Trivia

His disco anthem, "The Hustle," was a number 1 recording in July of 1975. It sold ten million copies, won a Grammy as "Best Pop Instrumental of 1975" and is considered the best-selling disco disk of all time.

His big hit song "The Hustle" was written in under an hour and was the last track recorded for the 1975 album "Disco Baby".

Prolific songwriter/producer/arranger. Wrote "Giving Up" for Gladys Knight & The Pips, "Sweet Bitter Love" for Aretha Franklin, "The Sweetest Thing This Side Of Heaven" for Chris Bartley, "I Get The Sweetest Feeling" for Jackie Wilson, "Suddenly, I'm All Alone" for Walter Jackson and "Right On The Tip Of My Tongue" for 'Brenda & The Tabulations', among others. Produced and/or arranged hits for artists such as David Ruffin, Faith, Hope & Charity, The Stylistics and Zulema. Discovered by Mitch Miller.

Wrote a song called "We're Just Two of a Kind" for the late Mary Wells, on her self-titled 1965 album for 20th Century-Fox.

Founder of Vando Records.

Brother of Norman McCoy, Jr, and Mattie Taylor.

Son of Norman S. McCoy, Sr. and Lillian Ray.

Grandson of Mary Lindsay.

On New Years Eve, December 31, 1976, McCoy performed with band Stuff and brought in the new year at The Bottom Line, singing "When I Fall in Love". The show was recorded from the band's sound board.

A songwriting partner for Van McCoy was Joe Cobb. With McCoy, Cobb composed at least eighteen chart hits.

McCoy scored the UK top 5 again during 1977 with the instrumental success "The Shuffle" which became the theme tune for BBC Radio 4's Sport on Four.

He learned to play piano at a young age and sang with the Metropolitan Baptist Church choir as a youngster.

In 1966, McCoy recorded a solo LP for Columbia entitled Night Time Is Lonely Time. It was produced by Mitch Miller.

In September 1958, McCoy entered Howard University to study psychology but dropped out after two years in order to relocate to Philadelphia, where he formed his own recording company, Rockin' Records, releasing his first single, "Hey Mr. D.J.", in 1959.

After his mega success with "The Hustle" there were no further major sellers in the US, despite a series of follow-up albums, From Disco to Love (the abridged 1975 reissue of Soul Improvisations), The Disco Kid (1975), The Real McCoy (1976), and Rhythms of the World (1976).

In 1965, Barbara Lewis had the Van McCoy-composed "Baby I'm Yours" released. She was originally reluctant to record it. It went to no. 11 that year.

He has approximately 700 song copyrights to his credit, and produced songs by such recording artists as Brenda & the Tabulations, David Ruffin, The Stylistics, The Presidents, Faith, Hope & Charity, New Censation, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Aretha Franklin, Peaches & Herb, Lesley Gore, and Stacy Lattisaw.

Tuesday, April 27, 1976, was a recognition day for Van McCoy. He was honored by members of the Washington broadcasting and political community. It was in recognition for his impact in disco. Involved in the celebration and sponsoring it were Douglas Stereo, Sam K's Record Shop, Gerrie's International House of Music and Universal Discount Records. They were joined Ray Mott, owner of the Sagittarius restaurant. The disco party was held there. The day also involved 60 second radio spots on most stations.

He wrote and sang the theme song for the 1978 movie Sextette that starred Mae West and Timothy Dalton and made a cameo appearance in it, playing a delegate from Africa.

By the age of 12, he had begun writing his own songs, in addition to performing in local amateur shows alongside his older brother, Norman Jr. The two brothers formed a doo-wop combo named the Starlighters with two friends while in Theodore Roosevelt High School.