Bob Esty

Bob Esty
Short Biographie

Interesting and inside info about who arranged Donna Summer`s
"Once Upon A Time" ( please scroll down.... - more coming soon ).

Bob Esty produced "SLEEPLESS NIGHTS" (1979) performed by "Brooklyn Dreams".
The track "Heaven Knows" is written by Donna, Pete Bellotte and Giorgio.

Esty produced and co-wrote several songs for Cher: "Take Me Home" 1979 - "Prisoner". he collaborated with several international well knowed artistd such: Streisand, Barbra - Kelly, Roberta - Jabara, Paul ...

Produced by Bob Esty:
Brooklyn Dreams with the title "SLEEPLESS NIGHTS (1979)", included the Hit "Heaven Knows" in which Joe and Donna change their part.

Cher: "Take Me Home"
Produced by Bob Esty and Ron Dante

Billboard review for week ending 2/10/79
Cher teams up with Bob Esty under the aegis of the Entertainment Company, which has revitalized and redirected the record careers of such other household names as Barbra Streisand and Glen Campbell. Two of the cuts here were produced by Ron Dante, who co-produces Barry Manilow's LPs. The songs include offerings by Tom Snow and Richard T. Bear with one by Mark Hudson and Cher. Jimmy Haskell provides several of the discotized string and horn arrangements. Best cuts: "Love & Pain," "Take Me Home," "My Song," "Wasn't It Good," "Git Down (Guitar Groupie)."

Bob Esty worked With:

Steve Madaio, Jon Kip, Victor Feldman, Dan Wyman, Sid Sharp, Gary Herbig, Ed Greene, Jay Graydon, Paul Jabara, Thom Rotella, Les Hurdle, David Hungate, Jeffrey Hey, Larry Emerine, Scott Edwards, Paulinho Da Costa, Michele Aller, Paul Shaffer....
and appears in many projects such:

Thank God It's Friday - Soundtrack ( producer )
Kelly, Roberta - Gettin' the Spirit ( Piano, Moog Synthesizer, Producer )
LaRue, D.C. - Forces of the Night ( Synthesizer, Vocals (bckgr), Producer )
Cher - Take Me Home ( Producer )
Cher - The Prisoner ( Producer )
Brooklyn Dreams - Sleepless Nights ( Piano, Producer )
Streisand, Barbra - Main Event ( Arranger, Conductor, Producer )
Streisand, Barbra - Broadway Album ( Arranger, Keyboards )
Jabara, Paul - Keeping Time ( Synthesizer, Piano, Arranger, Conductor, Keyboards, Vocals )
The Weather Girls - "It's Raining Men" ( producer, arranger )
Raquel Welch "This Girl's Back In Town" ( producer, arranger & co-writer with P.Jabara ) Donna Summer had done the demo and it was written for her. It later appeared in the LP "De La Noche: The True Story" on Warner Brothers.
"Roller Boogie" - soundtrack ( producer, arranger, writer, artist )

The "Once Upon A Time" project:

I had some e-mail correspondence with Bob Esty in whitch he told me very interesting and inside info.

Bob Esty wrote:

Yes, I did the double LP "Once Upon A Time".
We used the Munich Machine rhythm players (including the incredible drummer Keith Forsey) and the Munich Symphony. Giorgio stayed away from the studio for the entire project and left me to format the order of the record. He left me alone and let me do whatever I wanted. His partner Pete Bellote was in the studio for the guitar overdubs and later co-wrote lyrics with Donna.
Giorgio had given me a tape of himself at an electric piano singing "la, la, la" the melody and giving some chord changes in his playing. I then did a demo of the entire album w/synthesizers in L.A. After that, I flew to Munich to stay at the Arabella Haus where Giorgio's studio Musicland was.
Everything you hear instrumentally was completed before Donna heard it. I had sung the melody for her on the tape and she took it from there. It took about 4 weeks to do all the music, then Donna flew in from her tour of Italy and wrote the words to the songs. I didn't know what the lyrics were until she sang them. Then we added background vocals and Giorgio mixed it. During this process, I did the Roberta Kelly LP "Gettin' the Spirit" which had the song "O Happy Day". I added a gospel choir and some overdubs in L.A. then it went to Munich for Giorgio to mix it.

I asked Bob to tell me how he met Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer,

He friendly wrote:

I met Giorgio Moroder when I did "Last Dance" (summer of 1977). Neil Bogart (president of Casablanca Records) was the force behind doing the song. He thought it was a "hit".
Paul Jabara had "trapped" Donna in a bathroom in Puerto Rico to make her listen to the song idea. She said OK, and Paul and I finished the song and I developed the way the song was to be done: slow intro, fast, then slow again, then fast. It was to be the first time to my knowledge a disco track did this.
Giorgio was initially against the song because it wasn't his, and, vocally, Donna would be singing "full voice" (not high and breathy). This was not like "I Feel Love" and the other previous tracks. Also, we were to use a full orchestral arrangement, not electronic.

We recorded the entire track in one day at Record Plant. Giorgio was not involved in the recording of the track except we had Jurgen Koppers (his engineer) at the console. Mr. Moroder was present at the end of the instrumental session when Donna sang her vocal (2 times only, as was her habit). Donna and I had made a "demo" of the entire full length version with piano and voice, so she knew the arrangement and the song before the vocal session.
I mixed the song with Bob Stone at Larrabee Studios and it was done. After hearing the final product, Giorgio asked me to arrange "Once Upon A Time". This double LP was released before "Last Dance" because the movie "Thank God It's Friday" came out some months later.

Bob Esty -