Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter who rose to prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She was often referred to as the "Queen of Disco" and achieved international recognition for her contributions to popular music. Born and raised in Boston, Summer left high school before graduating and began her career as the lead singer of the blues rock band Crow.
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Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter who rose to prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She was often referred to as the "Queen of Disco" and achieved international recognition for her contributions to popular music. Born and raised in Boston, Summer left high school before graduating and began her career as the lead singer of the blues rock band Crow. She later moved to New York City and, in 1968, joined the German adaptation of the musical "Hair" in Munich, where she lived and performed for several years. During this period, she met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte and released her first album, "Lady of the Night", in 1974 for the European market. Following the European release of the disco single "Love to Love You Baby", she signed with Casablanca Records in 1975, where the single reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. Summer's first three albums with Casablanca — "Love to Love You Baby", "A Love Trilogy", and "Four Seasons of Love" — were certified gold in the United States. Her fourth album, "I Remember Yesterday" (1977), included the single "I Feel Love", which became a top ten hit in the US and a number-one hit in the UK. After initially recording in Munich, Summer and her producers relocated to the United States, where she released further successful singles including "Last Dance", "MacArthur Park", "Heaven Knows", "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls", "Dim All the Lights", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" with Barbra Streisand, and "On the Radio". In 1978, Summer reached number one on the Billboard 200 with the live album "Live and More", beginning a streak of three consecutive number-one albums, including "Bad Girls" (1979) and the compilation "On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II" (1980). She became the first female artist to record three number-one singles in a single calendar year in 1979. Following a decline in disco's popularity, Summer left Casablanca Records in 1980 and signed with Geffen Records, recording the album "The Wanderer", which incorporated rock, new wave, and inspirational music. Her subsequent releases with Geffen were less commercially successful. Summer returned to the top of the charts in 1983 with the single "She Works Hard for the Money" from the album of the same name, released through Mercury Records. In 1989, she collaborated with Stock Aitken Waterman and scored her fourteenth and final top ten US hit with "This Time I Know It's for Real". Her last appearance on the Hot 100 came in 1999 with "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)". Summer continued to record music until her death from lung cancer in 2012 at her home in Naples, Florida. She received numerous awards and recognitions during her career and posthumously, including induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Dance Music Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Billboard ranked her sixth on its list of "Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists" in 2016, and she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2025. Studio albums Lady of the Night (1974) Love to Love You Baby (1975) A Love Trilogy (1976) Four Seasons of Love (1976) I Remember Yesterday (1977) Once Upon a Time (1977) Bad Girls (1979) The Wanderer (1980) Donna Summer (1982) She Works Hard for the Money (1983) Cats Without Claws (1984) All Systems Go (1987) Another Place and Time (1989) Mistaken Identity (1991) Christmas Spirit (1994) I'm a Rainbow (1996) Crayons (2008)
