Donna Summer Makes Her Mark on the Billboard Charts

Donna's long list of musical accomplishments include: 19 #1 Billboard singles,
12 Gold and Platinum singles, 5 Grammy Awards, 6 American Music Awards,
2 Double Platinum albums, 1 Platinum album, 8 Gold albums.
Her song "Last Dance" won both Oscar and Golden Globe awards.

But what is here is '70s disco at its peak: "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls," "Last Dance,""On the Radio," "I Feel Love." The kind of stuff that makes weddings and frat parties what they are.

On the Radio: Greatest Hits, Vols. 1-2 originally appeared as a double vinyl set in 1979 and was regarded well enough to make the transition to other formats. The release is an almost complete anthology of her popular '70s output, including the number one club singles "Love to Love You Baby," "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It," "I Remember Yesterday," "MacArthur Park," "Bad Girls," "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," and "Hot Stuff."

Live and More

In 1978, the idea of a live disco album seemed almost laughable; that the album was by Donna Summer, whose studio creations were polished to a futuristic gloss never seen before by producer/writers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, seemed downright ludicrous. The naysayers forgot, however, that Donna Summer possessed one of the finest voices not only in disco, but in all of pop music.

The live portion of this set combines Summer classics with unexpected but excellent covers of standards like "The Way We Were," and a medley of "The Man I Love" and "I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good." The studio material includes the 17-minute "MacArthur Park Suite".

After becoming the queen of disco thanks to orgasmathon hits like "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love," Donna Summer topped off her five-year rise to fame with this live set. Certainly not a contender for first-disc choice, Live and More still works quite well as a '70s sampler for the converted. And since disco was the party music par excellence, the album's feel is one of a all-nighter in action. Featuring her signature hits and a fat chunk of disco tracks from the Once Upon a Time record, sides one and three solidify Summer's reputation as one of the most exciting and slick singers on stage. Balancing out the requisite dance material, Summer spends side two waxing nostalgic via a pop standards medley ("The Man I Love," "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," "Some of These Days") and some nice jazz and blues-imbued fare of her own. And ending the album on a very high note, Summer indulges in "McArthur Park Suite," a classic long-player that bookends two of Summer and producer Giorgio Moroder's pop disco numbers with a dance-friendly take on Jimmy Webb's monumental classic. Along with cloud-walking bouncers like "I Love You" and "Last Dance," this closing piece finds Summer at her sophisticated and tuneful best. There's nothing here to eclipse the original versions of these cuts -- save for the Webb cover, which is new -- but the Summer faithful will nonetheless want to pick up this very enjoyable concert recording. --allmusic.com

Endless Summer

Donna Summer (1948–2012) Disco legend Donna Summer died this morning in Florida at the age of 63, family sources have told the Associated Press. The singer had been battling cancer for some time. "Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith," reads a statement from the singer's family. "While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can't express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time." --By Rolling Stone

"Love To Love You Baby’, ‘I Feel Love’, ‘Hot Stuff’, or ‘On The Radio’ are only four classics of international electronic pop music the name Donna Summer is well known for. With estimated 130 million in worldwide record sales (donnasummer.com 2008), she is one of the big names in pop history"  

I Feel Love, 1977

Donna Summer would be remembered as a ground-breaking artist today even if she'd retired the day after she recorded "I Feel Love" in 1977. She wrote the song with European producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who created an electro-dystopian mirror-ball glacier-wave wall of machine rhythm, the musical equivalent of catching a stranger's dead-eyed stare on the dance floor. Summer's voice floated over the synthesizers as if feeling love meant zoning out into your own private nightworld of sensory overload. This is what Summer was talking about when she boasted, "I could be a Bette Davis-type actress. Catty, cold, precise and domineering." It was all there in "I Feel Love."

 David Bowie famously recalled hearing it with Brian Eno, while they were working together in the late 1970s. "One day in Berlin, Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future.' And I said, 'Come on, we're supposed to be doing it right now.' He said, 'No, listen to this,' and he puts on 'I Feel Love,' by Donna Summer. Eno had gone bonkers over it, absolutely bonkers. He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.' Which was more or less right." --Rollingstone