Sad news today for the millions of fans of beloved recording artist and singer, Donna Summer who died early today at her home in Key West, Florida from breast and lung cancer. The Queen of Disco was 63.
Summer spent her early years as an actress and singer, including time spent in the musical “Hair” before teaming up with famed record producer Giorgio Moroder in 1975 to record her first hit song, “Love To Love You, Baby”. The song, featuring orgasmic moans, was banned from some radio stations but the long play disco version became a huge hit in the gay discos of the mid Seventies. She followed up with a string of hit songs and albums, including MacArthur Park, I Feel Love, Last Dance, Bad Girls, Dim All The Lights, On The Radio, She Works Hard For The Money, and her duet with Barbra Streisand, No More Tears (Enough is Enough).
But the Disco era ended and Summer’s career began to stall, not helped by unsubstantiated and denied charges that she made homophobic remarks in the mid-Eighties after Summer became a born again Christian. She fought back, and sued when publications claimed she had made those remarks, and gradually won back the hearts of the majority of her LGBTQ fans. She continued to record and tour for the rest of her life, and made numerous appearances on television.
A Toast to Donna Summer…and, one last dance.
