The Queen Of Disco Donna Summer Died At 63

LaDonna Adrian Gaines who is known by her stage name Donna Summer was an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970's.She had a mezzo-soprano vocal range and was also a five time Grammy Award winner.Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number 1 on the US Billboard Chart and also charted no.1 singles in the US within a 13 month period.

Summer was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31st 1948 in Boston Massachusetts to parents Andrew and Mary Gaines and was one of seven children.Andrew Gaines her father was a butcher and her mother Mary was a schoolteacher.She and her family were raised in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester.

Summer would often sing her mother recalled that from the time she could talk.She literally loved to sing.She use to go through the house singing.She sang for breakfast,lunch and supper.

Summer's performance debut came at church when she was ten when she replaced a vocalist who failed to show up.Summer's priest invited her to perform judging from her small frame and voice that she would be an amusing spectacle but summer recalled a voice older than her years and frame.She recalled herself as she sang saying''I started crying everybody else started crying.It was an amazing moment in my life and at some point after I heard my voice come out I felt like God was saying to me ''Donna you're going to be very very famous and I knew from that day on I would be famous.


Summer attended Boston's Jeremiah Burke High School where she would perform in school musicals and was considered popular.In 1967 weeks before graduation summer left for New York where she was a member of the blues rock band Crow.They agreed to break up after they were passed by every record label.She stayed in New York and auditioned for a role in the musical Hair.She moved to Munich after her parent's reluctant approval.

She remained in Munich and learned fluent German.She participated in the musicals Ich Bin Ich,Godspell and Show Boat.She moved to Vienna Austria within three years and joined the Viennese Folk Opera.She briefly toured with the ensemble vocal group The Family Tree the creation of producer Guenter Yogi Lauke.

In 1971 She released her first single a cover of The Jaynetts ''Sally Go Round The Roses from a one-off European deal with Decca Records.

In 1992 She issued the single If You Walkin Alone on Philips.In 1974 she married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer and had a daughter Mimi the following year.Marital problems caused by an affair with artist Peter Muhldorfer she divorced Helmuth.

Summer met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte while singing background for the 70's trio Three
Dog Night.She signed a deal with European label Groovy Records and issued her first album Lady Of The Night in1974.


Summer released On The Radio:Greatest Hits Volumes one and two her first international greatest hits in 1979.The album reached no 1 in the US being her third consecutive no.1 album.After the greatest hits album was released she wanted to branch off into other musical styles in addition to disco which led tension between her and Casablanca Records.

She and her label parted ways in 1980 now signing with Geffen Records the label started by David Geffen.

In 1990 Summer released The Best Of Donna Summer on Warner Bros. Records.

In 1991 Summer released a New Sack Swing Style album Mistaken Identity.

In 1994 She returned with a new album on Mercury/Polygram Records a gospel influenced Christmas album called Christmas Spirit.

In August 2010 she released the single To Paris With Love co-written by Bruce Roberts and produced by Pete Stengaard.In October 2010 the single reached no.1 on the US Billboard Dance Charts.Summer appeared on PBS Television Special Hitman Returns:David Foster and Friends.

She met and fell in love with Helmuth Sommer while the two were acting in Godspell.In 1973 the couple married and Summer gave birth to daughter Mimi Sommer.The marriage crumbled and by 1975 they formally divorced.

In 1978 while working on the hit track Heaven Knows which featured Brooklyn Dreams member Joe Bean Esposito on vocals she met member Bruce Sudano.Summer and Sudano became on item within a few months.They married on July 16 1980.Summer gave birth to a daughter a year later her first child with Sudano Brooklyn Sudano named after Sudano's group.A year after that Summer and Sudano had their second child Amanda.

Summer talked about her early successful years as confusion and anxiety.Struggling with the media crowning her The First Lady Of Love she began suffering from depression and anxiety attacks by mid 1977.She wrote in her memoirs that she attempted suicide several times.

During this time she self medicated on prescription medication causing an addiction.Summer decided that from then on she would no longer perform the song that won her fame and recognition Love To Love You Baby.

In 2011 She re-recorded that song complete with sighs and moans for the Loverdose fragrance
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In 1994 she and her family moved from Los Angeles to Nashville where she took time out from performing to focus on painting a hobby began in 1985.In 1995 Summer's mother died.


Om May 17 2012 Summer died.She is survived by husband Bruce Sudano their daughters Brooklyn and Amanda as well as Mimi from a previous marriage.

Summer died at 63 years old this morning at her home in Key West Florida following a battle with cancer.



Rest In Peace Donna Summer.May Angels Take Care Of You God Bless Your Family