Disco Innovator Marty Angelo, Receives "Lifetime Achievement Award"

Marty Angelo, creator of Disco Step-by-Step® received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" on Saturday, April 9, 2005 at the International Hustle and Salsa Competition (IHSC) in Miami, Florida.

Miami, FL (PRWEB) March 28, 2005 -- Marty Angelo, producer, writer, creator and first host of the popular hustle dance television show Disco Step-by-Step’s® was a charter and V.I.P. member of the disco disc jockey organization, the International Disco Record Centre (I.D.R.C.) and the co-founder of the Buffalo New York Disco Dj Record Pool. His television show’s play lists often appeared in: Disco News, Billboard Magazine, Cashbox, Record World and others.

Disco Step-by-Step® was not only the first disco dance television show featuring hustle dancing in the world in 1975 but also was the first ever cable produced TV show to crossover to a network affiliate broadcast station. It went on to have the highest Neilson rating for its’ Saturday afternoon time slot. 

London Records national disco promotion man, Billy Smith picked Marty Angelo amongst the top twenty-five most important disco djs for breaking (introducing) a new disco record.

Angelo's discography reads like a music business who's who. He literally promoted hundreds of hit records and worked with some of the most popular recording artists of the 1960s and 1970s.  See his discography here. 

Among his many achievements Marty Angelo was one of the very first disco djs in the United States dating back to 1969. He managed the popular rock bands, Raven and Rob Grill and the Grass Roots.  Angelo received his first professional breaks in 1965 from guitar legend "the late Jimi Hendrix" and former Beatles great "the late George Harrison."

Angelo hosted one of the first ever all disco radio shows in the world in 1975 and helped publish the disco magazine, “Go Disco." Marty also helped organize the first World’s Largest Disco. This charity event was held on September 8, 1979 at the Buffalo New York Convention Center and attracted over 13,000 people. This exciting program resurfaced in 1994 and continues to this day to be a very popular annual fundraising event... selling out thousands of tickets within minutes.  

In 1998 Marty Angelo designed one of the first disco related Internet websites and also founded the Hustle Dancers Hall of Fame™, the Disco Dj Hall of Fame™ and the official Disco Dance Music Hall of Fame™.  All halls and websites were donated to the Library of Congress in 2005. These websites were identified as the very first Internet websites ever donated to the Library of Congress (L.O.C.). All master videotape copies of the Disco Step-by-Step’s® television show were donated to the L.O.C. in 2001. 

Marty Angelo's dance TV show was exhibited in the Experience Music Project’s (E.M.P.): “Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights” which was displayed in Seattle, Washington at the E.M.P. museum, The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City. 

Angelo also helped to organize the first Van McCoy Open Hustle Dance Competition, and was interviewed and various clips of his disco dance TV show were used in the VH1 television special “When Disco Ruled the World. He was the associate producer of the PBS television special “My Music; Get Down Tonight – the Disco Explosion” and the associate producer, interviewed and clips of his disco dance TV show were used in the disco documentary entitled, “Disco: Spinning the Story.” 

Various clips of Disco Step-by-Step® were used in the CBS television show, "Sunday Mornings" disco segment (Disco Daze) and a biographical article appeared in the March 2005 issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine.

Angelo is mentioned in the books, "The Longest Cocktail Party" (an Insider's Diary of the Beatles, Their Million Dollar 'Apple' Empire and Its Wild Rise and Fall),  "Don't Bother Knockin... This Town's A Rockin..." and "Disco Fever" (The Beat, People, Places, Styles, Deejays, Groups, Latest Disco Steps).

I.H.S.C. congratulates Marty Angelo for promoting and sponsoring the music and dance that has inspired hundreds of artists and thousands of dancers to reach their highest levels of excellence. 

Special Note