Throwing back to the week of July 5, 1975, we find Van McCoy and The Soul City Symphony atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘The Hustle,’ an instrumental disco track by Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony. McCoy was a prolific songwriter and producer, with more than 700 credits to his name (most recorded by other people), but this is his best-known release.

‘The Hustle’ is one of only 25 instrumental tracks to top the Hot 100. Despite the repeated chants of “Do it!” and “Do the hustle!,” this is considered an instrumental because the main melody comes courtesy of something other than the vocals.

I spent way too much time trying to track down the identity of the woman on the striking cover of this single release (which also served as the cover of the album Disco Baby) but came up empty handed.