She was also famous from other names as The Queen of Disco, The First Lady of Love, Donna Gaines. Summer died on May 17, 2012,at home in Naples, Florida, after a battle with lung cancer. Celebrity Alley - Celebrity News and Gossip. Donna Summer was a pop icon, five-time Grammy winner, and legendary songbird who scored 42 single hits on Billboard's Hot 100. . One of her favorite hits she produced during that time was "Last Dance." What people want to do with their bodies is their personal preference". Summer had a top 40 hit each year for eight consecutive years. 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Amanda Sudano and Mimi Dohler and four grandchildren. Donna Summer was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Boston, Massachusetts on December 13, 1948. . Summer remained a force on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs chart throughout her career and notched 16 number one singles. Donna Summer, who passed away in 2012, was a great entertainer. Photographs by Meredith Nierman. She returned to the Hot 100's top five in 1983, and claimed her final top-ten hit in 1989 with "This Time I Know It's for Real". In 1980, her single "On the Radio", reached No. She became vocal about her feelings about her former music being sinful and sought solace in painting. Just over a week after the awards, Summer had her own nationally televised special, The Donna Summer Special,[23] which aired on ABC network on January 27, 1980. Sudano co-founded the late '60s pop-rock band Alive N Kickin', which scored a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Tighter, Tighter.". It would be based on their own hectic household. [66] She was interred in the Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens cemetery in Nashville. Casablanca Records wasted no time releasing the follow-up album A Love Trilogy, featuring "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It". 17 on the US Top 200 Album Chart, her highest placing on the chart since 1983. It only entered at number 97 on the US Top R&B Albums chart. [28], In 1986, Harold Faltermeyer wrote the title song for a German ski movie called Fire and Ice, and thought Summer would be ideal to sing the song. She is represented by the New York City-based Bella Agency. Seeking an American release for the song, it was sent to Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart. "[29] The label's President Ed Rosenblatt would later admit: "The company never intended to focus on established superstars". Donna Watts Johnson, of Tenants Harbor, died Feb. 19, 2023, surrounded by her loving family, at the Sussman House in Rockport. [82], In 2018, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, a biographical musical featuring Summer's songs, began performances on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre,[83] following a 2017 world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego. She will be missed and remembered. Let's have a look! In July of that same year, Summer was working at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer O'Mega Red. She was a super-diva and a true superstar who never compromised when it came to her career or her family. 2 on the same chart in 2000. About her ethnic background, most sites report the 50 year-old has German and African heritages. [5] She eventually became fluent in German, singing various songs in that language, and participated in the musicals Ich bin ich (the German version of The Me Nobody Knows), Godspell, and Show Boat. A terrific song, brilliantly delivered and a highlight of Summer's post-Moroder career. That was a mistake, because only a few tracks had been finished, and most of them were in demo phase. In 1999 she . Summer's father was a butcher, and her mother was a teacher. Summer inked a contract with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Influenced by the counterculture of the 1960s, Summer became the lead singer of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and moved to New York City. Bogart tweaked the title to "Love to Love You Baby (song)|Love to Love You Baby", and Casablanca signed Summer, releasing the single in November 1975. Donna Summer, whose pulsating hits "I Feel Love," "Last Dance" and "MacArthur Park" provided the disco soundtrack for the 1970s, has died at age 63. She was best known as the Queen of Dance, mainly because of her disco songs in the 70s, including Last Dance, Heaven Knows, Bad Girls, and On the Radio. Mimi Sommer Dohler (pictured below) is Donna's eldest child. Alleybux. If your organization is interested in becoming a Stacker Donna Summer became the face of the 1970s dance scene and had a string of hits through the decades until her death. The video was a success, being nominated for Best Female Video and Best Choreography at the 1984 MTV Music Video Awards; Summer became one of the first African-American artists, and the first African-American female artist to have her video played in heavy rotation on MTV. 1. Donna Summer, Queen of Disco Who Transcended the Era, Dies at 63. . In 1996, Summer also recorded "Does He Love You" with Liza Minnelli, which appeared Minnelli's Gently. The songs "I'm a Fire", "Stamp Your Feet" and "Fame (The Game)" all reached No. The couple had seven children, including the Grammy-winning singer. Bogart played the song at one of his extravagant industry parties, where it was so popular with the crowd, they insisted that it be played over and over, each time it ended. ", She got her first feature film role in the film adaptation of V. C. Andrews' novel "Rain" and appeared in episodes of "CSI: NY" and "90210. [17] One of her first TV appearances was in the television show, Van Oekel's Discohoek, which started the breakthrough of "The Hostage", and in which she gracefully went along with the scripted absurdity and chaos in the show. [35][unreliable source?]. Summer was the star of many musicals at Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Boston. your CMS. She agreed to join the traveling production when they decided to take the musical to Germany, where she became fluent in German, singing various songs in that language. object has role. The album was released in Europe in March 1989 on Warner Bros. Records, which had been Summer's label in Europe since 1982. Sudano helped manage Summer's career and was a songwriter whoco-wrote "Bad Girls"along withhits for Dolly Parton and Jermaine Jackson. Influenced by the counterculture of the 1960s, Summer became the lead singer of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and . Grave. [47], In 1989, Summer told The Advocate magazine, "A couple of the people I write with are gay, and they have been ever since I met them. Source: Instagram. . family name. He thought if this was that kind of reaction in rehearsal, then what an impact it would have in the concert. NPR reported that she told them she would perform that song for the rest of her life. Notes: 2020 "Donna Summer Musical" Events. ", You may also like: 30 celebrities who have built massive businesses. The team released a few hits in Europe before launching Summer's career with the steamy hit song "Love to Love You Baby." [76], Fans paid tribute to Summer by leaving flowers and memorabilia on her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was 63. "[69] Janet Jackson wrote that Summer "changed the world of music with her beautiful voice and incredible talent. The life and works of the disco pioneer inspired Summer: The Donna Summer Musical which premiered in San Diego in 2017, and then on Broadway a year later.. At the age of 14, her family moved to Nashville, but Brooklyn and her sisters often joined their mother on tour. Mimi Sommer is an American actress best known for being featured in Donna Summer: A Hot Summer Night and The Donna Summer Special. [5] She attended Boston's Jeremiah E. Burke High School where she performed in school musicals and was considered popular. Summer earned a total of 42 hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 in her lifetime, with 14 of those reaching the top-ten. Within three years, she moved to Vienna, Austria, and joined the Vienna Volksoper. She always did it with class, dignity, grace and zero attitude. She would win another Grammy for Best Inspirational Performance for the song "Forgive Me". The I Feel Love hitmaker - who passed away in Florida yesterday last week aged 63 - is being remembered in a . Her road to fame was a tragic one, however. She died of lung cancer in 2012 at the age of 63. [citation needed], In 1968, Summer released (as Donna Gaines) on Polydor her first single, a German version of the title "Aquarius" from the musical Hair, followed in 1971 by a second single, a remake of the Jaynetts' 1963 hit, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", from a one-off European deal with Decca Records. In 1996, Summer recorded a duet with Bruce Roberts, "Whenever There Is Love", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Daylight. Apparently, Fabrizio Viti, who was a shoe designer for Louis Vuitton, was "a huge fan" of Donna Summer, according to the publication, which led him to choose Sudano for the campaign. (8952926129), CC BY-SA 2.0. Age is just a number just ask Suzanne Somers . Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, in Boston on New Year's Eve 1948, her father was a butcher her mother was. [76] As she sang the song, photos of Summer were displayed on a screen overhead. Mimi Sommer was born Natalie Pia Melanie Sommer on 16th February 1973 to her parents, Donna Summer and Helmuth Sommer in Munich, Germany. Stacker distribution partners receive a license to all Stacker stories, The audience was in awe of Summer's powerful voice and talent. Please if you think that any changes should be required, please inform the author. Summer did not openly discuss her battle with cancer or asbestos exposure. Summer would sing at his funeral. 33; and "Who Do You Think You're Foolin'", No. [19] The song "Heaven Knows", which featured Brooklyn Dreams singer Joe "Bean" Esposito; reached No. 1, giving Summer her first posthumous number-one single, and her sixteenth number-one on the charts. Although Summer continued to produce music through the late 1980s, she never regained her disco magic. 1960S, Summer became the lead singer of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and Foolin. Vienna Volksoper [ 66 ] she was also famous from other names as Queen! 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