| 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 hitmaker 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. |
