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 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 hit maker 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. Summer added to her credits 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. As of 2005, Summer has received 5 Grammy Awards and 6 American
Music Awards, as well as 24 gold and platinum certifications in the
United States and 19 gold and silver certifications in Great Britain.
Around 100 million copies of her records have been sold worldwide.
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