Music has lost another great

[Reggaedoc]

Shortly after two of the world's greatest bass players, Lloyd Brevett, and Duck Dunn, we have lost one of the greatest disco divas, Donna Summer at age 63.

RIP Donna.

Sad insdeed.

[Gamma]

was she ill?

[Lazie]

was she ill?

Breast cancer. RIP Donna.

[Mosiah]

She was a big part of our teenage years. HOP without Donna Summer? Not possible!

[TDowl]

© Donna Summer / Sony

Donna Summer dead at 63
May 17, 2012, 2:52 PM EST
By Brent Lang
TheWrap
Legendary disco diva Donna Summer has died, a spokesman confirmed to TheWrap.
The "Hot Stuff" and "Last Dance" singer was 63.
No cause of death was given, but TMZ reports Summer had been battling cancer.
In a statement, Summer's family praise the singer's religious faith.
"While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy," the statement reads. "Words truly can't express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time."
Bing: Listen to Donna Summer's biggest hits
Summer's soaring mezzo-soprano voice and catchy lyrics provided the soundtrack to the 1970s, making it nearly impossible to think of many of that decade's cultural touchstones, be they bellbottoms or disco balls, without calling to mind her hit singles.
Among the hits that helped cement Summer's legacy were "She Works Hard for the Money," "Bad Girls," and "Dim All the Lights." She would earn 5 Grammy awards and 17 nominations over the course of her career.
In a 2003 interview with the New York Times, Summer said that she felt that her propulsive, candy coated dance numbers captured the national zeitgeist of the 1970s and helped people turn the page on the chaotic social upheaval of the previous decade.
"In that period people were in a dance mood," Summer said. "They wanted to be lifted up, they wanted to have fun, they didn't want to think.''
Photos: In Memoriam: Donna Summer
''You were coming out of the Vietnam war, the 60's , the protest era, and I was coming out of it as well,'' she added. ''I think people were just in a different mind set. When dance music came out, with that beat and that movement, it was a switch.''
Yet while Summer may have downplayed her political significance, one group who embraced her music was the gay community. Emboldened by the Stonewall Riots, Summer's anthems of empowerment touched a cord with a group that was beginning to agitate for greater political rights and freedoms.
That relationship endured throughout her career, but did undergo significant strain after reports surfaced that Summer made anti-gay remarks about AIDS victims in the mid-1980s and called the disease divine retribution.
She claimed that she never made the statements and would later sue New York magazine in 1991 for libel when they reprinted the allegations.
In a 1989 letter to an AIDS activist group, Summer wrote, "I was unknowingly protected by those around me from the bad press and hate letters....If I have caused you pain, forgive me."
Though Summer and disco were nearly interchangeable, she proved herself to be a musical chameleon; one who survived the end of the Studio 54 era and continued to produce chart-topping songs into the 1980s and beyond.
Over the ensuing three decades, Summer branched into new genres, such as new wave, with her 1980 album "The Wanderer"; swing on her poorly received 1991 album "Mistaken Identity"; and gospel with her 1994 holiday album "Christmas Spirit."
The singer is survived by her husband -- singer and producer Bruce Sudano; their daughters, Brooklyn and Amanda; and Summer's daughter, Mimi, from a previous marriage.
On Facebook: Pay your respects to Donna Summer

[Historian]

Really Sad

Shortly after two of the world's greatest bass players, Lloyd Brevett, and Duck Dunn, we have lost one of the greatest disco divas, Donna Summer at age 63.

RIP Donna.

Sad insdeed.

Really sad news. I didn’t know she had died until I read this post.

Music has indeed lost another great one, and Donna Summer will definitely be missed.

[MdmeX]

RIP Donna. Love your music!!

[HL]

It's funny how you can remember the places you were and the things you were doing when you hear certain songs.

I forget the name of the club in Royal Flat Manchester--that was my stomping ground during the disco era.

I wore those highly flammable pretty shirts and bell-bottom pants. I wanted platform shoes, but my Dad would not subsidize the cost. (Mainly because he thought they were silly).

But "that" Donna Summer disco hit was very very long. You stayed on the dance floor forever--and sweating! There were 2 songs on one side of that special LP.

Thanks Donna Summer...and RIP. Thanks a lot!!!

[Assasin]

RIP Donna Summer, I remember the day when I use to Hang in Havendale, Red Hills Mall, Red Hills road and mi brethren them use to run a littl sound call Disco Sensation.

Took the music world by storm.

[myYout]

Big singah, gone too soon, dis ah become ah recurring theme fi wi stalwart singah dem. She wuk hard fi di money!! tank yuh fi all dem times yuh mek mi skank off mi foot, wid di nice female dem, no man business. RIP

[Exile]

Sorry to hear...I thought I was an elder but you guys right there ahead of me....
"I love to love you Baby" must have been one of the most sensuous songs ever sung...Donna Summer was by far the most consistent hit maker in the Disco Era...and then she started to sing ballads...yes,I bought her LPs (don't know if sone you know what this)..and totally ENJOYED her music...still do...
Will have to draw fi mi mp3s later.
May her soul R.I.P.
..she works for the money....bad girls...try me, I know we can make it...bad girls..last dance...hot stuff....
..those were indeed the days.

[Jawge]

Thanks for those wonderful songs Donna. RIP

[MdmeX]

Big singah, gone too soon, dis ah become ah recurring theme fi wi stalwart singah dem. She wuk hard fi di money!! tank yuh fi all dem times yuh mek mi skank off mi foot, wid di nice female dem, no man business. RIP

LoL. When you take a boat cruise around NY on a summer night and Donna Summers start playing - the place just nice up, you don't stop dance