Remembering 'The Queen Of Disco' Donna Summer

Donna Summer

Donna Summer was known as the 'Queen of Disco' in the 1970's. In her career Donna recorded a total of 17 albums. She had a string of hits.

In 1982 Donna recorded her 10th studio album which was released on July 19, 1982. This album was simply named 'Donna Summer'. During this time period I got to work with Donna Summer. Quincy Jones was producing this particular project and one of the songs that was recorded was 'Love Is In Control (Finger on the Trigger)'. To date this song is one of the highest backgrounds that I've ever sung on. It was my brother James, Howard Hewitt and myself.

When Donna worked on this project with Quincy Jones, this was the first time Donna had worked with a producer other than Moroder and Bellotte since 1974, so this was a different route for her.

The Album - Donna Summer

The song 'Love In In Control (Finger on the Trigger)' peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1982 and the album, Donna Summer, reached #20 on the Billboard hot 100s.

Ultimately the Donna Summer album fell short of it's goal to restore Donna to the level of stardom she'd enjoyed in the 1970s. 'Love Is In Control' had the lowest Hot 100 peak of a lead single from an album of new material by Donna Summer since 1978. This song did represent a considerable comeback for Summer on the R&B charts with a #4 peak. This afforded Donna her fifth Top 5 R&B hit. Summer also reached the UK Top 20 with both 'Love Is In Control... and another single from the album "State of Independence". Both of these tracks reached the Top Ten in the Netherlands. 

Donna Summer - "On The Radio"

The only time I worked with Donna Summer was on the project that Quincy Jones produced. The last time I saw Donna was a few years later, I ran into her coming out of a store on Melrose Ave and we chatted for a few minutes. She was telling me about her new project and I shared what I was doing.

It was very sad to hear that Donna was battling caner and lost her fight on May 17, 2012 at the age of 63. Since I hadn't seen or been in Donna's presence for a while I had no idea she was going through this battle.

But again I do appreciate that to a small degree I was able to be a part of Donna's career.

Until Next Time - Phillip