By: Jason Shawhan
If you were born in the seventies, you simply grew up listening to the sounds of Donna Summer. In clubs, in films, at public events, on the radio- she was the perfect storm of 70s liberation in musical form. That voice, from gospel roots and honed in musical theatre and big-belt bar room diva gigs throughout Europe. It was the perfect blend of church and roadhouse, and when introduced to the cosmic grooves of Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte it launched the whole enterprise out of Munich and into the ears of the entire planet.
“Love to Love You, Baby” took the idea of the remix and made it into the bedrock of that most rockist of musical formats, the album. Whether it was meant to be the ultimate sex record, a satire on sex kitten-styled vapidity, a musical experience with a long enough groove that DJs could safely take a bathroom or smoke break, or just the record with enough earthy oomph to get the sound of the disco into suburban homes and beds, the record was a phenomenon. Picked up for the U.S. by masters of excess Casablanca Records, it was inescapable.
And the hits kept coming. Summer wasn’t just the first disco star, she was disco incarnate. Never a producer’s instrument, she co-wrote, she involved herself in production, and she became, like the music itself, bigger than life. There was dance music before “I Feel Love,” absolutely. And there has been a rich tradition of dance music since. But it is absolutely accurate and fair to call “I Feel Love” the ground zero of dance music- simply the most influential dance track ever made.
When society turned against disco, Summer was already exploring new venues, becoming a Born-Again Christian and bringing in New Wave and R&B sounds with her subsequent recordings. She still had hits, expanding her musical palette to incorporate countless new styles, and she was always part of the scene, continuing to write for other artists and making sure that her music was always around to be heard.
And now, at the age of sixty-three, we’ve lost Donna Summer to cancer. It seems especially cruel, given how she’d taken back up recording new material and ensuring her own dancefloor residency in recent years. But with an artist who helped personify an era, then spanned the gulfs between dance music and punk, new wave, and rock through sheer force of will, we’ll never really be without her work.
The many hits compilations are useful, but if you want to get a feel for the kind of expansive palette Donna was working with, check out 1976’s I Remember Yesterday, 1977’s Once Upon A Time, and 1979’s Bad Girls. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
For more about Donna Summer – Please check out these related articles
- Crayons
- The Journey
- Once Upon a Time – 25th Anniversary of Donna Summer’s Once Upon a Time
- Donna Summer with Marc Eliot – Ordinary Girl