Disco queen
Born: December 31, 1948; Died: May 17, 2012.
Donna Summer, who has died aged 63 of lung cancer, was an American singer who rose to worldwide fame as a disco star in the 1970s with hits such as I Feel Love, Hot Stuff, She Works Hard for the Money and, notoriously, Love to Love You Baby.
The mezzo-soprano, who was a five-time Grammy Award winner, was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Boston, Massachusetts. One of seven children, she was raised by devout Christian parents and learned to sing in church before fronting a series of bands and appearing in musicals.
After dropping out of school to pursue a career in music she auditioned unsuccessfully for a role on Broadway in the hippy musical Hair, but when the musical moved to Europe, Summer was offered a part. She took it and moved to Germany, where she lived and worked for several years in productions of Hair, Godspell and Porgy and Bess. She married Austrian actor Helmut Sommer in 1972 but despite their eventual divorce she continued to use a variation of his name.
While singing backing vocals for Three Dog Night she met Italian synthesiser pioneer Giorgio Moroder and fellow producer Pete Bellotte and eventually signed a deal with the European label Groovy Records and issued her first album, Lady of the Night, in 1974. It was not a huge success, but the following year she approached Moroder with Love to Love You, Baby, a song she developed with Bellotte.
Moroder, famous for his pulsating rythms, persuaded Summer to introduce sexually suggestive moans and groans and although some radio stations refused to play the song due to its suggestive style, Love to Love You was a hit in several European countries and made the Top 5 in the UK, the first of her 29 UK top 40 singles. The extended 16-minute version is now considered a classic.
Love To Love You Baby made her a star back in the United States and she found even greater success in 1977 with I Feel Love, which again featured the hypnotic electronic disco beats of the pioneering Moroder.
The song proved to be hugely influential and probably her best- known performance, and along with German synth band Kraftwerk, inspired a generation of electronic musicians.
A string of hits and her glamorous looks made her the undisputed Queen of disco and between 1978 and 1983, her career hit its commercial peak, when she enjoyed a string of hit singles including Last Dance, MacArthur Park, Bad Girls, Hot Stuff and State of Independence. In 1983 she scored a massive hit with She Works Hard for the Money – which became an anthem for women's rights.
She was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart but despite her musical success, Summer struggled with anxiety and depression and became dependent on prescription drugs for several years..
A born-again Christian, she faced controversy when she was accused of making anti-gay comments in relation to the Aids epidemic. She denied making the statements but became the target of a boycott and her career suffered. She took some time out from the music business but later in the 1980s teamed up with Pete Waterman and his colleagues to record her Another Place Another Time album, which featured the hit This Time I Know It's For Real. He said: "Whenever you were with her she made you feel so special. She had all the talent but she gave you all the credit. She was not a diva in any shape or form.
"But what a voice she had. She used to warm up in the ladies toilet and everyone in our building would stop and it would come to a standstill to hear her warm up."
She continued working and performing and released her last album, Crayons, in 2008, and stars including Madonna, Kylie Minogue and David Bowie were among the acts who have acknowledged her influence.
In 1978 she met fellow musician Bruce Sudano, and the couple married in 1980. The couple were living in Florida at the time of her death and she is survived by a daughter from her first marriage and two daughters from her second.
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