SYLVESTER’S 1978 DISCO SENSATION STEP II GETS FIRST-EVER WIDE VINYL REISSUE

WITH A “DISCO BALL” CLEAR GLITTER PRESSING

 

PLUS A BONUS-FILLED CD AND DIGITAL EDITION OFFERS NEW AND CLASSIC REMIXES

 

Stream Bright Light Bright Light’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” remix today

 

“A formative record in the queer canon”

—Pitchfork

Click here to visit online media kit

Click here to pre-order/ pre-save

 

Los Angeles, CA (August 5, 2025)—Craft Recordings proudly celebrates pioneering singer, songwriter, and queer icon, Sylvester, with two special reissues of his 1978 disco sensation, Step II. Featuring exuberant dancefloor bangers like “Dance (Disco Heat)” and the enduring anthem “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” the long-out-of-print album returns to its original format—in style—on Disco Ball Clear Glitter vinyl. A bonus-filled Deluxe Edition (CD/digital) adds seven classic and new remixes of the above-mentioned tracks, including Tonic Funk’s never-before-heard “Space Funk” Club Mix of “Dance (Disco Heat)” plus Bright Light Bright Light’s fresh take on “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”—the latter of which is available to stream today <add link>. The CD version also offers new liner notes from Joshua Gamson, author of The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco (Picador, 2005). All formats are available on October 10^th, available to pre-order or pre-save today. <link>

 

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Far ahead of his time, Sylvester (1947 – 1988) was a trailblazing artist, known for his soulful falsetto vocals, androgynous appearance, and dazzling live performances. Born Sylvester James Jr. in 1947, the mononymous singer-songwriter was raised in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, where he trained his voice in the Pentecostal church. But he was eager to live his truth. As a teenager, Sylvester left home, living openly as a gay man and challenging gender norms at a time when queer lifestyles were still criminalized in parts of the country.

 

In 1970, Sylvester settled in San Francisco, where he performed as a part of the avant-garde drag troupe, The Cockettes, and released two albums with his funk-rock group, Sylvester and The Hot Band. Though he failed to find commercial success in a band setting, he shifted his energy to a solo career, teaming up with backing vocalists Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes (better known as “Two Tons O’ Fun,” who later became The Weather Girls). Soon, he caught the attention of legendary producer Harvey Fuqua, who helped him secure a deal with the Berkeley-based label, Fantasy Records. While Sylvester’s 1977 self-titled debut helped establish his career on a broader level, it was his 1978 follow-up, Step II, that allowed him to fulfill his dreams of stardom.

 

Co-producing the album alongside Fuqua, Sylvester partnered with guitarist James Wirrick, who not only served as the artist’s de-facto musical director and bandleader but also wrote Step II’s standout hit, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).” Initially intended to be a gospel ballad (as heard in “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) – Epilogue”), the song was reimagined by Sylvester’s synth wizard, Patrick Crowley. A pioneer of electronic dance music, Crowley transformed the mid-tempo track into a pulsating, effects-heavy dancefloor sensation with an irresistible hook.

 

In his liner notes, Joshua Gamson describes the song as “A thrown-together, homegrown gay ditty.” The star himself once recalled, “There weren’t a lot of words…but they said exactly what was going on: to dance and sweat and cruise and go home and carry on and how a person feels.” Perhaps it was the song’s simple, relatable message that made it resonate so deeply with the gay community. Beyond becoming an instant disco classic, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” remains a queer anthem, as well as a touchstone in the Hi-NRG genre.

 

On being enlisted to put his own “Mighty Real” spin on a timeless disco classic, the Welsh-born Elton John and Erasure collaborator Rod Thomas—known collectively as Bright Light Bright Light—remarked: “It is the honor of a lifetime to get to remix Sylvester. Hearing the stems is like hearing history itself unravel for you.” Thomas expands, “I listen to Sylvester’s catalogue constantly—every album is a gem—and the original of ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ is a staple in my DJ sets that never misses. To be part of his legacy is a privilege I never imagined having.”

 

While “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” remains the album’s most enduring track, Step II is filled with standouts, including lead single “Dance (Disco Heat)” (in which Wash and Rhodes show their stuff), the jubilant “Grateful,” as well as a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David-penned “I Took My Strength From You.” The playful chemistry between Sylvester and his backup singers is also on display in “Was It Something That I Said,” (featuring a spoken-word intro by all three vocalists), while the trio’s powerful harmonies shine in the soulful closer, “Just You and Me Forever.”

 

Driven by the success of “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)”—both of which remained atop Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play chart for six weeks—Step II was an overnight success, landing at No.28 on the Billboard 200, breaking the R&B Top 10, and earning a Gold certification from the RIAA. Sylvester, meanwhile, enjoyed a slew of TV appearances (including The Dinah Shore Show, American Bandstand, and The Merv Griffin Show), played to adoring fans across the US and Europe, and opened for the likes of Chaka Khan, The O’Jays, and The Commodores. The following spring, during a high-profile concert at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, Sylvester was presented with the Key to the City.

 

And, while “Dance (Disco Heat)” has the distinction of being Sylvester’s first Top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” struck a cultural chord. Seemingly overnight, the song was a global sensation, breaking the US Top 40 and becoming a Top 10 hit in England, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, and Hong Kong, among other territories. Nearly 50 years later, the song continues to be recognized as a defining moment in dance music and LGBTQ+ history. The song has been included in countless rankings, including Rolling Stone’s 500 Best Songs of All Time (2021), Billboard’s Best Pop Songs of All Time (2023), and Pitchfork’s 50 Songs that Define the Last 50 Years of LGBTQ+ Pride (2018). In 2019, The Library of Congress inducted “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” into their National Recording Registry, recognizing it for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

 

In the years following Step II, Sylvester released seven more albums, including his 1979 follow-up, Stars, 1982’s All I Need (featuring the popular single “Do Ya Wanna Funk”), and 1986’s Mutual Attraction, which included the chart-topping dance hit, “Someone Like You.” Step II, however, has long remained Sylvester’s pièce de resistance—hailed in recent years by Pitchfork as “a formative record in the queer canon.” Gamson adds, “If disco was the soundtrack of gay liberation, Step II provided its durable breakout anthem and sound. With his falsetto realness, Sylvester preached the gospel of strangeness, freedom, and fabulousness, and invited everyone to dance with him in its heat.”

 

While Sylvester passed away in 1988, his legacy continues to live on, as new generations not only fall in love with his music but also acknowledge the barriers he broke as an LGBTQ+ icon. Among other honors, Sylvester was inducted into the Dance Music Hall Of Fame in 2005 and was ranked in among the Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone in 2023. Sylvester was also one of the inaugural honorees on San Francisco’s Rainbow Honor Walk and was the subject of an acclaimed, off-Broadway play, Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical.

 

Click here to pre-order or pre-save Step II.

 

Step II Tracklist (Deluxe Edition CD/Digital)

1. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
2. Dance (Disco Heat)
3. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) [Epilogue]
4. Grateful
5. I Took My Strength From You
6. Was It Something I Said
7. Just You And Me Forever
8. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) (Soulwax for Despacio Remix)
9. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) [RAC Mix]
10. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) [Jewel and Stone Mighty Nu Club Mix] (Radio Edit)
11. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) [12″ Ultimix)
12. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) [Ralphi Rosario Club Mix] (Radio Edit)
13. Dance (Disco Heat) [Tonic Funk’s ‘Space Funk’ Club Mix)*
14. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) [Bright Light Bright Light Remix]*

 

*New Remix

 

Step II Tracklist (Vinyl)

Side A:

1. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
2. Dance (Disco Heat)
3. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) – Epilogue

Side B:

1. Grateful
2. I Took My Strength From You
3. Was It Something That I Said
4. Just You and Me Forever

 

About Craft Recordings

Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most essential collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its storied repertoire includes landmark releases from icons such as Celia Cruz, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Isaac Hayes, John Coltrane, John Lee Hooker, Joan Baez, Joan Sebastian, Little Richard, Miles Davis, R.E.M., and Traveling Wilburys. Plus, the catalog recordings of celebrated contemporary acts including A Day to Remember, Alison Krauss, Daddy Yankee, Evanescence, Nine Inch Nails, Taking Back Sunday, and Violent Femmes, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, HITCO, Musart, Nitro, Panart, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Vanguard, Varèse Sarabande, Vee-Jay and Victory, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation— ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft is also home to the Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette estates which preserve and protect their respective names, likeness, and music through day-to-day legacy management of these cultural trailblazers.

 

Craft Recordings is the catalog label team for Concord. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

 

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