Donna Summer R.I.P.

DONNA SUMMER, 63, the acknowledged Queen of Disco who cut such classic tracks with Giorgio Moroder as “Bad Girls” and “Last Dance,” passed away after a battle with cancer. The Grammy-winning singer had been working on a new album while trying to keep her condition secret in Florida. Born La Donna Adrian Gaines in Dorchester, a suburb of Boston, on New Year’s Eve, Summer earned five Grammys during her career and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach #1 on the charts. Influenced by Mahalia Jackson and raised by strict Christian parents, Summer formed several music groups as a teen, including one with her sister and cousin, modeled after the Motown girl bands of the time. In the late ‘60s, she joined the psychedelic group Crow as lead singer, patterning her vocals after Janis Joplin. While singing background for Three Dog Night, she met producers Moroder and Pete Bellote, recording the heavy breathing dance-floor hit, “Love to Love You Baby,” and signing with Neil Bogart’s Casablanca Records, in 1975, just in time for the disco era, and such hits as “I Feel Love” and a cover of Jimmy Webb's “Macarthur Park.” In 1978, she starred in the disco movie Thank God It’s Friday, with “Last Dance” earning her a Grammy and composer Paul Jabara an Oscar. The 1979 album Bad Girls, based on a prostitution theme, produced the hits “Hot Stuff” and the title track, among her four #1 singles in a 13-month period. In the ‘80s, Summer returned to her Christian roots, denouncing her past after signing with David Geffen’s new Geffen Records label. Summer's last album, Crayons, her first new studio effort in 19 years, came out in 2008 through the Sony label Burgundy Records, peaking at #17 on the chart. See her 1978 performance of “Last Dance” embedded below. (5/17p)