Top flight nostalgia act? Disco diva? Sex symbol for past generations? Donna Summer is much more than that. Apart from being the most innovative and influential pop female stylist to have emerged in the 7Os, Donna is a complete, versatile and original artist who's still capable of competing with new trend setters and being at the same time a sophisticated, traditional kind of vocalist. In her long and varied career Donna has worked with John Barry, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand, has sung tunes written by Jimmy Webb and Vangelis, has written or co-written most (the best?) of her enviable repertoire. Surprised?
The ones who know her well wouldn't hesitate to include her among the 10 things that make life worth living (did you get it, Woody?) but after all the things she's done it still seems the public has not fully realized just how great her talents are. She may always be remembered as the queen of disco but that title, however flattering, doesn't really do justice to her: her songs, even the most simple ones, have always mixed -boldly at times- various ingredients, while her outstanding interpretative skills have let her master virtually every field in today's popular music.
In her own way, and that means in a pleasant and captivating way, Donna Summer has showed us that in music there ought to be no place for fences. Unfortunately this wanting to show all of her rainbows's colours has ended up by hindering her in her career: "When people in the business don't know where to put you, they sometimes put you out" she told Billboard magazine in '94. But it's better to fight to have one's true personality appreciated -knowing one can also be defeated- than to rest hypocritically on the laurels of easy consent. One more reason to admire this extraordinary figure of diva/singer/songwriter who is also the only act in the world to have won a Grammy award in the Rhythm & Blues, Rock, Inspirational and Dance categories.
Maybe in this site you won't find everything you always wanted to know about Donna Summer, but eventually you could get more and more interested in being part of her world.
DONNA SUMMER TIME © 1998 - 2012 Sebastiano Lionti.
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