RIP DONNA SUMMER

• Ryan Seacrest: “I remember sitting in the front seat of my mom’s toyota while she sang Donna Summer’s “she works hard for the money” songs were just classic”
• Timbaland: “this cant be true. I can’t believe this RIP Donna Summer. At a loss for words”
• Robin Roberts: “Heard about the passing of #DonnaSummer – fond memories of singing and dancing to her music. Blessings to her family.?
• Holly Robinson Peete: “#IJUSTCANT. Donna Summer…”The VOICE”… Well Done Diva. #RIPDonna *long tears*
• Jackee Harry wrote, “Life Is A Dash – But Donna Summer’s Was Beautifully Punctuated! #LoveToLove Her. RIP Donna.”
• Niecy Nash: “Whitney. Tina Marie. Vesta. Now Donna Summer. The choir in heaven has a new member. They will be singing up a beautiful storm:) RIP DonnaSummer #discodiva #sadtweet”
• Rupaul: “Donna Summer, your last dance with remain in our hearts forever.”
• The Roots‘ ?uestlove wrote, “Donna Summer. Man I can’t believe this— like ‘My Baby Understands’ was on my workout playlist this morning! This MORNING! God…I just…”

BIO

LaDonna Adrian Gaines was born on December 31, 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was a groundbreaking artist who merged the sounds of R&B, pop, funk, rock, disco and electronica. As a young girl, Donna sang in church choirs and city-wide choruses. By her early twenties, she launched her music career on stage in Munich, Germany, in productions of Hair and Porgy & Bess. While in Germany, she hooked up with producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellote who produced her first single “Hostage,” which became a hit in The Netherlands, France and Belgium.

In 1972, she married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer and gave birth to their daughter Mimi Sommer in 1973. The two divorced after she had an alleged affair but she kept his last name, but changed it to Summer.

In 1975, Moroder and Bellotte produced “Love To Love You Baby” — which rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also released hits like “MacArthur Park,” “Bad Girls,” “Hot Stuff,” “Dim All The Lights,” “On The Radio” and Enough Is Enough” as well as the Grammy and Academy award winning theme song “Last Dance” from the Thank God It’s Friday film.

By 1977, the pressures of fame and past mistakes had begun to take a toll on her. Donna had began suffering from depression and anxiety attacks and had attempted suicide several times. She was also addicted to prescription medicine. Following a nervous breakdown in 1979, Summer became a born again Christian.

On her suicide attempt, she once reportedly said, “It sorta snuck up on me, and I think it because I had my daughter, and during that period, my marriage broke up, and I was alone, and I was staying up at night, and I would go out and work and then, I would be getting 2 to 3 hours a sleep a day. It was scary, and so I couldn’t deal another minute of it, and I was on my way out the window . . .”

She continued, “I was sticking my foot out, I was shifting my weight, and I got caught in a curtain and the maid opened the door, exactly that time . . . and I thought, ‘Oh, my God!,’ It really kind of shook me, it woke me up and then I let her in, and I got on the phone, and I think I called somebody said, ‘I need help,’ and thank God that lady came, because I’d be gone today.”

In 1980, Donna became the first artist to sign to David Geffen‘s new label Geffen Records. She released three albums on the label, The Wanderer, 1982’s Donna Summer and She Works Hard for the Money. She went on to collaborate with writers and producers like Quincy Jones, Michael Omartian, and England’s dance-pop production compound Stock Aitken Waterman and produced hits like “State of Independence,” featuring Michael Jackson on backing vocals, and “She Works Hard For The Money,” one of the most-played songs of all-time, and “This Time I Know It’s For Real.”

By the mid 1980’s Donna Summer was embroiled in controversy. She allegedly made anti-gay comments regarding the-then relatively new disease AIDS. Her comments had a negative impact on her career and saw thousands of her records being returned to her record company by angry fans. Donna allegedly said that AIDS was a punishment from God for the immoral lifestyles of homosexual. She later apologized and denied making the comments.

She went on the release the albums Cats Without Claws (1984), All Systems Go (1987), Another Place And Time (1989). In the 90’s she released albums such as Mistaken Identity, The Donna Summer Anthology, Christmas Spirit, and Endless Summer: Greatest Hits — which spawned the #1 hit, “Melody of Love”, and Live & More Encore. She continued to tour to sold out audiences worldwide and also made guest appearances on the hit TV sitcom Family Matters.

In 1999, Sony/Epic Records released VH1 Presents Donna Summer: Live & More – Encore! an album and DVD of Donna’s acclaimed VH1 broadcast taped at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. The show premiered on VH1 as one of the network’s highest rated shows to date and featured live performances of Summer’s top hits.

In 2003, she released The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer. She also released her autobiography Ordinary Girl.

In 2008, celebrating four decades of milestones, Donna Summer released a new album in 17 years entitledCrayons. The album debuted at #17 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart making it Summer’s highest debuting album ever. It also debuted at #5 on the Billboard R&B chart. ”

Career Achievements

The five-time Grammy winner was the first female artist to have back-to-back multiplatinum double albums and the first female artist to incorporate synthesizers as well as the first artist to create and extended play song. She was also first female to have four #1 singles in a 12 month period; 3 as a solo artist and one as a duo with Barbra Streisand.

Donna Summer was the first artist to win the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (1979, “Hot Stuff”) as well as the first-ever recipient of the Grammy for Best Dance Recording (1997, “Carry On”).

In 2004, she became one of the first inductees, as both an Artist Inductee and a Record Inductee (for 1977’s “I Feel Love”) into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.

Donna Summer earned five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, three consecutive #1 platinum double albums (she’s the only artist, male or female, ever to accomplish this), 11 gold albums, four #1 singles, 2 platinum singles, and 12 gold singles.

Donna was also the first female artist to have a #1 single and #1 album on the Billboard charts simultaneously (“Live & More;” “MacArthur Park” 1978) a feat she also repeated six months later (“Bad Girls” & “Hot Stuff” in 1979). She charted 22 #1 hits on the Billboard Disco/Dance charts, over a period of 25 years a milestone solidifying her as The Queen of Dance.

In addition to her recording and performing career, Summer was an accomplished visual artist whose work had been shown at exhibitions worldwide. Since 1989, she had sold over 1.2 million dollars in original art – with her highest piece going for $150,000.

Donna has sold more than 130 million records worldwide.

She was ranked at #24 in Billboard Magazine’s 50th anniversary issue featuring Hot 100 Artists of All Time.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS….

MEL B MIGHT BE HEADED BACK TO DWTS: Melanie Brown might be part of the all-star cast of this upcoming season of Dancing With The Stars. According to Perez Hilton, Mel wants to come back and take another crack at bringing home the trophy. Mel even tweeted her former partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. She said, “@MaksimC are we gonna do this or what brotha???”

JOHN MAYER SPINS FOR FANS: John Mayer can’t sing so he hosted an intimate advance spin in New York City this past week. He gave an advance screening of his album, Born and Raised, which is out May 22. He said, “I’ve done four or five of these [listening parties] but this is definitely the most special because this is where the record was made. I’m just so proud that it’s almost out. There comes a time making a record that you forget anyone is ever going to hear it because it seems so far off.”