Donna Summer
December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012

Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Boston, Massachusetts in 1948, Donna Summer, was an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. With a mezzo-soprano vocal range, she was a five-time Grammy Award winner and the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart. “Love To Love You Baby”, “I Feel Love”, “Hot Stuff”, and “On The Radio” are only four classics of international electronic pop music Donna Summer is well known for. She had her solo-singing debut in the gospel choir of the Grant A.M.E. Church in Boston, U.S.A., at 10 years old and fronted Boston’s psychedelic rock band Crow at 17 when she began her career at 19 in Munich, Germany. There she performed on October 24, 1968 in the German opening night of the musical ‘Haare’ (‘Hair’). In 1973 she met legendary music producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte and three years later “Love To Love You Baby” made her an international star. The 17 minutes long ambient house symphony ‘Love To Love You Baby’ with its jazzy bassline was written in 1975 in the Munich MusicLand studios by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, and Pete Bellotte.

In 1977, Summer released the concept album I Remember Yesterday which included her second top ten single, the minimalist ground-breaking “I Feel Love” which reached number six in the US and number one in the UK. Her greatest hits album released in 1979 was a double album entitled On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1&2 which reached number one in the US, becoming her third consecutive number one album.
Seeking out different music styles, in 1980 Summer released The Wanderer where a new wave and more rock sound replaced the disco sound of Summer’s previous releases.

In 2008, Summer released Crayons, her first studio album of fully original material in 17 years, and in 2009 she performed alongside the Norwegian Radion Orchestra at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo in honour of Barack Obama.

Donna Summer died on May 17, 2012 at her home in Key West, Florida at age 63 following a battle with breast cancer.