Donna Summer
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LaDonna Adrian Gaines (aka Donna Summer) was from Boston, MA. Some of her greatest success came as a disco artist in the late 1970's. According to her mother, Donna began singing at a very young age. She not only sang in the church choir, but also was interested in performing on stage. She was asked to perform in the Munich, Germany version of the musical Hair, and thus she moved to Germany where she not only learned to speak German, but also where she released her first single (as Donna Gaines). She married a German named Helmuth Sommer, and after divorcing him, she kept his last name (Anglicized).
While singing background tracks in a Munich studio, Summer met Girogio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and the two German producers helped her release her first album. Lady of the Night was released in 1974, and it did very well in some European countries. Several more 70's releases followed that featured hit songs like "Love to Love You Baby", "I Feel Love", "MacArthur Park", "Heaven Knows", "Last Dance", "Hot Stuff", "Dim All the Lights", "Bad Girls", "On the Radio", and "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)".
By the 1980, Donna Summer was ready to move from Disco to a more pop-rock sound, and after signing with the newly formed Geffen Records, The Wanderer was released. The title track peaked at no. 3 in the USA. Donna Summer, her next 80's release hit shelves in 1982 and featured the hit songs "Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" and the top 40 hit "The Woman in Me". It was her 1983 release, She Works Hard for the Money, that featured the hit title track in addition to the songs "Unconditional Love" and "Love Has a Mind of Its Own". Donna's next release, Cats Without Claws (1984), began a somewhat downward trend. Nevertheless, it did feature the hit song "There Goes My Baby". She finished of the 80s with All Systems Go (1987), and Another Place and Time in 1989, which featured the songs "This Time I Know It's for Real" and "Love's About to Change My Heart".
Donna Summer continued both her music career and acting career post 80's, but she never met with the same level of success. Her final studio release was in 2008. She died at 63 of cancer. The Donna Summer Discography is as follows:
Listen for free or download any Donna Summer track for just 12 cents per song!
- 1974: Lady of the Night
- 1975: Love to Love You Baby
- 1976: A Love Trilogy
- 1976: Four Seasons of Love
- 1977: I Remember Yesterday
- 1977: Once Upon a Time
- 1978: Live and More
- 1978: The Greatest Hits of Donna Summer
- 1979: Bad Girls
- 1979: On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II
- 1980: The Wanderer
- 1980: Walk Away - Collectors Edition: The Best of 1977-1980
- 1981: I'm a Rainbow
- 1982: Donna Summer
- 1983: She Works Hard for the Money
- 1984: Cats Without Claws
- 1987: All Systems Go
- 1989: Another Place and Time
- 1990: The Best of Donna Summer
- 1991: Mistaken Identity
- 1994: Christmas Spirit
- 1994: Endless Summer: Greatest Hits
- 1998: Greatest Hits
- 1999: Live & More Encore
- 2003: The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer
- 2008: Crayons