Singer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She secured the lead role in the musical Hair (1967) in Munich, Germany, staying with the production for over four years. She then undertook regular work as a session singer in the Munich Musicland Studios, before recording Love to Love You Baby (1975), an erotic song with a strong disco beat, which reached number 2 in the US music charts. Her songs were extremely popular in discos during the 1970s and 1980s. Her albums include I Remember Yesterday (1977), Bad Girls (1979), and Another Place and Time (1989).
| Donna Summer | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | LaDonna Andrea Gaines | |
| Born | December 31, 1948 | |
| Origin |
Boston, Massachusetts United States |
|
| Genre(s) | Disco, pop, R&B, soul, dance, rock, gospel | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, actress | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, keyboard | |
| Years active | 1971–present | |
| Label(s) |
Casablanca Geffen Atlantic Epic Burgundy |
|
|
Associated acts |
Giorgio Moroder | |
Donna Summer (born LaDonna Andrea Gaines on December 31, 1948) is an American Grammy Award-winning singer best known for a string of Netherland disco music hits in the 1970s that earned her the title "Queen of Disco" and also as one of the few disco artists to have longevity on the charts into the late-1980s. Even though she is one of the best-known artists of the disco era, Summer has covered different genres including R&B, rock and roll, and gospel music, earning her Grammy Awards in those categories. It has been estimated that Summer's album and single sales total more than 120 million, easily making her part of the list of best-selling music artists. It was at this point that Summer claims she knew she would become famous.
In her teens, Summer joined a rock group called Crow, of which she was the only Black member. The show was about to head overseas to Germany and Summer's strict father at first refused to let her leave. After Hair finished, Summer starred in the German versions of Godspell, and Show Boat over the next few years.
In 1971, Summer released a single in Europe, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" (credited to Donna Gaines), her first solo recording. The single was unsuccessful, however, and Summer had to wait until 1974 to launch a solo career. After resettling in Munich, Germany, Summer married Austrian actor Helmut Sommer ("Summer" is an anglicization of his last name) and did various musical jobs in studios and theaters for several years, including the pop group FamilyTree from 1974-75.
Summer gave birth to her first child, Mimi in 1973, and put her singing career on hold. Summer felt trapped in her role as housewife and mother and before long wanted out of the marriage. With these producers, Summer signed a contract in the Netherlands and issued her first album, Lady of the Night, which included the European hit, "The Hostage", which made #1 in France, Belgium, and Holland and #2 in Germany.
In the late summer of 1975, Summer approached Moroder and Bellotte with an idea for a song. Moroder in particular was interested in developing the new disco sound that was becoming more and more popular and used Summer's idea to develop the song into a disco track. In recording the song, Summer laid on the floor of a pitch black studio and imagined she was Marilyn Monroe playing the part of someone indulging in sexual activity. Moroder was astounded with Summer's orgasmic vocals and her imaginative moans and groans that he insisted she should release the single herself. Summer reluctanly agreed and the song, titled "Love To Love You", was released. Summer, Moroder and producer Pete Bellotte cut a seventeen-minute version and with that, renamed it "Love To Love You Baby", and Casablanca signed Summer and issued the single in November 1975. Casablanca would then become responsible for distributing Summer's work in the U.S., while other labels would distribute it in different nations.
The "Love To Love You Baby" single would become Summer's first big hit in America reaching #2 on the pop singles chart in February 1976 and becoming her first #1 dance single. In her home town, Summer's deeply religious parents were shocked by the track, her mother flatly refusing to believe it was her daughter singing on the record. Summer was subsequently dubbed "the first lady of love." The two albums that followed - A Love Trilogy and Four Seasons of Love both had a reasonably high sexual/fantasy content, and Summer was never completely happy with her image.
The 1977 album I Remember Yesterday, another concept album, showed the Summer/Moroder/Bellotte team combining the disco sound with sounds of the past, present and future.
Summer released another album in 1977 called Once Upon a Time, a concept album telling a modern-day "rags to riches" story through the means of electronic disco. Regarded by many fans as the best of her work, the record's beautiful artwork showed Summer dressed in a white fairytale dress and the inner sleeves were presented as a libretto. Summer's manager, Joyce Bogart Trabulous, was also the wife of her record company president Neil Bogart. The couple became two close personal friends of Summer. Of all the people involved in Summer's career, it was felt that Neil Bogart in particular was keen for her to portray the image of the sexy, rich, powerful woman that had initially made her famous. The Bogarts became a major part of Summer's personal and professional life. Before long they also took control of other aspects of Summer's life - such as which doctors and attorneys she would use.
In 1978, Summer acted the film Thank God It's Friday, and released the hit single, "Last Dance". Written by Paul Jabara who also co-wrote "It's Raining Men", the song became another monumental hit for Summer reaching #3 and resulted in her first Grammy win while Jabara took home the Oscar after the song was nominated for Song of the Year. Summer also recorded a side-long version of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus)" which was very similar in style to "Love To Love You Baby", initially shelved and later released as a part of the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack. A double-album, it was also Summer's first #1 album and included her first #1 pop single, a cover of the Jimmy Webb-penned "MacArthur Park", originally made famous by Irish singer/actor Richard Harris. Group member Bruce Sudano would become romantically involved with Summer, and "Heaven Knows" became another top five hit in the U.S.
While at the height of her fame, Summer became increasingly anxious and depressed. It did not help that her record label president was married to her manager, and that the two were close personal friends of hers, as the two worked together to take control of Summer's life. As Summer begun to feel that she had less and less control over her career and her personal life, she began to suffer from insomnia and took tablets to try and solve her problems Summer felt that the tablets merely complicated matters. Her daughter Mimi was still living with Summer's parents and the feeling of not being a part of her life was also taking its toll. Summer even got to the point where she was afraid to go on stage and her assistants were allowing her up to four hours to get ready for a show.
In early 1979, Summer collapsed under the strain. This would mark the end of Summer's reliance on prescription tablets and decision to leave behind the song that had made her famous - she would never again perform "Love To Love You Baby," though she since revived the song, performing it at several venues. The former track won Summer a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Bad Girls became Summer's second #1 album and her most successful one, selling over seven million copies worldwide. Once again, Summer's music was years ahead of its time, and elements of Bad Girls would surface in the 1980's from such artists as the Eurythmics, New Order, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, Bronski Beat, and a slew of other New Wave and techno bands. Several different artists were involved in the writing of Bad Girls including Bruce Sudano, who Summer had worked with the previous year on her "Heaven Knows" single. During this period, Donna Summer became the first woman ever to have two songs on Billboard's top three of the Hot 100 during the same week with "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff".
Summer's first main international compilation album (before Casblanca had begun the worldwide distribution of Summer's material, different labels had released different compilations in different countries in late 1977/early 1978), On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & With this, Summer became the first artist to have three consecutive #1 double-albums. Both were big hits when released as singles, the former becoming Summer's fourth Number One hit in the U.S.
At the beginning of 1980, Summer left Casablanca Records and begun legal proceedings against Neil and Joyce Bogart for "undue influence, misrepresentation and fraud". Summer found this extremely hard as her special relationship with the Bogarts had made her a worldwide star, and their friendship was now shattered.
Around this time Summer confided in some of her closest friends that she was seriously thinking of retiring from the music business, feeling that she wanted to spend more time with new husband Bruce Sudano However she was made a lucritive offer by David Geffen and became the first ever artist to be signed to his new Geffen label.
The Wanderer and She Works Hard for the Money
Summer's first Geffen release, 1980's The Wanderer, was a full-fledged rock/New Wave affair. Though two of the songs were hits on the dance charts, songs like the title track, and the accompanying singles ("Cold Love" and "Who Do You Think You're Foolin'" saw Summer reaching the same audience that contemporaries like Blondie and Pat Benatar were dominating. The album sold relatively well, and the title track became Summer's eleventh top ten single in the U.S.
A second release, I'm a Rainbow, a dance-orientated double album which also featured elements of soul, R&B and even disco, was shelved by Geffen (although two of the tracks would surface during the 1980s on the Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Flashdance film soundtracks) because he believed Summer needed fresh production. Reluctantly, Summer left Moroder after seven years of producing countless hits together, and released her self-titled 1982 album with production from Quincy Jones, who got her back in the top ten of the pop, R&B, and dance charts with "Love Is In Control (Finger on the Trigger)".
In 1982, Summer also learned that Neil Bogart, who had been president of Casablanca Records during her time with them, had died of cancer having been diagnosed with the disease the previous year. At the height of Summer's fame during the disco period she and Bogart had been close friends along with his wife and Summer's manager Joyce Bogart Trabulous. However after her belief that the Bogarts had exploited her and the lawsuit she took against them, Summer had had no contact with them since the lawsuit had been settled in 1980. Though Summer sang at his funeral, it would still be a further six years before she would finally settle her differences with his widow.
In 1983, Summer scored her biggest triumph since Bad Girls with the release of the She Works Hard for the Money single and album. That album was rejected by Geffen and Summer gave the album to PolyGram to settle her legal dispute with them, which was due from her early years with the Casablanca Records label. Released on PolyGram's Mercury Records, the success of the She Works Hard for the Money album permanently poisoned Summer's relationship with Geffen. PolyGram would also be responsible for releasing The Summer Collection in 1985, which contained some of her disco classics as well as tracks from the She Works Hard for the Money album, and later The Dance Collection in 1987, which showcased Summer's disco songs in the form of their extended remixes. Summer left Geffen in 1988 to sign with Atlantic Records. Rumours have circulated among fans that as well as the I'm a Rainbow album, Summer had more unreleased material turned down by Geffen during her time with them.
Later career
Summer regained her hit luster again in 1989 with her Another Place and Time album. This was featured on his Forever Dancing album and the following year would be featured on the double compilation album The Donna Summer Anthology. 1994 saw Summer release a gospel-influenced Christmas album entitled Christmas Spirit (her first full-length album for over three years) and a new compilation entitled Endless Summer (both albums were released by PolyGram) which also contained a couple of new tracks including "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)", which became a dance hit.
In 1996, Summer's album I'm a Rainbow was finally released by Polygram's Mercury Records.
In 1998, Summer was the first artist to receive a Grammy award for Best Dance Recording for her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, "Carry On", after the song was remixed and released as a single.
In 1999, Summer starred in a televised live concert on the VH1 network entitled 'Donna Summer - Live and More Encore. Summer acknowledges that she wrote the song for Stewart but recorded it herself. Summer scored two #1 dance hits that year with "I Will Go With You" and "Love Is the Healer" (both found as new studio tracks on the album). During that year, Summer recorded the title track for Pokémon: The Movie 2000 entitled The Power Of One.
In 2003, Donna Summer released a greatest-hits compilation called The Journey, which rocketed into the UK Top 10 in the following year, thanks to her appearance on ITV1 show Discomania - in which she co-presented & Chart Positions
Since 1975, every album released by Summer has placed a single in the Top Twenty of at least one Billboard chart.
In addition to her Grammy win for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Summer also won several Grammy's for her inspirational/gospel work. Summer's penned "Starting Over" would become a #1 country hit for Dolly Parton in 1981. Her song "I Feel Love" was covered by Blue Man Group and Venus Hum for the album The Complex
Current work
On September 20, 2004, Summer was among the first artists to be inducted into the newly formed Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.
Today, Summer and her family make their home in Nashville, Tennessee. In July 2006, Summer joined forces with Pure Tone Music, an A&R consulting and full service independent music company, located just outside of New York City, and Summer's official web site has announced an upcoming CD on the Burgundy label to be released in Spring, 2007. Summer has hinted that her upcoming album will be more political, and is currently fundraising for the incumbent Democratic governor of Tennessee.
Personal life
In 1972, Summer married her first husband, Helmut Sommer, and permanently moved to Germany to star in musicals, which resulted in her learning to speak fluent German. Summer is still married to Sudano, and she is a grandmother of three.
Controversy
During her lengthy career, Summer has dealt with controversy both professionally and personally.
In 1991, during the height of the Gulf War, Summer's song "State Of Independence" was banned from US radio play alongside many other songs that were deemed to have an imflammatory effect on the population.
Rumors persisted that Summer was in fact a man in drag and not a woman, a rumour Summer addressed in 1989 on The Arsenio Hall Show.
Summer has long denied such allegations, and finally taking legal action against a newspaper who had printed the rumors during a review of a concert. Summer announced tearfully, "I never said anything that was written about me in that article". To make amends, Summer has since played for AIDS benefits and has donated proceeds to AIDS research. While recording for the hit, "No More Tears" with Barbra Streisand, Summer fell out of her stool after hitting a high note along Streisand who continued singing until stopping in time to ask a conscious Summer if she was alright. Summer stated she had partied the night before. The longest note held by a woman, is found in "Dim All The Lights," Donna Summer's 1979 hit (16 seconds).
Discography
For a detailed listing of albums and singles, see: Donna Summer discography.
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