Last Dance for Donna Summer (RIP)
Friday, May 18, 2012 at 6:17AM Goodbye to disco queen Donna Summer who died yesterday at 63 of cancer. She was one of the rare through lines in popular music of the 70s and 80s -- doesn't it seem like disco had its inordinate share of one hit wonders? But not Donna. Hit after hit and her voice defined the era: I Feel Love, Macarthur Park, Love to Love Ya Baby, No More Tears (Enough is Enough) and so on...
Donna was a "special guest star" in the movie, but promoted to top billed for the DVD release despite her small role.
Donna wrote or co-wrote some of her hits but not "Last Dance", the Oscar-winning one. Still, you can bet her indelible vocals helped win songwriter Paul Jabara that naked gold man. As you can see in the image up top Donna became the film's most important selling point retroactively on DVD but in the original poster, she only has a small frame to the bottom left of the poster (also excerpted above). She played a disco diva naturally. It was her first and last appearance in a motion picture.
Here's Donna Summer performing "Last Dance", the Oscar winning song from Thank God It's Friday (1978). I love that opening speech for its sheer retro wtfness... $12 a ticket, Donna? Different era! But if tickets were really only $12 she was working hard for the money. So hard for you honey.
Which song have you been playing in her honor since you heard the sad news?
Related: Barbra Streisand reacts to the news and here's a fine Advocate piece on Donna Summer's complex relationship with the gay community who were the first to embrace her sound.
P.S. Speaking of the gay community. "I Feel Love" with two gay trailblazers after the jump.
Here's Jimmy Sommerville and Marc Almond covering "I Feel Love" mixed with a little "Johnny Remember Me"... love the surfing in fake water. Hee. Yes kiddies, the LGBT community had out heroes long before Ellen came out. Here's to the trailblazers who paved the way for today's much more gay-tolerant world. They never get the credit they deserve.
Oscars (70s), RIP, music videos
Reader Comments (8)
Thank you for writing this.
I have been playing many of her songs since yesterday. I'm listening to Enough is Enough right now.
Such a great diva.
Last Dance! She had a quite impressive list of hits. Oh, I'm so sad I missed the 70s!
I've been playing "On the Radio" with clips from Foxes, another great Donna Summer movie moment. Also, I second your toast "Here's to the trailblazers who paved the way for today's much more gay-tolerant world. They never get the credit they deserve." The video clip made me think about the film Orlando and how happily shocked I was when I first saw it. My friend and I kept looking at each in amazement and saying "Hey, is that Quentin Crisp? Hey, is that Jimmy Sommerville?" It was so unusual to see openly gay performers celebrated on film back then.
For me it's been "Love is in Control," "This Time I Know It's For Real," "Sunset People," and "There Goes My Baby." I'm the dork who insists the "Cats Without Claws" album was way better than everyone said it was.
She Works Hard for the Money is my favorite! I am too young to really remember the disco era, but that song was a hit just as I started listening to pop music, and it's still in regular rotation on my iPod.
She was so incredible on that VH1 concert in the late '90s!
I love a lot of her songs, but I always thought Hot Stuff was especially fun.
Four Seasons of Love, all cuts.
Loved Donna, been listening to Bad Girls and Enough is Enough a lot , my two all time favorites. RIP