Donna Summer: Biography from Answers.com Mobile

Donna Summer

singer

Personal Information

Born LaDonna Andrea Gaines, on December 31, 1948, in Dorchester, MA; married Helmut Sommer, (divorced, 1974); married Bruce Sudano, July 15, 1980; children: (second marriage) Amanda Grace.

Career

Appeared in stage productions of Hair, Porgy & Bess, and other American musicals in Germany and Austria, late 1960s, early 1970s; recorded "The Hostage" (European release only), 1973; recorded "Love to Love You Baby" and eponymous album, 1975; signed to Casablanca Records, 1975; achieved several Top Ten hits and gold records during the late 1970s; signed to Geffen Records, 1980, Epic Records, 1999-.

Life's Work

Like no other performer, Donna Summer personified the disco era during its zenith in the late 1970s. Working with a team of legendary European record producers, Summer wrote and recorded a string of hits that made her one of the most successful artists of the decade. She collected numerous gold records and awards during her prime, but her career was plagued by contractual and management problems during the 1980s.

Born in suburban Boston in 1948, LaDonna Andrea Gaines was one of seven siblings in a working-class household where church attendance and academic achievement were the rule. She began singing as a child in the gospel choir of her church, and was an especially devoted fan of gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. As a teenager, Summer sang in a Boston band called Crow, and shocked her family when she decided to move to New York City in order to find work on Broadway. At the age of 18, Summer auditioned for a role in the popular hippie musical Hair. She won a spot in the touring company for the show, and moved to Europe.

Stage Career in Europe

Summer spent the next several years overseas. She appeared in several German and Austrian stage productions, met and married a fellow performer, Helmut Sommer--from whom she took her eventual recording name--modeled, and occasionally worked as a backup singer for recording artists. During a 1973 Munich recording session with the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, Summer met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who were entranced by her voice. She accepted an invitation to work with them, and recorded "The Hostage," her debut single. "The Hostage "and two other recordings became minor hits in European dance clubs.

In 1975, Summer recorded a takeoff of a sexy, French hit from 1959, "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus." Her version of the song, entitled "Love to Love You Baby," featured a classic, speedy disco beat. The song was not a hit in Europe until Neil Bogart, an American record executive who had made a fortune with bubblegum pop records in the 1960s, suggested expanding the song to nearly 17 minutes in length. Summer was signed to Bogart's Casablanca Records, and the shortened version of the song reached No. 2 on the American charts by early 1976.

First Star of Disco Era

Summer has been called the first crossover artist in pop music history, an African American performer who began her recording career working in a genre that appealed to minorities--the denizens of the New York nightlife scene, in which African American, Latino, and gay culture thrived in its own unique mix. That underground popularity eventually attracted a more mainstream element. Record company executives began to realize that some of Summer's recordings that were marketed for the discotheque scene were selling briskly in mainstream record stores as well, even though they received no airplay on the radio.

The music industry journal Billboard created its disco chart in 1975. Summer soon began topping this chart, as well as the R&B and pop charts, with a string of hits. These hits included the 1976 releases A Love Trilogy, and the album Four Seasons of Love. The following year, she scored two more hits with the album I Remember Yesterday, and a double album, Once Upon a Time. All of these hits showcased Summer's smooth, rich voice. One of Summer's greatest hits, "I Feel Love," was released in mid-1977 as a single from I Remember Yesterday. It would be the first hit to use what became known as the "galloping bass line," a pounding, 140-beat-per-minute rhythm created by a drum machine. Such production techniques were rapidly adopted as a standard in disco music. Summer would also be remembered as the first female recording artist to successfully incorporate synthesizers into her work.

A String of Hit Records

During the late 1970s, Summer kept a nearly nonstop schedule of recording and performing, even spending nearly two straight years on tour. She was one of the most popular recording artists of her day. Her concerts sold out regularly, fans mobbed her, and her record sales were astronomical. In 1978, Summer appeared in a dismal feature film that tried to capitalize on the disco craze, Thank God It's Friday. Despite the film's failure at the box office, one of the songs from the soundtrack, "Last Dance" became a number one hit and earned Summer a Grammy award and an Oscar for Best Original Song. A number of her other hits found their way onto her 1978 double live album, Live and More, which was recorded from a series of shows at the Universal Amphitheater near Los Angeles. This was followed by her double studio album Bad Girls, which was released in the spring of 1979. Bad Girls spent six weeks on the American album charts, and was the best-selling album by a female artist in 1979. It also earned Summer a Grammy award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Bad Girls would be one of the last records that Summer recorded for Casablanca. In late 1979, Casablanca released a compilation of Summer's hits entitled, On the Radio--Greatest Hits, Volumes I and II. One of the songs on the album, Summer's duet with Barbara Streisand entitled "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," topped the charts. In early 1980, Summer sued to be released from her contract with Casablanca, citing undue influence and fraud. Later that year, she became the first artist to sign with the Geffen label, which was founded by rising entertainment executive David Geffen. Elton John and John Lennon soon joined Summer on Geffen's roster.

Moved in a New Direction

The year 1980 was marked by other notable changes in Summer's life. She wed musician Bruce Sudano, whose Brooklyn Dreams band had backed her on some tours, and announced that she was a born-again Christian. Her debut album on Geffen, The Wanderer, reflected this new spirituality. The album reached No. 3 on Billboard's charts, but its singles charted only in the 30s--a dismal showing compared to the string of gold records Summer had earned for her previous singles. The Wanderer was also the last album that Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte produced for Summer.

In 1982, Summer teamed with producer Quincy Jones and released the album Donna Summer. One of the singles from the album, "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)," was a Top Ten hit. She also recorded a cover song with Jones entitled "State of Independence." Jones was also able to convince a roster of music legends--Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Stevie Wonder among them--to sing backup on the album. Jones later remarked that this experience had inspired his production of "We Are the World," the 1984 Ethiopian famine-relief recording. Under the settlement terms of her lawsuit against Casablanca, Summer was required to record one more album for the label, which was now a part of Polygram Records. The title track of the album She Works Hard for the Money, climbed to No. 3 on the U.S. charts in 1983.

Became a Successful Painter

Summer tried unsuccessfully to be released from her recording contract with Geffen Records. Sales of her 1987 album, All Systems Go, were so poor that a planned North American concert tour was canceled. In the late 1980s, Summer turned to art as a means of creative expression. She began to paint large, Expressionist-style canvases, many of which sold for several thousands of dollars. In 1994, Summer moved to Nashville with her husband and young daughter. She recorded an album of Christmas carols with the Nashville Symphony, and continued to paint.

In 1997, Summer appeared alongside Gloria Estefan and Chaka Khan at a benefit concert, Three Divas on Broadway. Her career was also bolstered by a pop-culture revival of the disco era during the late 1990s. In early 1998, Summer appeared at Carnegie Hall for a concert to benefit the Gay Men's Health Crisis Center in New York. "After nearly two hours of mature ovations and controlled excitement...the remarkably well-behaved audience could no longer be contained," wrote Larry Flick in Billboard. "As she [Summer] began a salacious, guitar-drenched rendition of 'Hot Stuff,' fans rushed down the red carpeted aisles toward the stage."

By the end of the 1990s, Summer was signed to a recording contract with Epic Records. The company released yet another of her many best-selling anthologies, VH1 Presents Donna Summer: Live & More--Encore! She was also working on tracks for a planned musical autobiography, Ordinary Girl. "I think women have incredible powers," she told Rolling Stone's Gina Zucker in 1999. "We can use both the intellectual side of the brain and the nurturing side, and we have to be proud of both."

Awards

Best Original Song Oscar, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1978, for "Last Dance"; Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Grammy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1979, for "Last Dance"; Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy, 1980, for "Hot Stuff"; Best Inspirational Performance Grammy, 1984, for "He's a Rebel," and 1985, for "Forgive Me"; (with Giorgio Moroder) Best Dance Recording Grammy, 1998, for "Carry On."

Works

Selected discography

Love to Love You, Baby, Oasis, 1975.
A Love Trilogy, Oasis, 1976.
Four Seasons of Love, Casablanca, 1976.
I Remember Yesterday, Casablanca, 1977.
Live and More, Casablanca, 1978.
Bad Girls, Casablanca, 1979.
On the Radio--Greatest Hits, Volumes I and II, Casablanca, 1979.
The Wanderer, Geffen, 1980.
Donna Summer, Geffen, 1982.
She Works Hard for the Money, Polygram, 1983.
All Systems Go, Geffen, 1987.
Another Place and Time, Atlantic, 1989.
Christmas Spirit, Mercury, 1994.
VH1 Presents Donna Summer: Live & More--Encore!, Epic, 1999.