She had numerous hits in both the 1970s and 1980s, including "Last Dance," "She Works Hard for the Money" and "Bad Girls." Her duet with Barbra Streisand, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" was one of four Summer songs that topped the Billboard Top 100 charts.
Summer was the first female artist to chart with back-to-back multi-platinum double albums.
She appeared in the 1978 film, "Thank God It's Friday," which won the best original song Oscar for "Last Dance." Summer also appeared twice on the 1990s hit TV show "Family Matters," playing Steve Urkel's Aunt Oona from Altoona. In 2011, she was a guest judge on music reality show "Platinum Hit," and she performed with the female finalists on the 2008 "American Idol" finale.
Summer won five Grammy Awards and six American Music Awards, and charted three multi-platinum albums.
In 2009, she sang at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert honoring President Barack Obama in Oslo, Norway. She is survived by her husband, musician Bruce Sudano, three daughters, and four grandchildren.
What was your favorite Donna Summer song?
Mine were:
'Last Dance'
'Love to Love You Baby'
'Dim All the Lights'
'Could This Be Magic'
RIP Donna Summer
4 comments:
Favorite songs by her:
This State of Independence
Last Dance
Try Me
On The Radio
And now, if you'll indulge me:
Poem For Donna Summer
By L.M. Ross
Even though you’re gone,
I am still vibing on
The music, the music
This sometimes
Monotonous
Monotonous
Disco disco
Beat, beat, beat, beat
Giorgio created, but
Then… OH! How you
Completed it!You
Gave it soul, soul
Bounce, bounce
And yes… yes
Even meaning!
The gay club cats in Munich
Were first to latch on to
What was so digable
About you… as you sighed
And cooed
All the way through
“Love to Love You Baby…”
And soon after
This tall brown girl
From Tennessee named
Ladonna Gaines
So swiftly changed
The world.
Donna, hot like Summer,
Summer. It was always summer
Summer in the clubs. Summer
Summer, it was always Summer
And it was always your simmering
Vocals that sold us
Controlled us… with
That siren
That belt
That urgent alarm
Inside your throat…
Coaxing us to leave our seats, to
Get on the floor
And dance, dammit!
Dance ourselves into a
Luminous sweat. Dance
Under a mirrored ball
So hard and fast we could
Almost forget our lives
Had any cares at all.
Let it be known that you could
BLOW! Yes, yes, yo! Far beyond disco
Disco anthems, anthems
And syncopated, syncopated
Beats, beats… and 70s-80s
Musical repetitiveness.
Hell, you even gave Babs Streisand
A run for her money. Yes! Donna
Summer had pipes for days, and
Could so easily delight with
Her stage presence.
And for a sublime time
From ‘75 through ‘79
Donna Summer ruled
The earth, yo! I do not
Exaggerate much. Such was
The sense of celebration and
Sheer JOY she gave us all!
So this day and in many days to come
I am remembering you
And I thank you
For making me and
Whole generation
Fall willing and sweaty
Victims under
Your spell
Thank you for making us
Dance ourselves into a
Luminous sweat… and to dance
Under a mirrored ball
So hard and fast we could
Almost forget our lives
Had any cares at all.
One.
NICE, Moanerplicity! I'm giving that a blog entry of it's own.
Thanks so much, my Brotha. However, there's a mistake in it, b/c her birthplace was apparently Massachusetts & not Tennessee, as stated in the poem.
My bad.
One.
Summer. It was always summer
Summer in the clubs. Summer
Summer, it was always Summer
And it was always your simmering
Vocals that sold us
Controlled us… with
That siren
That belt
That urgent alarm
Inside your throat…
Coaxing us to leave our seats, to
Get on the floor
And dance, dammit!
Fixed, Moanerplicity. LOVED LOVED this poem! ALOT. very prolific, and done so quickly!
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