Donna Summer Totally Explained

Everything about Donna Summer totally explained

Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who gained prominence during the disco era of music. Best known for a series of number one dance hit singles in the late 1970s, Summer was dubbed "Queen of Disco" and is one of the few disco-based artists to have longevity in the recording industry beyond the genre's era.
   Summer was trained as a gospel singer prior to her introduction in the music industry, as were many then-contemporary music artists. However, Summer's notable songwriting capabilities, in addition to her collaborations with producer-songwriters Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, were able to set her apart from rivals in the industry.
   Though she's most notable for her disco hits, Summer's repertoire has expanded to include contemporary R&B, rock, mainstream pop, and even gospel. Summer is one of the most successful female recording artists of the '70s and '80s, and still holds the record for having three consecutive double albums hit #1 on the Billboard charts. She also became the first female artist to have four number-one singles in a twelve-month period. According to her official MySpace page, Summer has sold over 130 million records worldwide
   On September 27, 2007, Summer was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but didn't succeed in being inducted.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, she was one of seven children raised by devout Christian parents. She sang in church, and in her teens joined a rock group called The Crow, so named because Donna was the only black member of the group. At eighteen, Gaines left home and school to take up a supporting role in the Broadway musical, "Hair". The show moved to Germany, where Summer performed in the German versions of several musicals including "Godspell" and "Show Boat". She settled in Munich and also performed with the Viennese Folk Opera.
In 1971, Gaines released a single in Europe entitled "Sally Go 'Round The Roses", her first solo recording. The single was unsuccessful, however, and she'd to wait until 1974 to launch a solo career. Gaines married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer ("Summer" is an Anglicization of his last name) in 1972 and gave birth to daughter Mimi the following year. Summer did various musical jobs in studios and theaters for several years, including the pop group FamilyTree from 1974-75.

Early success and notoriety

While singing back-up for groups such as Three Dog Night, she met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. 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". The single made #1 in France and Belgium, and #2 in the Netherlands. Its follow-up, the title track of the album, also gained some degree of European success.
   In the summer of 1975, Summer approached Moroder and Bellotte with an idea for a song. She had come up with the lyric "Love to love you, baby" as the possible title for the song. Moroder in particular was interested in developing the new disco sound that was becoming increasingly popular, and used Summer's idea to develop the song into a raunchy disco track. He had the idea that she should moan and groan orgasmically, but Summer was initially reticent. Eventually she agreed to record the song as a demo to give to someone else (possibly singer Penny McLean). She has stated that she wasn't completely sure of some of the lyrics, and parts of the song were improvised during the recording (she later stated on a VH-1 "Behind The Music" program that she pictured herself as Marilyn Monroe acting out the part of someone in sexual ecstasy). It was later also claimed rather implausibly, in the British press, that she was reacting to the pain from a toothache! Moroder was so astounded with Summer's orgasmic vocals and her imaginative moans and groans that he insisted she should release the single herself. Summer reluctantly agreed and the song, titled "Love to Love You", was released to modest success in Europe (#4UK). When it reached America and the hands of Casablanca president Neil Bogart, however, he was so ecstatic over the demo that he requested Moroder to produce a twenty-minute version of the song. Summer, Moroder and producer Pete Bellotte cut a seventeen-minute version, renamed it "Love To Love You Baby", and Casablanca signed Summer and issued it as a single in November 1975. Casablanca distributed Summer's work in the US while other labels distributed it in different nations during this period.
   "Love To Love You Baby" was Summer's first big hit in America, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in early 1976 and becoming her first Number-One Hot Dance Club Play chart hit. The album (side one of which was completely taken up with the full-length version of the title track) was also released in late 1975 and was soon certified Gold for sales of over 500,000 US copies. The song was branded "graphic" by some music critics and was even banned by some radio stations for its explicit content. Time magazine later reported that a record 22 orgasms were simulated in the making of the song. In some areas of the music press, Summer was dubbed "the first lady of love." Two successful, Gold-selling concept albums followed - A Love Trilogy which featured the single "Could It Be Magic" and Four Seasons Of Love which featured the uptempo "Spring Affair" as well as ballad "Winter Melody" which was a top 30 hit in the uk- the first of Donna's singles to be be aired on Radio 1 and a hit on the US R&B charts.
   The 1977 album I Remember Yesterday, another concept album, found the Summer/Moroder/Bellotte team combining the Disco sound with musical elements of the past, present and future. The song representing the future, "I Feel Love", originally released as a "B" side to the R&B ballad "Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)", became a landmark recording, finally giving Donna another Pop and R&B hit - reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number one in the UK and various other European countries. "I Feel Love" earned her a second US Gold Single as well. The song's use of raw techno and electronic sounds was revolutionary and popularized synthesizers in dance, rock, and the burgeoning new wave. Summer released another album in 1977, Once Upon A Time, a concept album telling a modern-day "rags to riches" story through the means of electronic disco which, at the time, was regarded by some fans as some of her best work. Many critics dismissed the album in 1977, but it's now one of the most acclaimed dance albums by critics in general.

Continued success in music

In 1978 Summer acted in the critically massacred film Thank God It's Friday and released the single "Last Dance" which became her third US million-selling single. Written by the late Paul Jabara — who also co-wrote "It's Raining Men", "The Main Event (Fight)" and "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" — the song became another major hit for Summer, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and resulting in her first Grammy win. The song barely registered in the uk- another victim of the Radio 1 airplay snub. "Last Dance" has since become a standard track on talent shows like American Idol and The X Factor. 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.
That same year, Donna released her first live album, Live and More. This was Summer's first #1 album (it actually knocked Linda Ronstadt's triple-platinum Living In The USA out of the top slot), as well as her first to reach the million-selling Platinum mark and included her first #1 American Pop single, a cover of the Jimmy Webb-penned "MacArthur Park" - another Gold-certified US 45 - originally made famous by the late actor/singer Richard Harris. The studio part of the album included the tracks "One Of A Kind" and "Heaven Knows" which also featured vocals by Joe "Bean" Esposito of the Brooklyn Dreams (group member Bruce Sudano would later become romantically involved with Summer). "Heaven Knows" became another Gold US Record and another Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Summer was also a guest artist on Kiss bassist Gene Simmons's 1978 eponymous solo album. The group released 4 separate solo albums the same day in September. Kiss and Summer were both label mates through Casablanca Records at the time.

Bad Girls and the break from disco

In 1979, Summer released the landmark double-album Bad Girls. Unlike other disco albums, it mixed Rock, Funk, Blues and Soul into electronic Disco beats. It yielded three consecutive million-selling singles: the back-to-back #1 hits "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls", and the #2 hit "Dim All The Lights". "Bad Girls" also became Summer's first #1 song on Billboard's R&B singles chart. With US record sales at an all-time apex in 1979, Summer had a straight run of five US Gold singles (three of which went on to Platinum status) that year alone. "Hot Stuff" won Summer a second Grammy, for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. (Interestingly, the Grammies had a Best Disco Recording Award only once, in 1980, won by Gloria Gaynor for her I Will Survive single.) Bad Girls became Summer's second #1 album and the most successful album of her entire career, selling nearly three million copies in the US and an estimated ten million worldwide . Once again, Summer's music was years ahead of its time, and elements of Bad Girls would surface in the 1980s from such artists as the Madonna, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Eurythmics, Laura Branigan and many other new wave and techno bands. Summer and Bruce Sudano grew closer during the making of this album and became engaged. During this period, Summer had two songs in the top three of Billboard's Hot 100 during the same week, with "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff". Just a few months later, she accomplished the same feat again, with "No More Tears" and "Dim All the Lights". During the summer of 1979, she played eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.
Summer's first compilation album,, was a global smash and her third straight #1 US album - also going multi-platinum. With this, Summer became the first artist to have three consecutive number-one double-albums. The album also contained two new tracks - "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", a Platinum-selling #1 duet with Barbra Streisand, and the Grammy-nominated Top Five Gold hit "On the Radio", a song written for the film Foxes. "On the Radio" has since become a staple on talent shows such as American Idol and the UK's The X-Factor. The Streisand-Summer duet was her fourth and final #1 Pop hit in the U.S - and her fourth #1 single in 12 months. Afterwards, disagreements between Summer and Casablanca Records led to her exit from the label in 1980. Summer was given a lucrative offer by David Geffen and became the first artist to be signed to his new Geffen label in 1980. At the time, Summer's record deal was said to be one of the biggest for a female artist . She also became a born again Christian during this time and used the faith as a new guiding force within her life.

The Wanderer and She Works Hard for the Money

Summer's first Geffen release, 1980's The Wanderer, was something of a departure, in some ways closer to a rock/new wave affair. The title track, and accompanying singles "Cold Love" and "Who Do You Think You're Foolin'?" saw Summer attempting to reach the same audience dominated by contemporaries like Blondie and Pat Benatar. The title track was another million-selling hit, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning her yet another Gold single in the States. The album peaked at #13 on the US album charts and earned a Gold album certification in the US. Her next album, I'm a Rainbow, a new wave - oriented double album which also featured elements of Soul, R&B, period British techno-pop and even synth-based 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 collaboration, and began work with Quincy Jones.
   In 1982 Geffen released the Gold-certified, self-titled Donna Summer, and the new production from Quincy Jones was again in the Top 10 of the Pop, R&B, and Dance charts with the Grammy-nominated "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)". A second single, "State of Independence", on which Michael Jackson sang background along with a veritable "who's who" of the music world, became a sizable international hit (#1 in The Netherlands). "State Of Independence" had been originally written and performed by the duo Jon & Vangelis (Jon Anderson and Vangelis Papathanassiou), on their second album "The Friends of Mr. Cairo", released in 1981. One more single from the album followed, "The Woman in Me", later recorded by Ann Wilson & Nancy Wilson of the rock group Heart. It reached #33 on the Hot 100 and #30 on the R&B chart.
   In 1983 Summer scored her biggest triumph since Bad Girls with the release of the album, She Works Hard for the Money. The title track became one of the most played songs of all time . The Grammy-nominated hit also became a pro-feminist anthem and was a staple on MTV, making her the first black woman to have a video air in heavy rotation on the channel. The single was also Summer's biggest-ever R&B hit (#1 for three weeks) and had frequent play on BET. It was released on PolyGram's Mercury Records to settle a legal dispute following PolyGram's absorption of Casablanca. It was Summer's 6th LP in a row to feature a Billboard Top Ten Hit. A second single from the She Works Hard For The Money album, the reggae-flavored "Unconditional Love" featured vocals by black British boy band Musical Youth and outsold the first single in the UK, and was another MTV video smash, but stopped short of the U.S. Top 40.
   Her subsequent Geffen releases didn't fare as well. 1984's Cats Without Claws made the US Top 40 LP and Singles charts, but 1987's All Systems Go stalled on the charts with no major hits. Rolling Stone magazine called it her first bonafide bomb. The first single, Dinner with Gershwin was a sizable international hit as well as being a Top Ten US R&B hit. However, it wasn't enough to heal the difficult relationship with David Geffen. Summer left Geffen Records in 1988 to sign with Atlantic Records when he refused to release her next LP; ironically, it would become another hit release.

Later career

Summer briefly regained her hit luster again in 1989 with Another Place and Time, an album-length collaboration with British top dance-pop songwriting and production team Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman known as Stock Aitken Waterman. "This Time I Know It's For Real" became Summer's fourteenth Top 10 Billboard Pop hit in the US and returned to her to Gold-single status. It was also a huge success on Adult Contemporary radio, holding at #2 for four weeks. Another track, "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt", was a Top Ten UK hit. The follow-up US single, "Love's About To Change My Heart", became a Dance chart hit but stalled at #85 on the Pop chart. In 1991, she released the album Mistaken Identity, which was an attempt at incorporating New Jack Swing and Urban Contemporary into her music. The album wasn't a success and sold less than 50,000 copies, failing to even appear on the Billboard Album Chart (it barely scraped into the R&B Albums chart at #97). Summer scored a top twenty R&B hit with "When Love Cries" but her days of mainstream success were now behind her. However, the following year, Summer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The year also saw her collaborate with Giorgio Moroder for the first time in over a decade with the song "Carry On". First featured on his Forever Dancing album, the following year the track would be featured on the double album The Donna Summer Anthology. This compilation also featured two exclusive remixes from the unreleased I'm a Rainbow album recorded back in 1981. It would be a while before her next release as she decided to take some time out to spend with her family.
   A gospel-influenced Christmas album entitled Christmas Spirit in 1994 became Summer's first full-length album in over three years, and a new compilation entitled (both released by PolyGram) also contained a couple of new tracks, including "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)", which became the year's # 1 Billboard hit on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
   In 1995, a re-release of "I Feel Love" (with newly recorded vocals) as a dance remix, became a hit again in the UK, reaching #8 there. The following year she'd score another Top 20 there with a new remix of "State of Independence". In 1996, Summer's album I'm a Rainbow was finally released by Polygram's Mercury Records after a 15 year delay.
   In 1996, Summer recorded a duet with Liza Minnelli which appeared on Minnelli's Grammy-nominated traditional pop album Gently. A promo was sent to Adult Contemporary radio stations as an airplay-only single but failed to dent the charts.
   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. The special earned the network their highest ratings of the year, second only to their annual Divas concert. Performing a string of her classics and new singles, she also sang "Dim All the Lights" as a tribute to Rod Stewart. Summer acknowledges that she wrote the song for Stewart but recorded it herself. She also performed an updated version of "No More Tears" with Australian pop diva Tina Arena. A live CD of the special (on the Epic label) and DVD of the special were released, returning the singer back to the U.S. albums chart, selling close to half a million copies in the USA. Summer scored two # 1 dance hits that year with "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)" and "Love Is the Healer" (both found as new studio tracks on the live album). During that year, Summer recorded the theme song for, entitled "The Power of One". Around this time, Summer also recorded the song "Dreamcatcher" for the Naturally Native Original Soundtrack.
   In 2003, a greatest-hits compilation called was released, which reached the UK Top 10 in the following year thanks to her appearance on an ITV1 show. Discomania found Summer co-presenting & singing a number of her hits: a "Hot Stuff"/"Bad Girls" medley, "MacArthur Park", "Last Dance", & a duet with Westlife on "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" - which appeared on the Discomania soundtrack album.
   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. She was inducted in two categories, Artist Inductees, alongside fellow disco legends The Bee Gees and Barry White; and Record Inductees, for her classic hit "I Feel Love". Summer added to her achievements in October 2004 when she performed "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch at Game 2 of the 2004 World Series at Boston's Fenway Park.

Present work

On May 20, 2008, Summer released her first album of new material in 17 years, Crayons, on Sony BMG imprint Burgundy Records. Remixes of the track "I'm A Fire" were serviced to US clubs as a promo on February 16, and the track reached #1(External Link

) on the U.S. Dance Chart. The first official single, "Stamp Your Feet", was released on April 15, 2008. Summer performed "Stamp Your Feet" on the season finale of "American Idol" on May 21, 2008.
Summer has become the first artist ever to have a #1 on the U.S. club charts in each of the past four decades.

Personal life

In 1972, Summer married her first husband, Austrian actor Helmut Sommer, having moved to Germany to play in musicals, which resulted in her learning to speak fluent German. With Sommer, she gave birth to her first child, Mimi. The couple divorced in 1976, but Donna had anglicized Sommer to Summer and begun her professional singing career in 1974 as Donna Summer. In 1978, she collaborated with the R&B Pop group the Brooklyn Dreams for the hit "Heaven Knows" (duet vocals by Joe Esposito). While at the session recording the single, she met Bruce Sudano. The duo began a romance that culminated in their July 16, 1980, marriage, and later the birth of daughters Brooklyn and Amanda. Today, Mimi and Amanda sing alongside their mother, while Brooklyn has been seen acting in TV shows, including a recently canceled sitcom starring Damon Wayans. Summer is still married to Sudano, and she's a grandmother of three. She has a sister, Mary Gaines Bernard, who is part of the worship team at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale.
During her career, Summer has dealt with controversy both professionally and personally. Her first hit, "The Hostage" was banned in Germany, and other radio stations banned her music for being sexually suggestive, with "Love to Love You Baby" being an example.
A more painful incident came in the early 1980s with reports that Summer had made anti-gay remarks associated with the AIDS epidemic. Her songs were banned for a number of years in some gay establishments over these rumors, the fallout from which had a huge negative impact on her career. Summer's records were even being sent back to her record company by outraged fans in protest. Summer has long denied such allegations, claiming that she was misquoted and she finally took legal action against a newspaper which reprinted the rumors during a review of a concert. Summer tearfully stated, "I never said anything that was written about me in that article". Summer has headlined for AIDS benefits and has donated proceeds to AIDS research. As recently as 2006, she was asked about the rumors by a Canadian newspaper. "So many people in my audiences are gay. I can’t live my life trying to assure people of anything. You have to live knowing who you are. I think that my actions and the person that I'm speak louder than somebody else’s misgivings or lies about me," Summer responded. "They print all kinds of shit about people all the time but you can’t run after every single lie. You tell people the truth and if they choose to believe you, they do."

Awards and recognition

Summer is the recipient of five Grammy Awards including one in a rock category, as winner of the first ever Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1980 for her single "Hot Stuff". She has also won Grammys in the R&B and gospel categories. Her most recent Grammy win was for 1997's "Carry On", the first Grammy to be given to an artist in the dance music category.
Summer placed a consecutive top forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in every year from 1977's "I Feel Love" to 1984's "There Goes My Baby".
Summer has fourteen Top 10 US pop singles, with four of those singles reaching number one on the pop singles chart
Summer has netted 19 number-one singles overall, in various Billboard charts.
Summer became the first female artist to score three consecutive number-one double albums and have three number-one pop singles in the same year. She's also the first to have two singles in the top three slots of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, and accomplished this feat twice.
Summer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992.
Summer was one of the first to be inducted to the Dance Music Hall of Fame and was inducted twice; one as a recording artist and another for her influential single "I Feel Love".
Summer's music career has landed her as the eighth most successful female recording artist in the history of Billboard.
Summer's career span of Billboard #1 hits spans from 1975's "Love to Love You Baby" through 2008's "I'm A Fire".

Cover versions by other artists

Summer's "Love To Love You Baby" has been an oft-repeated line in R&B and hip-hop songs. Most notably, Beyoncé sampled the refrain on her hit "Naughty Girl", Timbaland & Magoo's 1997 track, "Luv 2 Luv U", and TLC's 1999 album track, "I'm Good At Being Bad". "Love To Love You Baby" was used in Digital Underground's "Freaks of the Industry" Love To Love You Baby also featured at the beginning of Umbrella in live performances. The Ritchie Family sang a part of "Love To Love You Baby" in their medley included in "The best disco in town", and it briefly appears in an episode of American series Eight is enough, played by a local band of a character in the series.

Summer's "I Feel Love" has been covered onstage by the Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Blondie, Basement Jaxx, and Venus Hum with Blue Man Group (who also performed this song with Japanese singer Koda Kumi) for their album The Complex (In 2006, Tracy Bonham stood in for Venus Hum on the Blue Man Group tour). Finnish progressive rock band Kingston Wall has made their own version of the song. Bronski Beat and Marc Almond released the track as a duet with an added bridge section and titled it "I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me", reaching number 3 in the UK charts in April 1985. On Sarah Brightman's 1979 single "The Adventures of a Love Crusader" (the extended version) you can hear Sarah sing "I Feel Love" for about 8 bars halfway through the track. In 1992 U.K. alterna-pop group Curve recorded a version for the NME's 40th anniversary compilation "Ruby Trax", which became an instant underground classic, the music of which later Madonna's production team used for her Confessions tour and album. It is widely considered one of the most sampled recordings in dance music history. The song was sampled by a record breaking number of people including Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Moloko, Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, Mylo, David Guetta, Stuart Price, Moby and many more.

"I Feel Love" was also recorded by classical pop musician Vanessa-Mae and appears on her 1998 album Storm.

Summer's 1988 dance hit "This Time I Know It's For Real" was covered by techno-pop artist Kelly Llorenna in 2004.

Summer's self-penned "Starting Over" was covered by country singer Dolly Parton, whose version reached number one on the country singles chart. The song was also recorded by Reba McEntire and in 1996, her version hit #17 on the country singles chart.

Summer's "Sunset People" was covered by E.G. Daily on her "Wild Child" album.

Summer's "Last Dance" and "On the Radio" were covered by Tejano/pop singer Selena, most famously at one of her last shows at the Houston Astrodome in February 26, 1995

Summer's "On the Radio" was covered by British singer and actress Martine McCutcheon, reaching number 7 in the UK charts in February 2001.

Summer's "Only The Fool Survives" and "Once Upon A Time" were both (External Link

) covered by Awaken on their album "Party In Lyceum's Toilets" in 2001.

Summer's "Dim All the Lights" was a Top 40 Dance hit for Laura Branigan in 1995, appearing on her The Best of Branigan album.

Summer's "Bad Girls" was recorded by British Jazz and pop singer Juliet Roberts in 1998, and again, by Cheryl Chase in the Nick film in 2000.

In 2005, the chorus of Summer's hit "Hot Stuff" was covered by the Pussycat Dolls on their album PCD.

In 2000/2001 Summer's "Love is in Control" was covered by Pop diva Sheena Easton on her "Fabulous" disco/cover album in the UK.

Discography

For a detailed listing of albums and singles, see: Donna Summer discography.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Donna Summer'.

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