced the concept album to dancefloor music with his well-regarded Romeo & Juliet album in 1977, followed by a number of other less successful conceptual efforts. He became best known for "I've Found Love," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Thank God It's Friday" (the theme song to the movie of the same name), but literally disappeared after a prolific 1977 to 1979 run. Before Costandinos became one of the world's top Euro-disco producers, though, he began his career producing songs by French pop artists such as Dalida and Claude Francoise. Born Alexandre Kouyoumdjiam in Cairo, Egypt, in 1944 to an Armenian father and a Greek mother, he moved to Paris at age 22 after some time spent in Australia. It was his work with Cerrone there that finally proved to be his big break, and with the acclaim he garnered from "Love in C Minor," he set up shop in London's Trident Studios and began working nonstop for the next three years. First came the 1977 self-titled debut by Love and Kisses on Barclay. This debut confirmed Costandinos' gift for epic disco anthems, which often clocked over 15 minutes and spanned the entire side of an LP. Next came his first release for Neil Bogart's Casablanca label, a conceptual disco LP released...