Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Donna Summer

 
Gale Contemporary Black Biography:

Donna Summer

Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Black Biographies

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.

Further Reading

Periodicals

  • Billboard, September 3, 1994, p. 21; March 16, 1998; June 12, 1999, p. 9.
  • Rolling Stone, August 5, 1999, p. 27.

— Carol Brennan

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Gale Musician Profiles:

Donna Summer

Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Musicians

Singer, songwriter

Pop vocalist Donna Summer’s first U.S. release was, arguably, her most famous recording. The 17-minute disco anthem "Love to Love You Baby," replete with orgasmic moaning sounds, began Summer’s undisputed reign as Disco Queen during the 1970s. In the last few years of that decade, she had numerous hit songs and albums both in pop and rhythm and blues. When disco finally faded from the musical scene, Summer became a born-again Christian, revealing a religious side to her music. Although no longer a dominating pop music force, Summer continued to make bankable albums during the 1980s, and her willingness to adapt to currently popular musical styles has suggested that she will continue to generate hits for the remainder of her musical career.

Born Donna Adrian Gaines, Summer grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, a working class city adjoining Boston. Her father was a butcher, her mother a school teacher. As a child she sang in Boston-area church choirs but by high school her tastes had grown more secular. She piled up hundreds of truancy slips, skipping school in order to sing with a local rock band. Two months before high school graduation, Summer dropped out. In 1967, at age 18, she debuted at Boston’s Psychedelic Supermarket.

The following year found her abroad in the German production of Hair. Europe would be her home for the next eight years. After a year and a half of Hair, Summer moved to Austria, becoming a regular with the Vienna Folk Opera. The Opera offered productions of Porgy and Bess and Showboat during her tenure.

It was in Austria, in 1971, that she married local actor Helmut Sommer. Although their marriage would dissolve in 1976 under the pressure of Summer’s disco success, she continued to use the anglicized version of his last name.

Back in Germany in 1973, performing in a production of Godspell and working as a session singer in Munich’s Musicland studios, Summer met producer Giorgio Moroder. Moroder was to be called Summer’s "Svengali" due to his influence on her career. On the Oasis label, owned by Moroder and partner Pete Bellotte, Summer made a couple of European hits that were never released in the United States.

Queen of Disco
1975 saw the end of Summer’s relative obscurity, and "Love to Love You Baby" was the reason why: 17 minutes of romantic lyrics, disco beat, and feigned

orgasm delivered while lying down on the studio floor with the lights dimmed. Spinmagazine said of this song that it "launched the extended dance mix as we know it—the zygote of house and industrial … and invented the 12-inch." Casablanca records received the U.S. license and became Summer’s record company upon her return to the United States. The song was an immediate disco hit and within months found its way up both the pop and rhythm and blues charts, hitting Numbers Two and Three, respectively.

Summer released an album named for the hit single in 1976. Love to Love You Baby nearly made the U.S. Top Ten and reached Number 16 in the United Kingdom. She and her producers were determined not to be merely a flash in the pan. In June of that year, the Summer-Moroder-Bellotte team released A Love Trilogy and also managed to squeeze in The Four Seasons of Love by December.

The first of her albums with a title that did not contain the word "love," the 1977 release I Remember Yesterday generated the singer’s second gold single "I Feel Love." The song, a synthesizer pop hit, extended Summer’s stylistic range, according to The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll. In 1978, Summer contributed most of the lyrics to the disco/fairy tale concept album Once Upon a Time, which she claimed was mostly autobiographical. The Cinderella-toned lyrics talked of girls who "live in a land of dreams unreal/Hiding from reality … trapped within their world." Later in 1978, on Live and More, Donna covered Jimmy Webb’s "MacArthur Park" for an unpredictable massive hit—her first appearance in slot Number One on the pop charts.

Summer’s Golden Days
As the 1970s ended, it seemed Summer could do no wrong. Between 1978 and 1980 she earned eight Top Ten hits. She even became a film star, portraying an aspiring singer in 1979’s Thank God It’s Friday. While one critic suggested audiences would thank god when this movie was over, the film’s Number Three hit song "Last Dance" won an Oscar and two Grammys—one for Summer and one for writer Paul Jabara.

Bad Girls, a 1979 number one double album, was Donna’s last recording for Casablanca. Four songs from this album reached the Top Ten, many sitting there for weeks, variously occupying the Number One and Two positions. But according to The Encyclopedia of Pop Rock & Soul Summer was depressed by her struggle with Casablanca to go beyond disco. She claimed that she’d been "stuck doing something that had been choking me to death for three years." She began including religious songs in her performances, a return to her church roots and a reflection of a desire for inner peace.

This soul weariness took formal expression in a lawsuit against manager Joyce Bogart and husband Neil Bogart’s Casablanca Records to the tune of $10 million. When the legal dust settled, Summer was released from her contract and signed with Warner Brothers’ newly formed Geffen label.

Born Again in the 1980s
The Wanderer was Donna’s first album for Geffen. The title track reached Number Three by 1981; the song addressed the singer’s recent born-again Christianity. The religious thread in her music continued for the next few years but did not cost her much popular appeal, perhaps because the disco fever had already lifted. "He’s a Rebel," from her 1983 Mercury release, She Works Hard for the Money, won a Grammy for best inspirational performance—a trick Summer would repeat the following year with the cut "Forgive Me" off Cats Without Claws.

A further abdication of Summer’s reign as Disco Queen occurred when the singer allegedly remarked that AlDS was a form of divine ruling on homosexuality. Gay club enthusiasts who had embraced her and helped make her a star were angry. Despite Summer’s denial of making the AIDS remark, the rift never healed. On the home front, the beginning of the 1980s saw her marriage to Bruce Sudano, lead singer of Brooklyn Dreams. They named their daughter Brook Lyn.

Donna continued to work steadily throughout the eighties, although six years were to pass after "She Works Hard for Her Money" before she penetrated the Top Ten again. "This Time I Know It’s for Real," off 1989’s Another Place Another Time, reached Number Seven. By this time Summer had moved into other areas of self-expression. Her neo-Primitive paintings and lithographs proved popular; in June 1990, a Beverly Hills gallery sold 75 such works for up to $38,000 apiece.

Summer has never stopped producing or changing. In a S/V/boardinterview, she discussed her latest transformation—into a country music singer. Together with musician/husband Sudano, she has penned several country songs, including the hit "Starting Over" with Dolly Parton. Questioned by the interviewer regarding these many transformations, as well as the personal and professional ups and downs of her life, Summer responded with a painting metaphor. Think of a painting, she said, which is left in the sun. The painting fades but "also takes on new colors. And instead of the colors being as vivid as they once were, they change into different and perhaps richer colors." One cannot help but sense that Summer’s rainbow of colors will continue to grow richer for many years.

Selected discography
Love to Love You Baby, Oasis, 1975.A Love Trilogy, Casablanca, 1976.Four Seasons of Love (EP), Casablanca, 1976.I Remember Yesterday, Casablanca, 1977.Once Upon a Time, Casablanca, 1977.Live and More (includes "MacArthur Park"), Casablanca, 1978.Bad Girls, Casablanca, 1979.The Wanderer, Geffen, 1980.Donna Summer, Geffen, 1982.She Works Hard for the Money, Mercury, 1983.Cats Without Claws, Geffen, 1984.The Summer Collection, Mercury, 1985.All Systems Go, Geffen, 1987.Another Place and Time, Atlantic, 1989.Mistaken Identity, Atlantic, 1991.The Donna Summer Anthology (includes "Carry On"), Mercury, 1993.

Sources
Books
Pareles, Jon, and Patricia Romanowski, The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Rolling Stone Press/Summit Books, 1983.
Rees, Dafydd, and Luke Crampton, Rock Movers & Shakers, Billboard Books, 1991.
Stambler, Irwin, Encyclopedia of Pop Rock & Roll, St. Martin’s Press, 1989.

Periodicals
Billboard, September 25, 1993.
Jet, September 18, 1989; October 16, 1991.
New York Times, May 14, 1989.
People, October 14, 1991.
Rolling Stone, March 23, 1978.
Spin, November 1993.
Stereo Review, September 1989; January 1992.
Variety, April 2, 1980.
Village Voice, May 28, 1979.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Donna Summer

Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists
  • Genres: Rhythm & Blues

Biography

Donna Summer's title as the "Queen of Disco" wasn't mere hype -- she was one of the very few disco performers to enjoy a measure of career longevity, and her consistent chart success was rivaled in the disco world only by the Bee Gees. Summer was certainly a talented vocalist, trained as a powerful gospel belter, but then again, so were many of her contemporaries. Of major importance in setting Summer apart were her songwriting abilities and her choice of talented collaborators in producers/songwriters Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, which resulted in a steady supply of high-quality (and, often, high-concept) material. But what was more, few vocalists could match the sultry, unfettered eroticism Summer brought to many of her best recordings, which seemed to embody the spirit of the disco era perfectly. The total package made Summer the ultimate disco diva, one of the few whose star power was even bigger than the music.

Summer was born LaDonna Andre Gaines on December 31, 1948, and grew up in Boston's Mission Hill section. Part of a religious family, she first sang in her church's gospel choir, and as a teenager performed with a rock group called the Crow. After high school, she moved to New York to sing and act in stage productions, and soon landed a role in a German production of Hair. She moved to Europe around 1968-1969, and spent a year in the German cast, after which she became part of the Hair company in Vienna. She joined the Viennese Folk Opera, and later returned to Germany, where she settled in Munich and met and married Helmut Sommer, adopting an Anglicized version of his last name. Summer performed in various stage musicals and worked as a studio vocalist in Munich, recording demos and background vocals. Her first solo recording was 1971's "Sally Go 'Round the Roses," but success would not come until 1974, when she met producers/songwriters Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte while working on a Three Dog Night record. The three teamed up for the single "The Hostage," which became a hit around Western Europe, and Summer released her first album, Lady of the Night, in Europe only. In 1975, the trio recorded "Love to Love You Baby," a disco-fied reimagining of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's lush, heavy-breathing opus "Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus." Powered by Summer's graphic moans, "Love to Love You Baby" became a massive hit in Europe, and drew the attention of Casablanca Records, which put the track out in America. It climbed to number two on the singles charts, and became a dance-club sensation when Moroder remixed the track into a 17-minute, side-long epic on the LP of the same name.

In the wake of "Love to Love You Baby," albums (as opposed to just singles) became an important forum for Summer and her producers. The 1976 follow-up Love Trilogy contained another side-long suite in "Try Me (I Know We Can Make It Work)," and demonstrated Moroder and Bellotte's growing sophistication as arrangers with its lush, sweeping strings. Four Seasons of Love, released later in the year, was a concept album with one track dedicated to each season, and 1977's I Remember Yesterday featured a variety of genre exercises. Despite the album's title, it produced the most forward-looking single in Summer and Moroder's catalog, the monumental "I Feel Love." Eschewing the strings and typical disco excess, "I Feel Love" was the first major pop hit recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track; its lean, sleek arrangement and driving, hypnotic pulse laid the groundwork not only for countless Euro-dance imitators, but also for the techno revolution of the '80s and '90s. It became Summer's second Top Ten hit in the U.S., and she followed it with Once Upon a Time, another concept album, this one retelling the story of Cinderella for the disco era.

Summer's albums were selling well, bolstered by her popularity in the dance clubs, and she was poised to become a major pop hitmaker as well. Her acting turn in the 1978 disco-themed comedy Thank God It's Friday produced another hit in "Last Dance," which won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal (as well as an Oscar for songwriter Paul Jabara). Doubtlessly benefiting from the added exposure, the double-LP set Live and More became Summer's first number one album later that year. It featured one side of new studio material, including a disco cover of the psychedelic pop epic "MacArthur Park" that became her first number one pop single early the next year. Her 1979 double-LP Bad Girls featured more of her songwriting contributions than ever, and went straight to number one, as did the lusty singles "Bad Girls" and the rock-oriented "Hot Stuff," which made Summer the first female artist ever to score three number one singles in the same calendar year. Her greatest-hits package On the Radio also topped the charts, the first time any artist had ever hit number one with three consecutive double LPs; the newly recorded title track became another hit, and Summer's duet with Barbra Streisand, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," became her fourth number one single.

At the peak of her success, Summer decided to leave Casablanca, and became the first artist signed to the new Geffen label. Sensing that the disco era was coming to a close, Summer attempted to modify her style to include more R&B and pop/rock on her first Geffen album, 1980's The Wanderer; the album and its title track were both hits. Not wanting to alienate her core audience, Summer returned to pure dance music on an attempted follow-up; however, Geffen deemed I'm a Rainbow not worthy of release (it was finally issued in 1996). Instead, Summer ended her collaboration with Moroder and Bellotte and teamed up with Quincy Jones for 1982's Donna Summer. "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" was a significant hit, but none of its follow-ups did very well. With producer Michael Omartian, Summer moved back into post-disco dance music and urban R&B with 1983's She Works Hard for the Money; its title track was a smash and became a feminist anthem of sorts. However, with her career momentum slowing, it also marked the end of Summer's prime. Despite winning a gospel Grammy for "Forgive Me," Summer's 1984 follow-up Cats Without Claws flopped, as did the 1987 comeback effort All Systems Go. Hiring the British production team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman, Summer scored her last major success with the 1989 Top Ten single "This Time I Know It's for Real," from the album Another Place & Time; around the same time, she began denouncing her earlier, "sinful" disco material. 1991's lackluster, urban-styled Mistaken Identity effectively killed her career momentum, and none of her new '90s albums produced that elusive hit. However, she did make some noise on the dance charts with "Melody of Love," from the excellent 1994 retrospective Endless Summer, and reunited with Moroder for the 1997 non-LP single "Carry On," which won the inaugural Grammy for Best Dance Recording. Summer subsequently signed a deal with Sony, which primed her for re-establishment with the 1999 greatest-hits live album VH1 Presents: Live and More Encore!; it featured the new song "I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)," which had some success on the dance charts. The energetic and eclectic Crayons, her first proper studio album since Mistaken Identity, was released on the Burgundy label in 2008. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Donna Summer

Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
This article is about the Pop/R&B/disco singer. For her 1982 album, see Donna Summer (album).
Donna Summer

Summer at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2009.
Photo: Harry Wad
Background information
Birth name LaDonna Adrian Gaines
Also known as Donna Gaines
Born December 31, 1948 (1948-12-31) (age 63) Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Origin Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
Genres Dance-pop, disco, pop, rock, new wave
Occupations Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, piano
Years active 1968–present
Labels Oasis Records
Casablanca (1975–1980)
Geffen (1980–1988)
Atlantic (1988–1991)
Mercury (1994–1996)
Warner-Elektra-Atlantic (Outside of U.S. 1980–1991)
Epic (1999–2001)
Burgundy (2006–present)
Associated acts Giorgio Moroder, Brooklyn Dreams

LaDonna Adrian Gaines (born December 31, 1948),[1] known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner[2][3] and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart. She also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a thirteen-month period.

Contents

Early life and career

Donna Summer was born on New Year's Eve 1948 in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, she was one of seven children raised by devout Christian parents. Influenced by Mahalia Jackson, Summer began singing in the church at a young age. In her teens, she formed several musical groups including one with her sister and a cousin, imitating Motown girl groups such as The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas in Boston.

In the late 1960s, Summer was influenced by Janis Joplin after listening to her albums as member of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and joined the psychedelic rock group the Crow as lead singer. Beforehand, Summer dropped out of school convinced that music was her way out of Boston, where she had always felt herself to be an outsider, even among her own family who ridiculed her for her voice and her looks. The group was short-lived, as they split upon their arrival in New York. In 1968, Summer auditioned for a role in the Broadway musical, Hair. She lost the part of Sheila to Melba Moore. When the musical moved to Europe, Summer was offered the role. She took it and moved to Germany for several years. While in Germany, where she learned to speak German fluently, she participated in the musicals Godspell and Show Boat. After settling in Munich, she began performing in several ensembles including the Viennese Folk Opera and even sang as a member of the pop group FamilyTree – "invented" and created by the German music producer Guenter "Yogi" Lauke & the Munich Machine. She came to the group in 1973 and toured with the 11-people pop group throughout Europe. She also sang as a studio session singer and in theaters. In 1971, while still using her birth name Donna Gaines, she released her first single, a cover of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", though it was not a hit. In 1972, she married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer and gave birth to their daughter Mimi Sommer in 1973. Citing marital problems caused by his frequent absences, she divorced him but kept his last name, changing the "o" to a "u".

1970s

 This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2011)

It was while singing background for the hit-making 1970s trio Three Dog Night that Summer met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. She eventually made a deal with the European label Groovy Records and issued her first album, Lady of the Night, in 1974. The album was not released in America, but found some limited European success on the strength of the song "The Hostage", which reached number one in Belgium and number two in the Netherlands. Summer's early material consisted of pop rock and folk rock material. She stated years later that had she not recorded disco she would have been a black rock singer, but considering there was not a market for black rock singers, Summer thought it would be hard to get promoted as such.

In 1975, Summer approached Moroder with an idea for a song he and Bellotte were working on for another singer. She had come up with the lyrics "love to love you, baby". Moroder was interested in developing the new sound that was becoming popular and used Summer's lyric to develop the song. Moroder persuaded Summer to record what was to be a demo track for another performer. She later said that she had thought of how the song might sound if Marilyn Monroe had sung it and began cooing the lyrics. To get into the mood of recording the song, she requested the producers turn off the lights while she sat on a sofa inducing moans and groans. After hearing playback of the song, Moroder felt Summer's version should actually be distributed. Released as "Love to Love You" in Europe, some radio stations refused to play it, but the song found modest chart success in several countries there. The song was a real piece of work with sensual elegance.

The song was then sent to America and arrived in the office of Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart in hopes of getting an American release. Casablanca was known around the industry for throwing lavish parties. At one of these parties, Bogart, still undecided about releasing the song on his label, had "Love To Love You" played so he could gauge the reaction of people on the dancefloor. The crowd took to the song (which was less than five minutes) so strongly that they kept asking for it to be played over and over consecutively so they could continue dancing in the same groove. Soon after that night, Bogart informed Summer and Moroder he would release the song but requested that Moroder produce a longer version, about 15 to 20 minutes in length. Moroder, Bellotte, and Summer returned with a 17 minute version that included a soulful chorus and an instrumental break where Summer invoked even more moans. Bogart stated the name would be slightly changed to "Love to Love You Baby" for the American release. Casablanca signed Summer and it released the single in November 1975. The shorter version of the single was promoted to radio stations while clubs received the 17 minute version (the longer version would also appear on the album). When Casablanca released the 17 minute version in its entirety as a single, it became one of the first record labels, to help make popular a format that would later be known as the 12 inch. By early 1976, "Love To Love You Baby" had reached #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album of the same name sold over a million copies. The song generated controversy for Summer's moans and groans and some American radio stations, like several in Europe, refused to play it. Time magazine would report that 22 orgasms were simulated in the making of the song. Other upcoming singles included "Try Me, I Know We can Make It", US #80; "Could It Be Magic", US #52; "Spring Affair", US #58; and "Winter Melody", US #43. The subsequent albums Love Trilogy and Four Seasons of Love both went gold in the US.

In 1977, Summer released the concept album I Remember Yesterday. This album included her second top ten single, "I Feel Love", which reached number six in the US and number one in the UK. These US Hot 100 entries on the singles chart would help get Summer deemed in the press as "The First Lady of Love", a title which she was not totally comfortable with.

Another concept album, also released in 1977, was the double album, Once Upon a Time, which told of a modern-day Cinderella "rags to riches" story through the elements of orchestral disco and ballads. This album would also attain gold status. In 1978, Summer released her version of the Richard Harris ballad, "MacArthur Park", which became her first number one US hit. The song was featured on Summer's first live album, Live and More, which also became her first album to hit number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, and went platinum selling over a million copies. Other studio tracks included the top ten hit, "Heaven Knows", which featured the group Brooklyn Dreams accompanying her on background and Joe "Bean" Esposito singing alongside her on the verses. Summer would later be involved romantically with Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sudano and the couple married two years after the song's release. Also in 1978, Summer acted in the film, Thank God It's Friday, playing a singer determined to perform at a hot disco club. The film met modest success, but a song from the film, entitled "Last Dance", reached number three on the Hot 100 and resulted in Summer winning her first Grammy Award. Its writer, Paul Jabara, won an Academy Award for the composition. Despite her musical success, Summer was struggling with anxiety and depression and fell into a prescription drug addiction for several years.

In 1979, Summer was a performer on the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert. The United Nations organization Unicef had declared 1979 as the Year of the Child. Summer joined contemporaries like Abba, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earth, Wind and Fire, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson for an hour's TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world's children. Artists donated royalties of certain songs, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause.

Bad Girls and the break from disco

Following her recovery from prescription drug addiction, Summer worked on her next album with Moroder and Bellotte. The result was Bad Girls, an album that had been in production for nearly two years. Summer based the concept of the album on a prostitute, as was made clear in the lyrics. The album became a success, spawning the number one hits "Hot Stuff" and Bad Girls, and the number two ballad "Dim All the Lights" With MacArthur Park, Hot Stuff, Bad Girls, and the Barbra Streisand duet "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" (which appeared on Streisand's album Wet), Summer achieved four number-one hits within a thirteen month period. Those aforementioned songs, along with Heaven Knows, Last Dance, Dim All The Lights, and On the Radio (from her upcoming double-album) would give her eight US Top 5 singles within a two year period. "Hot Stuff" later won her a second Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, which was the first time that category was ever brought to the award's show. That year, Summer played eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

Summer released her first greatest hits set in 1979, a double-album entitled On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2. The album reached number one in the US, becoming her third consecutive number one album. A new song from the compilation, "On the Radio", reached the US top five.

1980s

After the release of the greatest hits album, Summer wanted to branch out with other musical styles in addition to disco. This led to tensions between her and Casablanca Records. Sensing that they could no longer come to terms, Summer and the label parted ways in 1980, and she signed with Geffen Records, the new label started by David Geffen.

Summer's first release on Geffen Records was The Wanderer; it replaced the disco sound of Summer's previous releases with more of the burgeoning new wave sound and elements of rock, such as the material being recorded at this time by Pat Benatar. The first single, the title track, became a hit and peaked at #3 in the US, subsequent singles were moderate hits. The album achieved gold status in the US, but met limited success on the UK charts.

Summer's projected second Geffen release, entitled I'm a Rainbow, was shelved by Geffen Records (though two of the album's songs would surface in soundtracks of the 1980s films Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Flashdance). Summer reluctantly parted company with Moroder after seven years working together as Geffen had recruited Quincy Jones to produce her next album. The result was the 1982 album Donna Summer. The album had taken a lengthy six months to record. The album's first single, the dance track "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)", became an American top ten hit on the Hot 100, followed by more moderate hits "State of Independence"(#41 pop) and "The Woman In Me"(#33 pop). Problems then increased between Summer and Geffen Records after they were notified by Polygram Records, the parent company of Summer's former label Casablanca, that she needed to deliver them one more album to fulfill her contract with them. Summer delivered the album She Works Hard for the Money and Polygram released it on its Mercury imprint in 1983. The title song became a hit reaching number three on the US Hot 100, and would provide Summer with a Grammy nomination. The album also featured the reggae-flavored top 20 UK hit "Unconditional Love", which featured the British group Musical Youth who were riding high from the success of their single "Pass the Dutchie". The third US single, "Love Has A Mind of Its Own", reached the top forty of the Billboard R&B chart. The album was certified gold.

In late 1984, with her obligation to Polygram complete, Summer returned on Geffen Records with her next release. Geffen, wanting to keep the momentum going, enlisted She Works Hard For the Money's producer Michael Omartian to produce Cats Without Claws. The album, however, was not as successful as She Works Hard For the Money and failed to attain gold status of 500,000 copies sold in the US, becoming her first album since her 1974 debut not to do so. It did include a moderate hit in "There Goes My Baby", which peaked at #21.

Controversy

In the mid 1980s, Summer was embroiled in a controversy. She had allegedly made anti-gay remarks regarding the then-relatively new disease AIDS, which as a result had a significantly negative impact on her career and saw thousands of her records being returned to her record company by angered fans. Summer, by this time a born-again Christian, was alleged to have said that AIDS was a punishment from God for the immoral lifestyles of homosexuals.[4][5] However, she later denied that she had ever made any such comment and, in a letter to the AIDS campaign group ACT UP in 1989, she claimed that it was "a terrible misunderstanding. I was unknowingly protected by those around me from the bad press and hate letters....If I have caused you pain, forgive me." She went on to apologise for the delay in refuting the rumors and closed her letter with quotes from Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians from the Bible.[6]

Also in 1989, Summer told The Advocate magazine that "A couple of the people I write with are gay, and they have been ever since I met them. What people want to do with their bodies is their personal preference.".[7] A couple of years later she filed a lawsuit against New York magazine when it reprinted the rumors as fact just as she was about to release her album Mistaken Identity in 1991.[8] According to an A&E Biography program dedicated to Summer in which she participated in 1995, the lawsuit was settled out of court though neither side were able to divulge any details.[9]

European success

In 1987, Summer returned with the album All Systems Go, which did not sell well, becoming her second consecutive album not to achieve gold status. It featured the single "Dinner with Gershwin" (written by Brenda Russell), which was only a minor US hit, though it peaked at #13 in the UK. The album's title track, "All Systems Go", was released only in the UK where it peaked at #54.

For Summer's next album, Geffen Records hired the British hit production team of Stock Aitken Waterman (or SAW), who had experienced incredible success by writing and producing for such acts as Kylie Minogue, Dead or Alive, Bananarama, and Rick Astley among others. However, Geffen decided not to release the album, entitled Another Place and Time, and Summer and Geffen Records parted ways in 1988. The album was released in Europe in March 1989 on Warner Bros. Records, which had been Summer's label in Europe since 1982. The single "This Time I Know It's For Real" had become a top ten hit in several countries in Europe, prompting the Warner Bros. subsidiary company Atlantic Records to sign Summer in the US and pick up the album for a North American release soon after. The single peaked at #7 on the Hot 100 in the US, and became her twelfth gold single there. It was also Summer's final Top 40 hit on the American pop charts, though she scored two more UK hits from the album, "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt" (UK #7) and "Love's About To Change My Heart" (UK #20).

1990s

In 1990, The Best of Donna Summer was released on Warner Bros. Records. It featured some of Summer's biggest hits from this period (with the exception of any material from the Mercury album, as this was not a division of Warner Bros.) plus a small selection of her 1970s disco hits licensed from PolyGram.

In 1991, Summer released the new jack swing style album Mistaken Identity. It did not sell well, but did contain the #18 R&B hit "When Love Cries".

In 1993, Polygram Records released an extended greatest hits collection entitled The Donna Summer Anthology. It included 34 songs totally over two and a half hours of music. It not only included songs from the Polygram-owned labels of Casablanca and Mercury, but also material from Atlantic and Geffen Records as well.

In 1994, Summer return with a new album on Mercury/Polygram, a gospel-influenced Christmas album entitled Christmas Spirit. It included classic Christmas songs such as "O Holy Night", "Joy To The World", and "O Come All Ye Faithful" as well as some original songs.

Some of Summer's dance releases including "Carry On" (her first collaboration with Moroder in a decade) and "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)" charted on the US Dance Chart, with "Melody of Love" reaching number one on that chart and also reaching number 21 on the UK Singles Chart

Also in 1994, Polygram would release yet another Summer album (Polygram's third Summer album within a two year period); a collection called "Endless Summer: Greatest Hits". The differences between this greatest hits album and the Anthology collection would be that this package contained 18 songs, while Anthology contained 34; and the songs here were mainly the radio versions heard at the time of their release, while Anthology contained somewhat longer versions of the songs.

While touring, Summer was offered a role guest-starring on the sitcom Family Matters as Steve Urkel's (Jaleel White) Aunt Oona in 1994, and again in 1997. In 1998, Summer received a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, being the first to do so, after a remixed version of her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, "Carry On", was released in 1997. In 1999, Summer taped a live television special for VH1 titled Donna Summer – Live and More Encore, producing the second highest ratings that year for the network, after their annual Divas special. A CD of the event was released by Epic Records and featured two studio recordings, "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)" and "Love Is the Healer" reached number one on the Billboard Dance Charts.

2000s

Summer scored top ten hits on Billboard's Dance Chart in the beginning of the new millennium. In 2000, she also appeared on the third annual Divas special, dedicated to Diana Ross, though Summer sang her own material for the show. In 2004, Summer was inducted to the Dance Music Hall of Fame alongside The Bee Gees and Barry Gibb as an artist. Her classic song, "I Feel Love", was also inducted that night.

In 2008, Summer released her first studio album of original music in 14 years since 1994 (Christmas Spirit); years entitled Crayons, which peaked at #17 on the US Top 200 Album Chart, and achieved modest international success. The album was released on the Sony BMG label Burgundy Records. The songs "I'm A Fire", "Stamp Your Feet", and "Fame (The Game)" reached number one on the US Billboard Dance Chart. The ballad "Sand on My Feet" was released to adult contemporary stations and reached number thirty on that chart.

While commenting on the album, Summer said “I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it. I did not want it to be any one baby. I just wanted it to be a sampler of flavors and influences from all over the world. There’s a touch of this, a little smidgeon of that, a dash of something else…like when you’re cooking.” On the song “The Queen Is Back”, Summer reveals her wry and witty self-awareness of her musical legacy and her public persona. “I’m making fun of myself,” she admits. “There’s irony, it’s poking fun at the idea of being called a queen. That’s a title that has followed me, followed me, and followed me. We were sitting and writing and that title kept popping up in my mind and I’m thinking, ‘Am I supposed to write this? Is this too arrogant to write?’ But people call me ‘the queen,’ so I guess it's ok to refer to myself as what everybody else refers to me as. We started writing the song and thought it was kind of cute and funny.” Summer wrote “The Queen Is Back” and “Mr. Music” with J.R. Rotem and Evan Bogart, the son of Neil Bogart, Casablanca Records founder. Neil Bogart died from cancer at the age of 39. He signed Summer to his Casablanca Records label in 1975 and released most of her biggest records during the 1970s. “I adored him and would have given up everything for him to be alive,” says Summer, remembering a time backstage long ago “when the nail person didn’t show up and Neil got on his knees and did my toenails. In many ways he was my mentor and I didn’t get to say goodbye to him.” When Summer met Evan Bogart, she was struck by his uncanny resemblance to his father. “It’s almost like they chiseled him out of his father,” Summer observed. “I’m in the studio looking at him and I get tears in my eyes, he has no idea why. I just wanted to hug him because it’s like I’m seeing someone I haven’t seen since his father passed away. It’s almost like Neil is looking at me through him. Evan and I hit it off immediately; there was a synergy that happened really quickly.”

On December 11, 2009, Summer performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, in honor of US President Barack Obama. She was backed by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

2010s

In August 2010, she released the single "To Paris With Love", co-written with Bruce Roberts and produced by Peter Stengaard. In October 2010, the single reached #1 on the US Billboard Dance Chart. Also that month, Summer appeared in the PBS Television Special Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends. In it, Summer performed with Seal on a medley of the songs "Unbreak My Heart / Crazy / On The Radio", before Summer closed the show with "Last Dance".[10]

On July 29, 2010, Summer gave an interview with allvoices.com where she was asked if she would consider doing an album of standards. She replied:

"I actually am, probably in September. I will begin work on a standards album. I will probably do an all-out dance album and a standards album. I'm gonna do both, and we will release them however were gonna release them. We are not sure which is going first."[11]

On September 15, 2010, Summer appeared as a guest celebrity singing alongside rising star Prince Poppycock on the television show America's Got Talent.

On October 16, 2010, she performed at a benefit concert at the Phoenix Symphony.[12]

On June 6, 2011, Summer was a guest judge on the show, Platinum Hit in week two titled, Dance Floor Royalty. Platinum Hit is a reality competition series on Bravo launched in 2011 in which 12 singer-songwriters compete through innovative songwriting challenges that will test their creativity, patience and drive. Every episode features a different topic from a dance track to a love ballad, that require the contestants to write and perform lyrics from a multiple of genres, for a cash prize of $100,000, a publishing deal with songwriting collective The Writing Camp, and a recording deal with RCA/Jive label

In July, 2011 Summer was working at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer O'Mega Red. Together they worked on a track entitled "Angel".

Personal life

 This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2012)

Summer was one of seven children born and raised in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, living in a three-family complex house in the bottom floor of the complex. Following her move to Austria in 1971, she met and fell in love with actor Helmuth Sommer while the two were acting in Godspell. In 1973, the couple married and that year Summer gave birth to her first child, daughter Mimi Sommer. However, the marriage crumbled and by 1975, they had formally divorced. Summer took her husband's last name (though slightly altering the spelling) as her stage name.

In 1978, while working on the hit track, "Heaven Knows" which featured Brooklyn Dreams member Joe "Bean" Esposito on vocals, Summer met fellow member Bruce Sudano. Within a few months, Summer and Sudano became an item. The couple married on July 16, 1980. A year later, Summer gave birth to another daughter (her first child with Sudano), Brooklyn (named after Sudano's group). A year after that, Summer and Sudano had their second child, Amanda.

Summer has often talked about her early successful years as a period of confusion and anxiety. By mid-1977, struggling with the media's titles of her as the first lady of love, she began suffering from depression and started having anxiety attacks. Summer has written in her memoirs that she had attempted suicide a few times. During this time, she self-medicated on prescription medication resulting in an addiction. Following a nervous breakdown at her home in 1979, Summer went to a local church attended with her sister Dara and declared herself a born again Christian. Summer then decided that from then on, the song that had won her international fame and recognition, "Love to Love You Baby", would no longer be performed. A quarter of a century later, however, she began performing the song again live.

In 1994, Summer and her family moved from Los Angeles to Nashville where she took time out from showbusiness to focus on painting, a hobby she began in 1985. In 1995, Summer's mother died. Today, Summer still lives in Nashville with her husband and is a grandmother of four.

Awards and recognition

  • One NAACP Image Award.
  • One time Juno Award nomination for Best Selling International Single,"I feel Love".
  • Three Multi-Platinum albums in the US.
  • Eleven of her albums went Gold in the US.
  • Twelve Gold singles.
  • Six American Music Awards.
  • She was the first female African American to receive an MTV Video Music Awards nomination. ("Best Female Video" and "Best Choreography" for "She Works Hard For The Money")
  • Two Golden Globe Award nominations (one win for "Last Dance" Song and one nominated for "The Deep" John Barry's Song).
  • Summer has received five Grammy Awards.[13]
    • 1979 – Best R&B Vocal Performance (Female), Last Dance
    • 1980 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), Hot Stuff
    • 1984 – Best Inspirational Performance, He's a Rebel
    • 1985 – Best Inspirational Performance, Forgive Me
    • 1998 – Best Dance Recording, Carry On
  • Twelve Grammy Award nominations (total of seventeen).
    • 1979 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), MacArthur Park
    • 1980 – Album of the Year, Bad Girls
    • 1980 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Bad Girls
    • 1980 – Best R&B Vocal Performance (Female), Dim All the Lights
    • 1980 – Best Disco Recording, Bad Girls
    • 1981 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), On the Radio
    • 1982 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), Cold Love
    • 1982 – Best Inspirational Performance, I Believe in Jesus
    • 1983 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), Protection
    • 1983 – Best R&B Vocal Performance (Female), Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)
    • 1984 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), She Works Hard for the Money
    • 2000 – Best Dance Recording, I Will Go with You (Con te Partiro)
  • Summer placed a Top Forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in every year from 1976 ("Love to Love You Baby") to 1984 ("There Goes My Baby").
  • Summer was the first artist to score three consecutive number-one double albums.
  • Summer was twice honored by the Dance Music Hall of Fame; once with her induction as a recording artist and again with the induction for her influential single "I Feel Love".[14]
  • Summer's music career has landed her as the eighth most successful female recording artist in history according to Billboard[citation needed].
  • Summer's career span of Billboard number-one Disco/Club Play hits spans from 1975's "Love to Love You Baby" through 2010's "[To Paris With Love]".
  • Summer was nominated for 2010 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but was not chosen.[15]

Cover versions by other artists

  • "Love to Love You Baby" was sampled in Beyoncé Knowles's "Naughty Girl" and by TLC on their original version of "I'm Good at Being Bad", but was removed by request of Summer on later editions. The song has been covered in portions onstage by Dionne Warwick.
  • "I Feel Love" was covered by French Canadian artist Jorane for her 2004 album The You and the Now. LA based band Dengue Fever covered this song on their album Radio Dance Floor. Kylie Minogue's team also sampled this for her 2002 KylieFever. Kylie performed "Light Years" which contains elements of "I Feel Love".
  • Summer's "Starting Over Again" was a number one hit on the Hot Country Songs chart as a single for Dolly Parton in 1980. It also was a top-forty hit for Parton on the Billboard Hot 100. Reba McEntire named her 1995 album after the song, and McEntire's version hit no. 17 on the country singles chart in 1996. McEntire stated in the album's liner notes that her recording of the song was intended as something of a tribute to Summer and Parton, both artists whom she admired.

Donna Summer concert tours

Discography

Main article: Donna Summer discography

See also

Book icon Book: Donna Summer
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

References

  1. ^ allmusic ((( Donna Summer > Biography )))
  2. ^ 'Nightline' Playlist: Donna Summer – ABC News. Abcnews.go.com (2008-06-13). Retrieved on 2011-02-22.
  3. ^ Donna Summer Tickets – Queen Of Disco. Articlesnatch.com (1948-12-31). Retrieved on 2011-02-22.
  4. ^ "Diva Debacle". New Musical Express (NME) (October 4, 1999). 1999. http://www.nme.com/news/donna-summer/2084. Retrieved 2011-07-17. 
  5. ^ Rule, Doug (2010). "Summer Heat". Metro Weekly. http://www.metroweekly.com/arts_entertainment/music.php?ak=5531. Retrieved 2011-07-17. 
  6. ^ Gay Community Frowns on Disco Diva Donna Summer. Jet Magazine (page 38, Sept 18, 1989). 1989. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rrsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=donna+summer+aids&source=bl&ots=vLYenap8x6&sig=FsL6B5wrfJIa6-QJNABJGi7i8f0&hl=en&ei=p3EjTty4E4eyhAeS9Y2hAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&sqi=2&ved=0CFEQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=donna%20summer%20aids&f=false. Retrieved 2011-07-17. 
  7. ^ Groover, D.L. (2008). "Summer Fans, Some Are Not". OutSmart magazine. http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/cms-this_issue/200507--Summer+Fans,+Some+Are+Not.html. Retrieved 2008-07-14. [dead link]
  8. ^ Ottawa XPress – Music – Donna Summer. Ottawaxpress.ca. Retrieved on 2011-02-22.
  9. ^ Biography (TV series), Episode: Donna Summer. A&E. (February 9, 1995)
  10. ^ Donna Summer. Donna Summer. Retrieved on 2011-02-22.
  11. ^ "Donna Summer Exclusive Interview: Bringing her Summer tour to Hard Rock Live" (29 July 2010). AllVoices.com. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  12. ^ "Phoenix Symphony Goes Back to the Days of Disco". Myfoxphoenix.com. 2010-10-16. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/entertainment/music/phx-symphony-donna-summer-10162010. Retrieved 2011-04-04. 
  13. ^ "Donna Summer past awards search". grammy.com. http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=donna+summer&title=&year=All&genre=All. 
  14. ^ "Dance Music Hall Of Fame Announces Induction Ceremony". Remixmag.com. http://remixmag.com/news/remix_dance_music_hall_2/. Retrieved 2011-04-04. 
  15. ^ "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Announces Nominees for 2010 Induction". Rockhall.com. http://www.rockhall.com/induction2010. Retrieved 2011-04-04. 

External links

Donna Summer
Studio albums

Lady of the Night (1974) · Love to Love You Baby (1975) · A Love Trilogy (1976) · Four Seasons of Love (1976) · I Remember Yesterday (1977) · Once Upon A Time (1977) · Bad Girls (1979) · The Wanderer (1980) · I'm a Rainbow (1981/1996) · Donna Summer (1982) · She Works Hard for the Money (1983) · Cats Without Claws (1984) · All Systems Go (1987) · Another Place and Time (1989) · Mistaken Identity (1991) · Christmas Spirit (1994) · Crayons (2008)
Live albums

Live and More (1978) · Live & More Encore (1999)
Compilations
U.S. Top 10
Hit singles
Concert tours
Related topics

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
Related topics:
Donna Summer: A Hot Summer Night (1984 Music Film)
History of Rock 1978 (1978 Music Film)
Madonna and Dance Music (198z Music Film)

Related answers:
What was Donna summer\'s real name? Read answer...
Who influeneced Donna summer? Read answer...
How many children has Donna Summer? Read answer...

Help us answer these:
Where is Donna Summer now?
Donna Summer record producer?
Was Donna summer biracial?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

$copyright.smallImage.alttext Gale Contemporary Black Biography. Contemporary Black Biography. Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Gale Musician Profiles. Contemporary Musicians © 1989-2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists. Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Donna Summer.  Read more

Related answers
» More
Answer these
» More
Follow us
Facebook Twitter
YouTube

Mentioned in

» More» More