american singer songwriter and actress donna adrian gaines known professionally as donna summer
was born on december 31st 1948 in boston massachusetts she was one of seven children
raised in the neighborhood of mission hill her musical upbringing started in the episcopal church
her family attended she counted mahalia jackson aretha franklin barbara streisand and judy garland
as her earliest influences at the age of eight since she wasn't old enough to join the choir
she got the opportunity to sing a solo one day some people started laughing when they saw her
up at the front but their jaws dropped immediately the minute the first note escaped her mouth donna
admitted even she was shocked by her own talent she also recounts that god spoke to her telling
her she was going to be famous by 18 donna had auditioned and was chosen on the spot to join
the blues rock band pro after a record deal failed to pan out with the group she landed a role in the
musical hair later she agreed to take the role in the munich production of the show and that
meant a move to germany she would eventually become fluent in the country's native tongue
and even released music in german beginning with her first single under the name donna gaines she
married austrian actor helmut summer in 1973 and gave birth to their daughter that same
year donna felt ill-prepared for motherhood and sang into a depression the fact that her
husband worked a lot and wasn't around to help made things worse during a temporary separation
donna would begin an affair with a man in an effort to get her life back on track
eventually donna and helmut would divorce however she would keep her married name
and use it as her stage name while working as a model part-time and back-up singer in munich
donna met the men who would help launch her career into the stratosphere producers italian-born
giorgio moroder and english-born pete belotti the trio forged a working partnership and donna
was signed to their label oasis in 1974. donna's debut album was released soon after titled lady of
the night it included two minor hit singles the hostage and the title track due to an error on
the record cover donna's married name summer with an o became summer with a u and the name stug one
day in 1975 donna passed on an idea for a song to giorgio they wrote the song and worked on a demo
version together with donna's vocals the plan was for giorgio to pass it on to another artist
but he ultimately decided that donna's version should be released instead unbeknownst to donna
giorgio sold the song to neil bogart president of casablanca records he asked giorgio to produce a
longer version to be played in clubs after playing the demo at a party and watching people's reaction
to it the result was a 17 minute version of the smash hit love to love you baby the next thing
donna knew she was being signed to the label moved back to the us and had to quickly get used to her
life never being the same again as the song took over the world even though the song captured the
number two position on the billboard hot 100 chart and became a certified gold single it generated a
lot of controversy due to all of donna's moans and groans not surprisingly some american radio
stations refused to play it in later interviews donna would admit that she didn't even want to
sing the song she thought it was too sexy for her more comical personality in fact while in
the studio recording the track she had to pretend to be someone else specifically marilyn monroe
have the room cleared and the lights dimmed to convey the sensuality needed after the release
of her fifth studio album i remember yesterday she received her first american music award nomination
in 1978 donna starred in the musical comedy film thank god it's friday one of the songs
on the soundtrack sung by donna called last dance would become one of the biggest hits of her career
it reached number three on the hot 100 and also resulted in donna winning her first grammy award
her version of the richard harris song macarthur park became donna's first number one hit and
garnered her another grammy nomination the song was featured on her first live album live and more
which also became her first number one album in the spring of 79 donna would release another album
with several major hits titled bad girls she would again achieve the amazing feat of having a number
one single on the hot 100 chart times two with the lead single hot stuff as well as the title track
and the number one album on the billboard 200 chart the following year her single on
the radio reached the number five spot and donna would receive another grammy nomination for it
after the release of the on the radio album donna wanted to branch out into other musical styles
which led to tensions between her and her label they wanted her to continue to do what had already
proven to garner her success disco music she felt they were taking advantage of her and keeping her
for more lucrative offers donna parted ways with the label that year and signed a new deal with
geffen records she then filed a 10 million lawsuit against her former label and they countersued
in the end she didn't receive any money but she did win the rights to her own publishing
that summer she would marry for the second time to brooklyn new york-born singer and guitarist
bruce sudano they would go on to have two daughters he would serve as a savior of
sorts since when they met donna was still in a relationship with the same man she was involved
with during her first marriage that man according to donna also happened to be a violent drunk and
physically a****d her on many occasions after one episode where she was left battered and bruised
he would be charged with assault and battery and later deported back to his home country
donna's first project for her new label was the album the wanderer it featured a wide variety of
sounds including rock new wave and gospel the work continued her streak of gold albums plus a couple
more grammy nominations the ups of professional success sometimes come with the downs of one's
personal life that was certainly the case for donna she became an insomniac and having serious
bouts of depression therapy and medication were her go-to remedies for a period of time before she
turned to the one place she knew she would receive the best healing god quincy jones would be brought
in to produce donna's next album the self-title project took longer to record than usual since
donna was pregnant at the time and it impacted her ability to sing as she normally did also geffen
records had been notified by polygram records who now owned casablanca that donna still owed them
one more album to fulfill her contract with them she would honor the obligation big time with the
album she works hard for the money the title song inspired by donna observing a washroom attendant
at a beverly hills restaurant fast asleep became a major hit reaching number three on the hot 100
as well as number one on the r b chart another song off the album he's a rebel added another
grammy to her collection donna's next album would give her another first but not one that she would
like cats without claws failed to attain gold status in the u.s her first album not to do so
it was also her first album not to yield a top 10 hit since 1977. she would though win a grammy for
the song forgive me as many divas before and after her donna would deal with her fair share of drama
in the mid-80s she would become embroiled in a major scandal when she allegedly made anti-gay
remarks regarding the then relatively new disease aids during a concert for
an artist like donna whose early success was largely due to her significant gay fanbase
this was a possible career ending faux pas she publicly denied she'd ever made such comments
she went on to file a lawsuit against new york magazine when it printed an article claiming
that she was anti-gay she believed that it was no coincidence that the article came out just
as she was about to release a new album the lawsuit was eventually settled out of court
after another album failed to achieve gold status donna and geffen parted ways in 1992 she embarked
on a world tour and later that year received a star on the hollywood walk of fame the year after
that donna signed with mercury polygram and soon got to work recording her very first holiday album
titled christmas spirit donna and her family moved from la to nashville tennessee in 1995
where she took time off from show business to focus on raising her children and devote more
time to painting a hobby she developed back in the 80s it may have been just a hobby to her
but people loved it some of her pieces have even sold for tens of thousands of dollars
in 1997 donna was welcomed with open arms into millions of living rooms across the nation
when she took on the memorable role of steve urkels and oona
on the tv sitcom family matters a couple of years later she was asked to do the divas 2 concert
but when she went in and met with the producers it was decided that donna
should do one all by herself she taped the live television special for vh1 titled donna summer
live and more encore producing the second highest ratings for the network that year
after their annual divas special in 2003 donna issued her autobiography ordinary girl the journey
and released another compilation album the following year she was inducted into the dance
music hall of fame as an artist and her classic song i feel love was inducted that night as well
donna released her first studio album in 17 years titled crayons in may 2008 even though she'd been
gone a long time her fans still showed her love the songs i'm a fire stamp your feet and fame
the game all reach number one on the dance chart on may 17 2012 donna passed away at her home in
naples florida from lung cancer she was 63 years old only her immediate family and a few close
friends knew that she was battling the disease generally a non-smoker donna theorized that her
cancer was caused by inhaling toxic fumes and dust from the september 11 attacks in new york city
she was in her apartment near ground zero when the attacks occurred however some reports have instead
attributed the cancer to her smoking during her younger years her continued exposure to secondhand
smoking while performing in clubs well after she'd quit and a predisposition to the disease in her
family she is survived by her husband and three daughters at the end of the year after multiple
prior nominations donna summer was posthumously announced to be one of the year's inductees into
the rock and roll hall of fame and was inducted on april 18 2013 at los angeles nokia theater
summer the donna summer musical premiered in november 2017 at the la jolla playhouse and on
broadway the following april the musical was based on various highlights of the queen of disco's live
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