The First Lady Of Dance. (Love To Love You Baby - Donna Summer)

Member Name: cindy1

Product:	Love To Love You Baby - Donna Summer
Date:	12/08/01 (1052 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic artist, Caring, Inspiring

Disadvantages: None

I have been a massive fan of Donna Summer; this is mainly due to the fact that I love disco music, which was regrettably before my era. However, I have made up for this, by sampling almost every disco tune that ever came out. In my opinion disco was fun, it was care free, and it was hot.

When you think of Donna Summer, you normally associate her with hits such as "Last Dance", "Hot Stuff", "On The Radio", and "She Works Hard For The Money".
You would imagine that fame just fell in her lap, it never. Her real was Donna Adrian Gaines; she was born on December 31st 1948, in Boston MA.

Donna started off in a rock band called The Crow. When the band split, she left school to be in a German production of the musical Hair. Germany must have brought out the desire in her to succeed as a singer, because she became well known in the German musical circuit. She appeared in great musicals such as Showboat, Porky and Bess, and The Me Nobody Knows.

In 1971, Donna released her very first solo record, "Sally Go Round The Roses".
In 1974 Donna became Donna Summer, at the time she was doing a lot of session work, this proved fruitful for her, because it allowed her to meet producers, namely Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. They worked together to record a record called "Hostage", and this song became Donna's first hit in Europe. She then recorded an album, and had a few more hits in Europe.

In 1975, Donna recorded "Love To Love You Baby". This was the song that allowed her to crack that elusive American market. From this point on there was no stopping Donna.
She went on to have fourteen top ten hits, three platinum albums, four number ones, five Grammy awards and twelve Grammy nominations.

Wow that some achievement. If that weren't enough, she even became the first female to have three number one solo singles in one year; the three great singles w
ere "MacArthur Park", "Hot Stuff", and "Bad Girls". Wait there is more; she is the only artist to have three number one double albums in a row, these are "Live and More", "Bad Girls, and "On The Radio".
Apart from being a great artist, Donna has also written and co-written the majority of her hits.

Donna has not just faded away either, like many other artists. Not so long ago, she did a benefit performance for GMHC at Carnegie Hall, which helped to raise $400,000 for the organisation.

In addition, Epic Records offered her a multi-album deal. Her first release was a live CD recorded at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. The concert was recorded, and this became the highest rated concert special for a solo artist that VH1 ever broadcast.

It has been over twenty years since Donna exploded on the music scene, and I personally cannot wait for some new material.

Donna Summer Information.
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Life Tit Bits.
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Donna came from a large family, consisting of seven children, one boy and seven girls; she was the third child.

In the early seventies, she had a brief marriage with Helmut Sommer; she had one child with him, Mimi Sommer.

Donna is currently married to Bruce Sudano, who is a songwriter; they had two children Brooklyn and Amanda Grace Sudano.

Donna is a grandmother, to Vienna Lynn Dohler and Savannah Grace Dohler; these are Mimi's two daughters.

Throughout her career, she has had homes in Los Angeles, Connecticut, and New York. Now Donna and family live in Nashville.

In 1980 Donna became the first solo artist to sign with the newly formed Geffen Records.

Donna is a very talented painter. Her masterpieces sell for thousands of dollars.

She is the only artist to guest host Dick Clarkes American Bandstand.

Donna has racked up 11 gold albu
ms, 3 platinum albums, 2 of which were double platinum. She has also has 12 gold singles, and 2 platinum singles.

In 1980, she received the NAACP Image Award.

In 1992, she was awarded a star on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

At the moment, she is eligible for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

Grammy Awards.
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1978 Won Best R & B Vocal Performance Female for "Last Dance".

1979 Won Best Rock Vocal Performance Female for "Hot Stuff".

1983 Won Best Inspirational Performance for "He's a Rebel".

1984 Won Best Inspirational Performance for "Carry On", and won Best Dance Recording for "Carry On".

Over the years, Donna has been nominated for numerous awards.

Charity Work.
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Donna has proved she is not selfish, by giving her time and money to various charitable organisations.

She donated the proceeded of Mimi's Song to Music For UNICEF. She has helped Youth With A Mission which helps children with AIDS, Paul Newmans Hole In The Wall Gang, which helps terminally ill children, Music Care which donates money for AIDS research, she raised money for AMPHAR-AIDS, by doing an art exhibition in a gay night-club.

She has also helped The Neil Bogart Memorial Fund, which helps cancer and AIDS, she also raised over $400,000 for gay men, and she has donated money to several hospitals. The list goes on, Donna has certainly done a lot of work for charity, she is a totally unselfish woman.

If you fancy sampling Donna's unique sound, I would suggest you buy Anthology, which is £15.99 at Amazon. This contains, all her best music, this CD will prove to be an enduring addition to anyone's CD collection.
All that's left to say is that She's Hot Stuff!

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