Donna Summer has died age 63

[ritymeez]

Wow. May she rest in peace.

[jazzyskye10²]

So sad. May she rest in peace. :'(

[Deleted]

9:27 AM PST- TMZ has learned ... Donna died from lung cancer. Several sources are telling us Donna believed she contracted it by inhaling toxic particles after the 9/11 attack in New York City.

[musicbuff78]

RIP Donna. May you dance in heaven.

[bat1990]

This is so sad. :'(

I'm happy we got Crayons a few years ago to remind everyone how great her voice is. Hopefully they'll add a tribute to her at the Billboard Awards on Sunday. Her catalog has so many great hits. "I Feel Love" is timeless.

[Tea-why]

May 17, 2012 11:49:36 GMT -5 Cody Wants Out... said:

Oh no! This is very sad. RIP. :'(

Isn't this the fifth major death this year besides Etta, Whitney, Dick, and Adam?

Davy Jones as well.

It's so crazy because I was on my way to work this morning and I saw this mural painted with these disc balls and I thought it looked so cool. what a coincidence that it's symbolic of today's events.

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

RIP Donna. :'(

I was a huge fan of her music throughout the years. I was always in awe of how she had managed to maintain her voice for so long.

I had no idea she was battling cancer. Perhaps she only found out recently.

She probably has a lot of unreleased music in the vaults. Maybe we'll get to hear it someday.

Another great singer-songwriter gone too soon.

[Lockheart]

RIP Donna Summer! Disco Queen is gone :'(

[Mic Technique]

I was raised on this compilation and permanently ingrained images of my mother doing her best Elaine leg-jerk in the kitchen. Filed under "reasons I'm gay." Rest in peace, you dance floor goddess, you.



bow

[esoteric76]

It's terribly sad. Unbelievable, that she was able to keep it so quiet.

Dim all the lights guys.

I miss her.

[Me. I Am Justin...]

R.I.P. Donna! Definitely wasn't expecting this.

She leaves behind a great catalog. The Bad Girls album is one of my favorites. I'm particularly fond of that album cover, too.

[Deleted]

Chart Watch Extra: The Queen Of Disco (And More)
By Paul Grein

PostsBy Paul Grein | Chart Watch – 1 hour 8 minutes agoDonna Summer was universally hailed as "the Queen of Disco," but the title didn't really do her justice. Summer had a big, powerful voice that would have served her well in any era. Such Summer hits as "Heaven Knows" and "On The Radio" were really just great pop records with a dance beat. But because of her strong association with disco, when the disco bubble burst in the early 1980s, Summer's career also suffered.

But while she was hot, she was on fire. Summer had eight consecutive top 10 hits, from "Last Dance" in July 1978 to "On The Radio" in February 1980. All eight were certified gold by the Recording Industry Assn. of America. "Last Dance," which Summer sang in the 1978 movie Thank God It's Friday, won an Oscar as Best Song.

Few would have guessed that Summer would become a major star from the sound of her first chart hit, "Love To Love You Baby." The steamy hit was noteworthy mostly for Summer's orgasmic moaning and its epic length. (Most radio stations went with a 4:57 edit.)

Summer had 14 top 10 hits between "Love To Love You Baby" in January 1976 and "This Time I Know It's For Real" in June 1989. When she scored her 14th top 10 hit, she became only the fifth female solo artist to have so many top 10 hits in the rock era. She followed Aretha Franklin, who was then the leader among female solo artists with 17 top 10 hits; Connie Francis (16) and Olivia Newton-John and Madonna, who were then tied with 15 each. (Madonna has since moved up to 38 top 10 hits. Several other women, including Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston and Rihanna, have also pulled ahead.)

Summer was far and away the hottest artist of 1979. Bad Girls topped The Billboard 200 for six weeks that year. That same year, she had three #1 hits on the Hot 100: "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls" and "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," a collabo with Barbra Streisand. The latter song was the first collaboration by two female stars to reach #1 on the Hot 100. (At the time, Summer was the hotter recording star, though Streisand was already an entertainment legend.) Two other Summer hits went top five that year: "Heaven Knows" (with Brooklyn Dreams) and "Dim All The Lights."

Summer landed her first #1 hit in November 1978 with a disco version of Richard Harris' epic ballad "MacArthur Park." Her version eclipsed the original, which had reached #2 in 1968. Summer's version remains the only #1 hit for legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb. Summer also charted with two other cover versions of major pop hits. In 1976, she scored with a disco version of Barry Manilow's 1975 hit "Could It Be Magic." In 1984, she had a hit with a remake of the Drifters' 1959 classic "There Goes My Baby."

Summer won five Grammys, spread out over three distinct musical fields. "Last Dance" and 1997's "Carry On" (a collabo with her long-time collaborator Giorgio Moroder) won in disco or dance categories. "Hot Stuff" won in rock. The 1980s album cuts "He's A Rebel" and "Forgive Me" won for Best Inspirational Performance.

"Hot Stuff" made Summer the first winner of the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. Her success paved the way for subsequent Grammy rock victories by such other African American artists as Michael Jackson (with "Beat It"), Tina Turner (with such hits as "Better Be Good To Me") and Lenny Kravitz (with such hits as "Fly Away").

Summer opened the Grammy telecast in February 1984 singing her then-recent hit "She Works Hard For The Money." She memorably performed the song in the pink waitress garb she had worn on the album cover.

Summer performed "Last Dance" on the Academy Awards in April 1979. It won in a competitive field which also included the Olivia Newton-John hit "Hopelessly Devoted To You" (from Grease) and the Barry Manilow hit "Ready To Take A Chance Again" (from Foul Play).

Summer was a prolific artist. In the space of just two years, she released four consecutive double-disk albums: Once Upon A Time…, Live And More, Bad Girls and On The Radio—Greatest Hits-Volumes I & II. The last three of these albums reached #1 on The Billboard 200.

Summer's sound was so ubiquitous that other singers copied it. Irene Cara's 1980s smashes "Fame" and "Flashdance…What A Feeling" and Laura Branigan's 1982 hit "Gloria" were very much in the Summer mold.

Summer wrote or co-wrote nine of her 14 top 10 hits. She wrote her 1979 hit "Dim All The Lights" by herself. She teamed with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte to write "Love To Love You Baby," "I Feel Love" and "Heaven Knows"; with just Moroder to write "On The Radio" and "The Wanderer"; with the pop trio Brooklyn Dreams to write "Bad Girls"; with producer Michael Omartian to write "She Works Hard For The Money" and with the hot production team Stock-Aitken-Waterman to write "This Time I Know It's For Real."

Quincy Jones produced the singer's 1982 album Donna Summer. The album was released four months before Michael Jackson's Thriller, which Jones also produced. Jackson was featured in an all-star choir on "State Of Independence," which was one of three Hot 100 hits from Summer's album. That choir also featured James Ingram, Kenny Loggins, Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder. All of these stars (except Summer, regrettably) were also featured on USA for Africa's 1985 classic "We Are The World," the humanitarian anthem that Jones produced and that Jackson and Richie co-wrote.

Summer teamed with the pop-reggae group Musical Youth on 1983's "Unconditional Love," with Matthew Ward (of 2nd Chapter of Acts) on 1994's "Love Has A Mind Of Its Own" and with Bruce Roberts on 1996's "Whenever There Is Love." (Roberts co-wrote the Summer/Streisand opus "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).")

Summer's icy, techno-edged hit "I Feel Love" echoed Kraftwerk. It went top 10 in October 1977. Her other top 10 hits, not mentioned elsewhere in this report, include the peppy "Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)."

As noted, Brooklyn Dreams backed Summer on her 1979 hit "Heaven Knows." She also teamed with the members of the trio to co-write her 1979 smash "Bad Girls." A third collaboration yielded the deepest rewards: On July 16, 1980, Summer married Bruce Sudano, the group's keyboardist.

Summer was 63 when she died today of cancer.

[d.t.m]

:'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

Shame on the RHOF for passing this great woman up. I swear they better induct her posthumously next year!

[Stefan85]

Playing "Last Dance" right now. My mother is crying hysterically right now, because she grew up with Donna Summer and memorized her songs by heart. :'(

[d.t.m]

I bet Last Dance will get the biggest re-entry of Donna songs on BB.

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

Singer/Actress Deborah Cox on Donna Summer:
"Donna Summer will be greatly missed. I LOVED her music and remember singing her songs as a child in front of my dolls in my room. MacArthur Park and Last Dance are my absolute favorite Donna Summer songs. She is the one person I would've loved to meet but I never did. Loved her gift... Prayers going up for her family."

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 16:28:44 GMT -5 d.t.m said:

I bet Last Dance will get the biggest re-entry of Donna songs on BB.

Assuming it gets that high

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

[areyoureadytojump]

Donna's best selling albums at Amazon:

www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=donna+summer#/ref=sr_nr_p_lbr_music_artists__0?rh=n%3A5174%2Ck%3Adonna+summer%2Cp_lbr_music_artists_browse-bin%3ADonna+Summer&bbn=5174&keywords=donna+summer&ie=UTF8&qid=1337293146&rnid=3458810011

Looks like "The Journey" will be the best seller

[WotUNeed]

My friend texted me about this this morning, knowing I am a fan. I was so sad to learn of her passing. She was someone I hoped to see perform live one day. Oh well. Another talent departed too soon. I'd no idea she was even in danger. And she still looked and sounded great.

R.I.P., Donna Summer. I love you.

[Rodze]

www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/donna-summer-s-enduring-billboard-chart-1007086352.story

Donna Summer's Enduring Billboard Chart Successes
May 17, 2012 | By Keith Caulfield, Los Angeles

Donna Summer may have been referred to as the Queen of Disco, but her Billboard chart hits weren't confined to the so-called "disco era" of the late 1970s.

While she earned a string of smash singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the '70s -- many produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte -- she continued to chart hits on into '80s, '90s, '00s and '10s.

Summer earned a total of 32 hit singles on the Hot 100 in her lifetime, with 14 of those reaching the top 10. She claimed a top 40 hit every year from 1976 to 1984. And, between 1976 and the end of 1982, she had more top 10 hits -- 12 -- than any other act.

Her very first entry on the Hot 100 was the epic "Love to Love You Baby" in 1976, which spent two weeks at No. 2. (The 17-minute long song was edited down to a more radio-friendly length of 4:57.)

Her biggest singles include her four No. 1s "MacArthur Park," "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls" and "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (with Barbra Streisand). On June 30, 1979, when "Hot Stuff" descended 1-2 and "Bad Girls" moved up 5-3, Summer became the first woman to have two singles in the Hot 100's top three at the same time.

After a successful streak of hits in the late '70s and very early '80s, she returned to the Hot 100's top 10 in 1983 with the No. 3 anthem "She Works Hard For the Money." She claimed her final top 10 in 1989 with the Stock-Aitken-Waterman-produced "This Time I Know It's For Real" (No. 7).

Her most recent Hot 100 hit came in 1999 with "I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)," which reached No. 79.

While her fortunes on the Hot 100 waned through the past few decades, Summer remained a force on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs chart her entire career. Appropriate, for the Queen of Disco.

She notched 14 No. 1s on the chart, including her most recent hit, 2010's "To Paris With Love." Her last studio album, 2008's Crayons, spun off three No. 1 Dance/Club Songs hits with "I'm a Fire," "Stamp Your Feet" and "Fame (The Game)."

On the Billboard 200 albums chart, she claimed three consecutive No. 1 albums between 1978 and 1980 with Live and More, Bad Girls and On the Radio - Greatest Hits Volumes I & II. She collected further top 20 albums with 1980's The Wanderer (No. 13), 1982's self-titled set (No. 20), 1983's She Works Hard for the Money (No. 9) and Crayons (No. 17).


Donna Summer's Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 Hits:

Rank - Title - (Year) - Hot 100 Peak Position

1. "Hot Stuff" - 1979 - No. 1 (for 3 weeks)
2. "Bad Girls" - 1979 - No. 1 (5 weeks)
3. "MacArthur Park" - 1979 - No. 1 (3 weeks)
4. "Love to Love You Baby" - 1976 - No. 2
5. "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer) - 1979 - No. 1 (2 weeks)
6. "Dim All the Lights" - 1979 - No. 2
7. "She Works Hard For the Money" - 1983 - No. 3
8. "Last Dance" - 1978 - No. 3
9. "The Wanderer" - 1980 - No. 3
10. "Heaven Knows" (with Brooklyn Dreams) - 1979 - No. 4
11. "On the Radio" - 1980 - No. 5
12. "I Feel Love" - 1977 - No. 6
13. "This Time I Know It's For Real" - 1989 - No. 7
14. "Love Is In Control (Finger On the Trigger)" - 1982 - No. 10
15. "There Goes My Baby" - 1984 - No. 21
16. "The Woman In Me" - 1983 - No. 33
17. "Cold Love" - 1981 - No. 33
18. "Spring Affair/Winter Melody" - 1977 - No. 43
19. "Walk Away" - 1980 - No. 36
20. "I Love You" - 1978 - No. 37

Donna Summer's top Hot 100 hits ranking is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from each era, certain time frames were weighted to account for the difference between turnover rates from those years.

[Deleted]

It's nice to see some articles that go beyond confining her to the disco period. She's one of the few big artists of the disco era to have multiple pop hits after the disco backlash in '79.

[areyoureadytojump]

From the HITS thread:

iTunes:

RANK ARTIST TITLE

14 Donna Summer - On the Radio - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2

17 Donna Summer - The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer

[areyoureadytojump]

www.amazon.com/best-sellers-music-albums/zgbs/music/ref=pd_ts_zgc_m_music_morl?pf_rd_p=1261650102&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=5174&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1Z7ENNW4AM26ZEBHJ1XH#1

Amazon:

4. Donna Summer - The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer

12. 14 Donna Summer - On the Radio - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2

[HolidayGuy]

Wow- one of my all-time favorite females. WTF is going on, indeed.

R.I.P, Donna- you'll always be "on the radio" for me.

[Nick]

Was shocked like everyone else to hear about this, came out of nowhere. Her illness was a well kept secret.

I've loved her music for years, and her catalog will live on.

R.I.P. Donna

[CammyCan]

Incredible loss. Rest in peace disco queen.

[Mr. Wonder]

May 17, 2012 17:54:43 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

It's nice to see some articles that go beyond confining her to the disco period. She's one of the few big artists of the disco era to have multiple pop hits after the disco backlash in '79.

And it's nice to see some articles talk about more than just chart stats and sales.

[areyoureadytojump]

The Journey is now #1 at Amazon.

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 20:41:53 GMT -5 Mr. Wonder said:

May 17, 2012 17:54:43 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

It's nice to see some articles that go beyond confining her to the disco period. She's one of the few big artists of the disco era to have multiple pop hits after the disco backlash in '79.

And it's nice to see some articles talk about more than just chart stats and sales.

Well you can't blame Billboard. They're a charts publication.