Donna Summer

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Donna Summer

Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and artist, best known for a string of dance hits in the late 1970s that earned her the title "Queen Of Disco" and as one of the few disco-based artists to have longevity on the charts through the late 1980s.

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. Donna is one of the most successful female hitmakers of the rock era and still holds the record for having three consecutive (double) albums hit #1 on the Billboard charts and also became the first female artist to have four number-one singles in a twelve-month period.

On September 27, 2007, Donna was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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 shortly afterwards and Gaines eventually became a German resident and 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 had 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 was not 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). 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. 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 reached in the making of the song. In some areas of the music press, Summer was dubbed "the first lady of love." Two moderately 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 discofied "Spring Affair" as well as "Winter Melody". However, none of her singles during this period cracked Billboard's Top 40. Summer was becoming increasingly known among Disco fans but appeared to be a one-hit wonder otherwise with no substantial Pop success. Her albums all had a high sensual/fantasy content, although Summer felt uneasy 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. 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 45 as well. The song was arguably the first song to use techno and electronic sounds in dance music. A version of I Feel Love released in 1982, with additional overdubs by Disco lightman turned synthesist and producer, the late Patrick Cowley, took the eight-minute and thirteen-second extended version and overlayed new elements, causing an underground sensation. 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 which, at the time, was regarded by some fans as some of her best work.

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 seller. 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. 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 live work 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 45 and another Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

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 Donna's first #1 song on Billboard's R&B singles chart. With US record sales at an all-time apex in 1979, Summer cashed in considerably with a total of five straight 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. Bad Girls became Summer's second #1 album and the most successful one 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, the late Laura Branigan and many other new wave and techno bands. Donna and Bruce Sudano grew closer during the making of this album and became engaged. During this period, Summer became the first woman ever to have 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 an astounding eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

Summer's first compilation album, On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2, 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. The Streisand-Summer duet was Donna's fourth and final #1 Pop hit in the U.S. Afterwards, disagreements and fractions 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 her newfound religion as a 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 million-selling title track was another Summer smash, hitting #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning her yet another Gold single in the States. The album, however, was something of a commercial dissapointment in the US, selling only 600,000 copies. It peaked at number thirteen and fell rapidly off the charts though it nevertheless earned a Gold album certification in the US. A second release, I'm a Rainbow, a dance-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 she released Donna Summer, and the new production from Quincy Jones got her back 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 (which was one of the inspirations for "We Are the 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.

In 1983, Summer scored her biggest triumph since Bad Girls with the release of the She Works Hard for the Money single and album. One of the most played songs of all time, the track became a pro-feminist anthem and was a staple on BET and MTV, making her the first black female artist to have a video air in heavy rotation on the latter channel. The infectious recording was also - surprisingly - Donna's biggest-ever R&B hit (number-one for three weeks). Released on PolyGram's Mercury Records, the success of the She Works Hard For The Money album permanently poisoned Summer's relationship with Geffen. Album liner notes on the "Cats Without Claws" album pointedly alluded to "thank(ing) David for staying out of the kitchen this time". 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) but stopped short of the Top 40. Despite the album hitting the Top 10 and attaining a Gold album certification from the RIAA in the US, She Works Hard for the Money marked the end of Summer's record-selling prime.

Her subsequent Geffen releases saw Donna in decline and did not fare well. 1984's Cats Without Claws (which sold a mere 400,000 copies in the US) and 1987's All Systems Go (which bombed, only briefly making the Billboard album chart) stalled on the charts with no major hits. Summer left Geffen in 1988 to sign with Atlantic Records. Rumors 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. Her disco style was emulated by such singers as Claudja Barry, Irene Cara, and the late Laura Branigan and Miquel Brown, among others. These somewhat lesser known singers together filled the void as "Disco Queens" - especially with gay audiences. (In fact, it is worth noting that during this period the gay community realized its own heritage as purveyors of disco music as opposed to the greater straight rock fan base, and therein may lay some of the reason for disco's demise.) Her pop culture position would be usurped entirely in 1985 by Madonna, who would echo both Summer's early "sex-vixen" persona and her mainly dance-music style.

Later career

Summer briefly regained her hit luster again in 1989 with Another Place and Time, an album-length collaboration with England's top dance-pop production team Stock Aitken Waterman. "This Time I Know It's for Real" became Donna's fourteenth Top 10 Billboard Pop hit in US and returned to her to Gold-single status. It was also a huge success at 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 moderate Dance chart hit but stalled at #85 on the Pop chart. The album sold respectably worldwide, but peaked at #53 and topped off at a dissapointing 300,000 copies in the States.

In 1991, she released Mistaken Identity, which was an attempt at incorporating new jack swing and Urban Contemporary R&B into her music. The album failed to appear on the Billboard album chart but did make it to #97 on the Top R&B Albums chart. Summer scored a moderate urban chart hit with "When Love Cries" (#18 R&B), and an underground club hit with "Work That Magic." In 1992, 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 Endless Summer (both released by PolyGram) also contained a couple of new tracks, including "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)", which became a huge 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 would 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.

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. 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. Summer scored two number-one dance hits that year with "I Will Go With You" and "Love Is the Healer" (both found as new studio tracks on the live album). During that year, Summer recorded the theme song for Pokémon: The Movie 2000, entitled "The Power Of One". Around this time, Summer also recorded the song "Dreamcatcher" for the Naturally Native Original Soundtrack.

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 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.

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. 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. Two of her most recent singles, "You're So Beautiful" (2004) and "I Got Your Love" (2005) reached the Top 10 on both the Hot Dance Airplay and Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts.

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. She was touring extensively in mid-2006, and incorporating covers of other artists into her set, one of them being Sade's "Pearls". Summer's official web site announced an upcoming CD on the Burgundy label to be released in Spring, 2008. 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, Helmuth Sommer, and 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(www.johnnyswim.com), 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 is a grandmother of three.

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.

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 inflammatory effect on the population.

A more painful incident came in the early 1980s with reports that she 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.[citation needed] Summer has long denied such allegations, and finally took legal action against a newspaper which printed the rumors during a review of a concert. Summer tearfully stated, "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. 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 am speak louder than somebody else’s misgivings or lies about me", Summer responded. "They print all kinds of things 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."

Regardless, not least among gay people, her talent and musicianship (aided by Giorgio Moroder) are embraced as the epitome of the disco era, as is her subsequent support in fighting AIDS.

Awards and recognition

  • Summer is the recipient of five Grammy Awards including a rare berth as being the first African-American act ever to win an award for rock, in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category for the 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 top forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in every year of her recording career from 1977's "I Feel Love" to 1984's "There Goes My Baby".
  • Summer has fourteen Top 10 pop singles, with four of those singles reaching number one on the pop singles chart
  • Summer has netted 16 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.

Cover versions by other artists


Discography

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

References

  1. ^ http://www.everyhit.com - accessed 28 Jan 2007
  2. ^ http://www.everyhit.com - accessed 28 Jan 2007

See also

External links

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