Last Dance: Disco diva DonnaSummer dies

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Travis de Jonk

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Fri 18th May, 2012 in International News

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A number of news sources have confirmed that iconic disco diva Donna Summer died this past Thursday after losing her lengthy battle with cancer, aged just 63.

The American-born daughter of a strict Baptist minister, Summer sang some of the biggest hits of the ‘70s and ‘80s, many of which became huge gay anthem classics, including Bad Girls, Last Dance, Hot Stuff, the saucy Love to Love You, the surreal Macarthur’s Park and classic duet with Barbra Striesand Enough Is Enough.

But this 5-time Grammy-winning artist also had a precarious relationship with the fans that helped make her songs hits, with rumours of her being homophobic following comments she supposedly made publically about homosexuality.

Donna Summer is survived by her two daughters from a former marriage and husband Bruce Sudano, as well as an incomplete album that she was said to be finishing, according to gossip site TMZ.

Thank you for the music Donna Summer.

Check out some of Donna Summer’s biggest hits below.

Last Dance

Love to Love You Baby

She Works Hard For The Money

This Time I Know It’s For Real

Enough Is Enough (duet with Tina Arena)

Nobody has hearted this, be the first Be the first!

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Travis de Jonk

Travis de Jonk said on the 18th May, 2012

First Whitney now Donna Summer. Music has lost two of the best performers, voices and hit makers pop music has ever known. I'm sure people will come out and go on about the homophobia... But all I know was that her hits brought (and continue to bring) more joy to this world than anything else she's said or done. I'm really sad that she's no longer in the world.

shireboy

shireboy said on the 18th May, 2012

it's time to get my THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY DVD out tonight in respect.

Dsquare

Dsquare said on the 18th May, 2012

Well that's certainly a downer for first thing Friday morning.

Maybe someone left the cake out in the rain, or maybe she just decided enough is enough, but either way, we love to love you baby.

Matt Akersten

Matt Akersten said on the 18th May, 2012

Great tribute Trav. Time to spin her classic disco tracks again this weekend! She had so many good ones.

Phazz

Phazz said on the 18th May, 2012

http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2008/07/jamoeblog/the-gay-myth-that-still-haunts-donna-summer.html

I wasn't around at the time and the claimed comments were quite harsh, but she continues to deny them. Either way I think MacArthur Park is my favourite song of hers.

yogi

yogi said on the 18th May, 2012

She had some great songs, but yes she was a huge homophobe , which was a real shame, it stopped me from buying any of her music, after all the gays kinda made her caree what it was, r.i.p.

Ruffnut

Ruffnut said on the 18th May, 2012

Great memories dancing under the disco ball to Donna Summer singing. RIP to one of the original Divas. Lets dance, this last dance tonight.

mark29 said on the 18th May, 2012

" had a precarious relationship with the fans that helped make her songs hits, with rumours of her being extremely homophobic following comments she made publically about the sins of homosexuality."

--- when the gays build their myths, they build them out of thin air but they build them to last. what the whole "controversy" has been built on, was something she said in the early 1980s, when AIDS was tearing an apocalypse through gay communities of large American cities. she said that as a heterosexual and a Christian, she prayed for gays sick and dying from AIDS, but that anyone living outside the protections offered by a traditional Christian life - ie, a hetero, monogamous, family-based lifestyle - was at risk of all kinds of spiritual and physical problems. She pointed out that heterosexual Christian life wasn't perfect either, but it at least had a negligible risk of contracting a sexually-transmitted deadly disease. i myself can't see how you can really argue with any of that, but I know I'm way out on a limb with that one.

Dsquare

Dsquare said on the 18th May, 2012

Read the link that Phazz posted. She wasn't a homophohe she was misquoted and spent the next 30 years of her life trying to get people to believe her.

mervotron

mervotron said on the 18th May, 2012

I grew up listening to her. I will remember her for the music.

TheOldie

TheOldie said on the 18th May, 2012

One of the all time best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TBmeK9Abg

TheOldie

TheOldie said on the 18th May, 2012

even remixes could be good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltcR6i7ZiFM

crazzymikey

crazzymikey said on the 18th May, 2012

I am so devastated! One of my all time favs! I wish I got to see her live! I try to imagine what it would be like to have seen her at studio 54!

I very under recognised brilliant songwriter and singer. Elton John said it right when he said that even today her songs are still amazing and timeless. I wish we had her for mardi gras!

SO many wonderful hits to dance to. Time for a Donna Summer tribute party. Are you reading this gay venue or party promoters? Please organise a Donna Summer night! her music is so uplifting!

My all time fav song of hers (this isn't easy to pick) would have to be enough is enough (no more tears). I remember listening to my mums donna summer greatest hits double record as a kid, the one with her sitting on a radio and being blown away by that song. Also loved she worked hard for the money which I had on record too! Def an anthem of the 80's!

VALE Donna Summer xxxx

coast_boy_21 said on the 19th May, 2012

The problem with Donna Summer is not the homophobic comments that she was allegedly to have said, the real problem that many GLBT people had with her is that she would constantly appear on Christian television shows - and the guests and hosts of those Christian tv shows were extremely anti-gay. That is why so many GLBT people turned there backs on Donna Summer.

mervotron

mervotron said on the 19th May, 2012

Diana Ross is going to outlive all these bitches. So far she has outlived Eartha Kitt, Etta James, Whitney Houston and now Donna Summer... Just saying...

crazzymikey

crazzymikey said on the 8th Jul, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7hwL2seUV0&feature=related

The_Freak

The_Freak said on the 8th Jul, 2012

VALE Donna Summer. The Queen Of Disco.

I remember so well watching the podium dancers, dancing to "MacArthur Park" & "Bad Girls" at Tropicana (now upstairs Midnight Shift) in the late 70s. And sadly, how Donna Summer was shunned after being misquoted and labelled "anti-gay".
A truly great talent, sadly missed. :(

Dsquare

Dsquare said on the 8th Jul, 2012

VALE Donna Summer. The Queen Of Disco.

I remember so well watching the podium dancers, dancing to "MacArthur Park" & "Bad Girls" at Tropicana (now upstairs Midnight Shift) in the late 70s. And sadly, how Donna Summer was shunned after being misquoted and labelled "ani-gay".
A truly great talent, sadly missed. :(

Of course for MacArthur Park they had to have very good drugs first because, like the rest of us, they had absolutely no bloody idea what the song was about.

The_Freak

The_Freak said on the 8th Jul, 2012

hehehehehe.........But it was very lyrical! :)

I don't know about drugs, though. As I remember the podium was pretty tiny in front of the DJs box. I always thought "one wrong twirl and those 2 queens will coming crashing down". :eek: Amazingly, they never did!

Ah! The dexterity of youth! (*sigh*)

Dsquare

Dsquare said on the 8th Jul, 2012

hehehehehe.........But it was very lyrical! :)

I don't know about drugs, though. As I remember the podium was pretty tiny in front of the DJs box. I always thought "one wrong twirl and those 2 queens will coming crashing down". :eek: Amazingly, they never did!

Ah! The dexterity of youth! (*sigh*)

I used to think the same thing with the tiny raised dance floor in The Exchange. I think that's where crowd surfing was invented - unintentionally.

MrAsh

MrAsh said on the 8th Jul, 2012

This is a link to a copy of her funeral programme.

http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0523_summer_1.pdf

The_Freak

The_Freak said on the 8th Jul, 2012

hehehehehehehe...You're so right there. I remember that dance floor also. Like a tall raised perspex coffee table.

Did you ever see the saddles they originally had on those chairs, in the front bar, when the Exchange first opened?

I remember getting so "motherless" on Scotch & Cokes that it took me 20 minutes to get off the bloody thing!

I think when they had the upstairs Shift bar, a couple of years ago, with that "butch" MANacle-like theme, they had similiar saddle-like chairs. Too bloody old, by then, to struggle out of the "saddle" by that stage. Not very graceful either! :p

Dsquare

Dsquare said on the 8th Jul, 2012

hehehehehehehe...You're so right there. I remember that dance floor also. Like a tall raised perspex coffee table.

Did you ever see the saddles they originally had on those chairs, in the front bar, when the Exchange first opened?

I remember getting so "motherless" on Scotch & Cokes that it took me 20 minutes to get off the bloody thing!

I think when they had the upstairs Shift bar, a couple of years ago, with that "butch" MANacle-like theme, they had similiar saddle-like chairs. Too bloody old, by then, to struggle out of the "saddle" by that stage. Not very graceful either! :p

I never went to the new "butch" Shift, but as soon as I heard about their new look and the saddles I thought "Saddletramps".

I believe those saddles in the Exchange provided some good training for young inexperienced gay men just coming out. They certainly helped me perfect my reverse cowgirl technique.

crazzymikey

crazzymikey said on the 8th Jul, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHS8hj4TdT8

crazzymikey

crazzymikey said on the 8th Jul, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qht0rCEs-dM

crazzymikey

crazzymikey said on the 8th Jul, 2012

love this picture

http://www.bravenewhollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/donna-summer-four-seasons.jpg

crazzymikey

crazzymikey said on the 8th Jul, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D5mhRPT_Nk&feature=related

dougster

dougster said on the 11th Jul, 2012

hehehehehehehe...You're so right there. I remember that dance floor also. Like a tall raised perspex coffee table.

Did you ever see the saddles they originally had on those chairs, in the front bar, when the Exchange first opened?

I remember getting so "motherless" on Scotch & Cokes that it took me 20 minutes to get off the bloody thing!

I think when they had the upstairs Shift bar, a couple of years ago, with that "butch" MANacle-like theme, they had similiar saddle-like chairs. Too bloody old, by then, to struggle out of the "saddle" by that stage. Not very graceful either! :p

motherless = munted?

The_Freak

The_Freak said on the 11th Jul, 2012

Yes! :)

Otherwise known as: sloshed; pissed; wasted; obliterated; juiced; gourded; under the weather; tanked; rat arsed; legless; faded; intoxicated; belted; mashed; plastered; shit faced; f**ked up; out of it; blitzed; praying to the porcelain; hammered; smashed; maggoted; bevvied; floored; loaded; tanked; obliviated; fried; out of your tree; inebriated; ratted; whatsed; canned; messed up; sauced; pie eyed; clobbered; washed out; ripped; crocked;; jacked up; liquored up; twatted; 3 sheets to the wind; ; stupefied; tore up; zonked; tipsy; lagged; blasted; slaughtered; befuddled; trashed; wrecked; cockeyed; wankered; blottoed; pickled; soused; bladdered; stewed; mullered; betty booped; toasted; tight; cut;bombed; sunked; blind; laggered; buzzed; slopped up and of course, my all time favourite...... "motherless" (and that's just on Scotch & Cokes! :D)

Oops, did I mention the word, "drunk"? (Mental Note To Self: Drinking beer while typing about alcohol is not research)