Top 20 Donna Summer Hits
Born Adrian Donna Gaines, on New Year’s Eve, 1948, in Boston, she was one of seven children.
In 1967, weeks before graduating Boston’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Donna moved to New York City to join the blues-rock band, Crow.
When Crow failed to find a recoding label, Donna auditioned for the musical “Hair” and even though Melba Moore was cast in the part, Donna agreed to go to Germany to appear in the Munich version of the show.
She remained in Germany and appeared in other musicals, including “The Me Nobody Knows,” “Godspell,” Showboat” and “Porgy And Bess.”
Donna married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer in 1974. She divorced him and kept his name, but changed it to Summer.
While singing backup for Three Dog Night, Donna met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who helped her record her first hit single, “Love To Love You Baby” and may more thereafter.
On the charts, Donna had four number one hits and landed on Billboard’s weekly Top 40 charts with twenty singles. Here are Donna Summer’s twenty biggest hits, according to Billboard’s weekly Top 40 charts.
1. “Bad Girls” – 1979 – Donna’s biggest record went to number one for five weeks and was written by her, inspired by an incident, where a police officer mistook one of her assistants as a prostitute.
2. Hot Stuff” – 1979 – Up until now, Donna had been associated with disco music, but this first single from her “Bad Girls” album had definite rock influences.
3. MacArthur Park” – 1978 – Donna’s first number one hit was originally recorded ten years earlier by Richard Harris who went to #2 on weekly charts. The Four Tops also had a top 40 cover of this song.
4. “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” – 1979 – a duet with Barbra Streisand, Donna’s last number one hit appeared on Streisand’s “Wet” album and Donna’s “On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2” album.
5. “Love To Love You Baby” – 1976 – Her first U.S. hit was recorded in Germany. Donna’s sexy cooing came from her idea of what the song would sound like if Marilyn Monroe was singing it.
6. “Dim All The Lights” – 1979 – The only hit Donna wrote by herself, it was originally intended for Rod Stewart. It contains the longest sustained single note (nearly 16 seconds) by a female vocalist in a top 40 song.
7. She Works Hard For The Money” – 1983 – From the album of the same name, it is based on an encounter Donna had with a bathroom attendant, whose picture appeared on the back cover of the album.
8. “Last Dance” – 1978 – From the film and soundtrack album for “Thank God It’s Friday,” which Donna appeared in, the song won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
9. “The Wanderer” – 1980 – Not to be confused with the Dion song of the same name, this was the title song from Donna’s album called “The Wanderer.”
10. “Heaven Knows” – 1979 – Teaming up with the group Brooklyn Dreams, this song came from the “Live And More” album. This is where Donna met future husband, Bruce Sudano, a member of Brooklyn Dreams.
11. “On The Radio” – 1980 – From the “Foxes” soundtrack album, it also appeared on her “On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2” album.
12. “I Feel Love” – 1977 – Donna’s second Top 10 single came from the concept album “Remember Yesterday.”
13. “This Time I Know It’s For Real” – 1989 – It had been six years since Donna had a Top 10 hit and this would be her last. From the album “Another Place And Time.”
14. “Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)” – 1982 – Produced by Quincy Jones and from her album simply titled “Donna Summer.”
15. “There Goes My Baby” – 1984 – Originally recorded by The Drifters in 1959 and written by Ben E. King, Donna released her version from her “Cats Without Claws” album.
16. “The Woman In Me” – 1983 – Although barely cracking the weekly Top 40, vocalist James Ingram is featured in the background.
17. Cold Love” – 1981 – The second single from “The Wanderer” album, this song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
18. “Walk Away” – 1980 – From the “Bad Girls” album, Donna only went to #36 on the weekly charts.
19. “I Love You ” – 1978 – From the “Once Upon A Time” album, it went Top 10 in the UK, but barely made it into the weekly Top 40 in the U.S.
20. “Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’?” – 1981 – The third and final single from “The Wanderer” album.
Donna continued to appear on Billboard’s Dance Club charts, scoring seven number one songs. The most recent being “To Paris With Love” in 2010.
Donna Summer received five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards and two Golden Globe nominations.
Donna Summer, dubbed The Queen of Disco, passed away on May 17, 2012, after a long battle with cancer, in Florida. She was 63. She is survived by her husband, Bruce Sudano, their two daughters, Brooklyn and Amanda and daughter Mimi, from her previous marriage.
The Queen of Disco may be gone, but she left us a legacy of some wonderful dance music that will live on for generations.
Source: Joel Whitburn – Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits – Billboard Publishing
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna Summer#Discography
