Santa Esmeralda is a French-American

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

group formed in the 1970s. The group had hits with its remakes of the 1960s hits "

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964 for her album '' Broadway-Blues-Ballads''. "Don't Let ...

" and "

House of the Rising Sun "The House of the Rising Sun" is an American traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the ...

". Santa Esmeralda featured original lead singer Leroy Gómez in 1977–1978 and singer Jimmy Goings from late 1978 until 1983.

History

The band was formed in 1977 by French producers Nicolas Skorsky and Jean Manuel de Scarano, singer-songwriters who launched a label with the aim of producing artists who would record their compositions. Upon meeting singer Leroy Gómez in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, the duo recruited him for the group's first record, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", which debuted on the independent French label, Fauves Puma. A sudden success in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the record was picked up for worldwide distribution by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label focuses ...

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Originally written in 1964 for

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

, her version had failed to chart, and the song was picked up by British rock band

the Animals The Animals, currently billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals (featuring original frontman Eric Burdon) and also as Animals & Friends (featuring original drummer John Steel (drummer), John Steel), are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Ne ...

the following year, to great success. Santa Esmeralda recast the song into the disco style of the era, and added Latin and

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

elements. The song became a hit for the second time, first topping the U.S. Disco chart and then matching the #15 peak of the Animals' version on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. The flip side of the record featured the love

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

"You're My Everything" which was a popular request song on

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

, where it received substantial

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

, even though it never charted. Despite the success of the record, Gomez did not record any subsequent records with Santa Esmeralda's original production team.

"The House of the Rising Sun"

After the band's first album, singer Jimmy Goings was brought in to replace Leroy Gomez. In late 1977, Santa Esmeralda scored a top 20 disco hit with a dance version of another song made famous by the Animals, "

The House of the Rising Sun "The House of the Rising Sun" is an American traditional folk music, folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children t ...

". In 1978, they recorded the song "Sevilla Nights" for the '' Thank God It's Friday'' soundtrack. In addition to their contribution to that hit soundtrack, their album ''The House of the Rising Sun'' also appeared on the Pop and Black charts that year. Following the success of their first two albums, they had a minor club hit with their 1978 album ''Beauty'', and returned to the Disco top 20 with "Another Cha-Cha/Cha-Cha Suite", which peaked at #16 in 1979. The album featured extensive writing from Goings which would continue for the rest of the band's existence. In 1980, the group released ''Don't Be Shy Tonight'' as internal conflict started to form between the producers of the group, this time scoring a hit with "C'est Magnifique". In 1981, Skorsky produced ''Hush'' and 1982's ''Green Talisman''. ''Don't Be Shy Tonight'', ''Hush'' and ''Green Talisman'' marked the band's foray into experimentation with a wider variety of sounds including

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

Tours around the world

Santa Esmeralda also toured extensively throughout the world. During this time, the live band included musicians Tony Baker (guitar), Mick Valentino (guitar), Charlie Magarian (bass), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), Tom Poole (trumpet) and Reggie Graham (keyboards). In 2011, footage of the band's performance at the

Viña del Mar International Song Festival The Viña del Mar International Song Festival () is an annual international music festival held every third week of February in Viña del Mar, Chile. Started in 1960 it is the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America, and one of the long ...

, Chile, in 1979 was released on DVD by the European company Soul Collectors. Santa Esmeralda (starring Leroy Gómez) is still touring throughout the world (EEG – Europolis Entertainment Group).

Later recordings

In 2002, Gómez, who had been touring with a new incarnation of the group, released ''Lay Down My Love'', an album of new material, and in 2004 ''Santa Esmeralda – The Greatest Hits'', featuring newly recorded versions of the band's disco-era hits, including those which had been sung by Goings. Essentially unaffiliated with the original producers and musicians aside from Gómez, the new releases feature a much more synthesized sound than previous recordings. The group re-entered the popular consciousness in 2003 when "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the first volume of

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

's '' Kill Bill: Volume 1''.

Discography

References

External links

Official website
(English/French) * Entry at AllMusic
Santa Esmeralda on Myspace

Santa Esmeralda on Facebook
{{Authority control French disco groups Musical groups established in 1977 Philips Records artists Casablanca Records artists