Remembering Donna Summer

(picture credit: Reuters)

Sadly, we’ve lost another member of our musical royalty.  Donna Summer lost her battle with cancer and died today at 63. Make all the jokes you want to about the Disco era of the mid to late 70’s, but, for better and for worse, it was a time like no other. And Donna Summer was the undisputed Queen of Disco.  She burst onto the scene in 1975 with the hypnotic “Love To Love You Baby”.  I had only been in radio a couple of years at the time. I remember hearing the song in clubs and watching as it transported people to an almost-altered state – without chemicals. Donna Summer would record songs that weren’t afraid to celebrate our eroticism and sexual freedom. Remember we did that back in the 70’s.   Later she would give us anthems like “She Works Hard For The Money”, a song that every working woman can relate to and gain strength from. She had her roots in Gospel music, and only took a back seat to the Bee Gees for Disco success. Looking back on that era, yeah sure, the clothing styles were campy, and the lifestyle was shallow by today’s politically correct boundaries. But back then, it was cool, it was hot, it had an energy all its own. The music was fun and exciting. And Donna Summer was The Queen of a glittering world filled with dance beats and mirror balls. A world that, for better and for worse, ended too soon.