You probably hear it on the local radio stations a lot.

'Born to be alive!'

I want to know the singer's name, I think it's a 70s song, it has that fast paced ,Village People like style to it.

Patrick Hernandez (1979)

Funny, I'm pretty up on my music from yesteryear, and I never heard of this guy! Anyone have more info. on him?

A former English teacher (not that you could tell given his diction in his smash hit!), Patrick Hernandez was born in Guadeloupe, France to an Spanish Father and an Australian-Italian in 1949.
As Beatlemania struck in the mid sixties, he bought his first guitar when travelling in London. It was from here that he started a number of  groups which began touring France.

He was offered a gig as lead singer for a group in 1970 which indirectly led him to him being offered his first recording contract by producer Claude Francois. He declined due to him signing up as lead singer for a new band, Paris Palace Hotel.

While writing material for the group's proposed first album, he wrote his signature tune Born to be Alive. They recorded two singles, and despite interest from Jean Vanloo, an album was never released.

By 1976, the group split and Patrick changed careers by trying his hand at cow rearing.
 
Fast forward to 1978, when producer Jean Vanloo called him to Brussel to record the vocals on Making Love. In between recording sessions, Patrick is playing Born to be Alive - and Jan Van Loo thinks it will be a hit.
They record the track, but Vanloo decides to disco it up by cranking it up to 133 beats per minute and highlighting the drums. While it sounds good, the track is still missing something!

Cue ex-Paris Palace Hotel band member Herve Tholance, who suggests the song adapts a funky guitar riff that the Spencer Davis Group used on a live performance of Gimme Some Lovin'.

With all the elements in place, it seems the single will be a smash hit! Unfortunately it isn't that easy, as no French music label wanted to release it!

Patrcik and Jan decide to push it on Italian radio, where it becomes a monster hit. He received a gold single for it in 1979 which prompted CBS France to sign him up.

They quickly set up a promotional tour with a number of dancers, including one Madonna Ciccone, which helped the single rocket to the top of the disco charts, as did his cult film clip which included his trademark black cane.

The promo tour ended in Chile in 1981 and helped Hernandez and Born to be Alive sell over 23 million singles, with 56 of those reaching gold and platinum status from over 50 countries.

He remained at number one in his native France for four months from April 1979 and was the first Frenchman to be awarded a Certified Gold Disc for US sales over 1 million.

In February 1980,  he was awarded a special trophy  inscribed: "To Patrick Hernandez for transcending his rock roots by making Born to be Alive a disco hit" by Billboard Magazine.

In 1999, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his hit, a Best of Album was released with remixes and original songs from his career.

And in case you were wondering, the lyrics go like this:

Wow  :D, quite a lot of facts there, thank you!

You better get your printer ready

Here's a little trivia tidbit:  A then-unknown Madonna sings back up on this song.  It is technically her first top 40 chart appearance :)

I can believe it. You gotta start somewhere!