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| Gary Toms Empire |
| Gary Toms and his "Empire" of musicians were one of disco music's early success stories. One of the earliest groups to record "disco-only" records, their first release "7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle)" was an out of the box smash. The song, thanks to eager clubgoers, sold a reported near 1/2 million copies in it's first week in 1975. This, coupled with several other well planned-well executed tracks, made them P.I.P./Pickwick Records best selling act. The demand for personal appearances soared in the mid-1970's as the group shuffled up and down the east coast and travelled coast to coast hitting key clubs and discos to delighted dancers everywhere. The group's second release was a disasterous remake of the Beatles tune "Drive My Car." No doubt released to broaden the groups appeal, it did receive club play mainly because of it being an early 12" single. With their album Gary and his Empire rebounded with several tasty tracks and another set of smash releases. Two key 12" singles, "Love Me Right" and "Stand Up And Shout" made them dancefloor favorites in 1976. Despite strong sales and a demand for product the tiny label had major distribution problems and folded in late 1976. Label-less Gary Toms signed with MCA and struggled to regain his place in the disco market. A single 12" was released in 1977, but "Turn It Out" failed to top the charts and without his "Empire" he seemed destined for disco obscurity. Another move to Mercury in 1978 produced the album "Let's Do It Again" which featured one 12" single release of "Welcome To Harlem." Although it is quite enjoyable its failure is twofold---bad promotion and a tougher market caused the releases to go largely unnoticed. At this point Toms fell off the disco radar. We've been unable to find out if he went on to studio work, returned to club gigs or God forbid, passed away? If anyone has anything to add let us know so that we can give this disco pioneer his just rewards. |
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