Giorgio Moroder on Britney, Sia, Charli: Inside His First Album in Decades
Seventy-four-year-old electronic-music legend Giorgio Moroder‘s return surprises no one more than Moroder himself. “In the past 10 years, I did very little,” says the friendly, mustachioed producer, sitting in a conference room at his record label’s Manhattan office, recalling a recent point when he turned down an album deal “because I wasn’t that much interested.” He did write a theme for the 2008 Olympics, but beyond that, he had been keeping a low profile. “I played a lot of golf,” he says. “I was happy.”
Eventually, working alongside a pair of Frenchmen sparked a return to music. “Daft Punk are the reason why I am here,” the “I Feel Love” producer explains. After contributing to Random Access Memories‘ warbly dance-prog tribute “Giorgio by Moroder,” he booked his first-ever DJ gigs and found inspiration in the crowds. “I noticed that the audiences were so young, like 18 to 40,” he says. “I felt so young. I mean, I’m 74, but I still felt like part of this young generation. Some of those guys knew my songs and were not even born when they came out. It’s nice to hear a 20-year-old guy or girl sing along with the lyrics.”
Now, the disco pioneer is preparing to put out his first album in three decades this spring. The handful of songs Moroder shared with Rolling Stone suggest that it will be a decidedly contemporary-sounding dance record featuring guest appearances by Britney Spears, Sia, Charli XCX and Kylie Minogue, among others. Frosted with white hair and a still-bushy mustache, the disco innovator, who pronounces his name “George-O,” speaks and laughs with the same careful, captivating and infectious optimism that made his Daft Punk cameo so intriguing. His enthusiasm and curiosity belie his age.
Over the years, Moroder won three Oscars, two Grammys and four Golden Globes. Even after disco’s popularity waned, he sat behind the boards for hits like Irene Cara’s “Flashdance,” Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” and Blondie’s “Call Me,” the biggest record of 1980. As the decade progressed, however, opportunities outside music led him away from the control room, and he moved to New York to focus on art and live a life of opulence.