Donna Summer

LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012), known by the stage name Donna Summer, was an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She had a mezzo-soprano vocal range, and was a five-time Grammy Award winner. Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart, and she also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a 13-month period.

Summer died on May 17, 2012. AP reports that she died in the morning at her home in Key West, Florida at age 63 following a battle with cancer.

 

Early life and career

Donna Summer was born on New Year's Eve 1948 in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. She was one of seven children raised by devout Christian parents. Influenced by Mahalia Jackson, Summer began singing in the church at a young age. In her teens, she formed several musical groups including one with her sister and a cousin, imitating Motown girl groups such as The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas in Boston.

In the late 1960s, Summer was influenced by Janis Joplin after listening to her albums as a member of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and dropped out of school convinced that music was her way out of Boston, where she had always felt herself to be an outsider, even among her own family who ridiculed her for her voice and her looks. She joined the psychedelic rock group the Crow as lead singer, but the group was short-lived as they split upon their arrival in New York. In 1968, Summer auditioned for a role in the Broadway musical, Hair, but she lost the part of Sheila to Melba Moore. When the musical moved to Europe, Summer was offered the role. She took it and moved to Germany for several years. While in Germany, where she learned to speak German fluently, she participated in the musicals Ich Bin Ich (the German version of The Me Nobody Knows), Godspell and Show Boat. After settling in Munich, she began performing in several ensembles including the Viennese Folk Opera and also sang as a member of the pop group FamilyTree (created by the German music producer Guenter "Yogi" Lauke). She joined the group in 1973 and toured with them throughout Europe.

She also sang as a studio session singer and in theaters. In 1971, while still using her birth name Donna Gaines, she released her first single, a cover of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", though it was not a hit. In 1972, she married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer and gave birth to their daughter Mimi Sommer in 1973. Citing marital problems caused by her affair with German artist (and future live-in boyfriend) Peter Mühldorfer, she divorced Helmuth but kept his last name, anglicising it to "Summer". She also worked on an album with keyboardist/producer Veit Marvos in 1972, providing backing vocals on his Ariola records release Nice To See You (where she was credited under the pseudonym Gayn Pierre). Several single releases over the years have included a young Donna performing with the group, even though she often denied ever singing on any of the Marvos releases. The name "Gayn Pierre" was also used by Donna while performing in Godspell with Helmuth Sommer during 1972.

1970s

While singing background for the hit-making 1970s trio Three Dog Night, Summer met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. She eventually signed a deal with the European label Groovy Records and issued her first album, Lady of the Night, in 1974. The album was not released in America, but found some limited European success on the strength of the song "The Hostage", which reached number one in Belgium and number two in the Netherlands.

In 1975, Summer approached Moroder with an idea for a song she and Bellotte were working on for another singer. She had come up with the lyric "love to love you, baby". Moroder was interested in developing the new sound that was becoming popular and used Summer's lyric to develop the song. Moroder persuaded Summer to record what was to be a demo track for another performer. She later said that she had thought of how the song might sound if Marilyn Monroe had sung it and began cooing the lyrics. To get into the mood of recording the song, she requested Moroder turn off the lights while they sat on a sofa with him inducing her moans and groans. After hearing playback of the song, Moroder felt Summer's version should actually be released. Although some radio stations refused to play it due to its suggestive style, "Love to Love You" found chart success in several European countries, and made the Top 5 in the United Kingdom.

The song was then sent to Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart in hopes of getting an American release. Bogart informed Summer and Moroder he would release the song (now called "Love to Love You Baby") but requested that Moroder produce a longer version for discothèques. Moroder, Bellotte, and Summer returned with a 17 minute version and Casablanca signed Summer and released the single in November 1975. The shorter version of the single was promoted to radio stations whilst clubs regularly played the 17 minute version (the longer version would also appear on the album). Casablanca became one of the first record labels to popularize the 12" single format. By early 1976, "Love To Love You Baby" had reached #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while theparent album of the same name sold over a million copies. The song generated controversy due to Summer's moans and groans and some American radio stations, like several in Europe, refused to play it. Time magazine would report that 22 orgasms were simulated in the making of the song. Other upcoming singles included "Try Me, I Know We can Make It", US #80; "Could It Be Magic", US #52; "Spring Affair", US #58; and "Winter Melody", US #43. The subsequent albums Love Trilogy and Four Seasons of Love both went gold in the US.

In 1977, Summer released the concept album I Remember Yesterday. This album included her second top ten single, "I Feel Love", which reached number six in the US and number one in the UK. Another concept album, also released in 1977, was Once Upon a Time, a double album which told of a modern-day Cinderella "rags to riches" story through the elements of orchestral disco and ballads. This album would also attain gold status. In 1978, Summer released her version of the Jimmy Webb ballad, "MacArthur Park", which became her first US number one hit. The song was featured on Summer's first live album, Live and More, which also became her first album to hit number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, and went platinum selling over a million copies. Other studio tracks included the top ten hit, "Heaven Knows", which featured the group Brooklyn Dreams accompanying her on background and Joe "Bean" Esposito singing alongside her on the verses. Summer would later be romantically involved with Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sudano and the couple married two years after the song's release. Also in 1978, Summer acted in the film, Thank God It's Friday, playing a singer determined to perform at a hot disco club. The film met modest success, but a song from the film, titled "Last Dance", reached number three on the Hot 100 and resulted in Summer winning her first Grammy Award. Its writer, Paul Jabara, won an Academy Award for the composition. Despite her musical success, Summer was struggling with anxiety and depression and became dependent on prescription drugs for several years.

In 1979, Summer performed at the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert, joining contemporaries such as Abba, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earth, Wind and Fire, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson for an hour's TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world's children. Artists donated royalties of certain songs, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause.

Bad Girls and the break from disco

Summer began work on her next project with Moroder and Bellotte, Bad Girls, an album that had been in production for nearly two years. Summer based the whole concept on prostitution (revisiting the theme for 1974's 'Lady Of The Night'), even dressing as a hooker herself on the cover art. The album became a huge success, spawning the number one hits "Hot Stuff" and Bad Girls, and the number two "Dim All the Lights". With MacArthur Park, Hot Stuff, Bad Girls, and the Barbra Streisand duet "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)", Summer achieved four number-one hits within a thirteen month period. Those aforementioned songs, along with Heaven Knows, Last Dance, Dim All The Lights, and On the Radio (from her upcoming double-album) would give her eight US Top 5 singles within a two year period. "Hot Stuff" later won her a second Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, the first time the category was included. That year, Summer played eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

Summer released her first (international) greatest hits set in 1979, a double-album entitled On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2. The album reached number one in the US, becoming her third consecutive number one album. A new song from the compilation, "On the Radio", reached the US top five, selling over a million copies in the U.S. alone. Donna summer will be missed

1980s

After the release of the greatest hits album, Summer wanted to branch out into other musical styles in addition to disco, which led to tensions between her and Casablanca Records. Sensing that they could no longer come to terms, Summer and the label parted ways in 1980, and she signed with Geffen Records, the new label started by David Geffen.

Summer's first release on Geffen Records was The Wanderer, which replaced the disco sound of Summer's previous releases with more of the burgeoning new wave sound and elements of rock, such as the material being recorded at this time by Pat Benatar. The album achieved gold status in the US, and the title track (released as the first single) peaked at #3 in the US, though subsequent singles were only moderate hits.

Summer's projected second Geffen release, entitled I'm a Rainbow, was shelved by Geffen Records (though two of the album's songs would surface in soundtracks of the 1980s films Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Flashdance). Summer reluctantly parted company with Moroder after seven years working together as Geffen had recruited Quincy Jones to produce her next album, 1982'sDonna Summer. The album had taken a lengthy six months to record. The album's first single, "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)", became an American top ten hit on the Hot 100, followed by more moderate hits "State of Independence"(#41 pop) and "The Woman In Me"(#33 pop). Problems then increased between Summer and Geffen Records after they were notified by Polygram Records, the parent company of Summer's former label Casablanca, that she needed to deliver them one more album to fulfill her contract with them. Summer delivered the album, She Works Hard for the Money, and Polygram released it on its Mercury imprint in 1983. The title song became a hit reaching number three on the US Hot 100, and would provide Summer with a Grammy nomination. The album also featured the reggae-flavored UK Top 20 hit "Unconditional Love", which featured the British group Musical Youth who were riding high from the success of their single "Pass the Dutchie". The third US single, "Love Has A Mind of Its Own", reached the top forty of the Billboard R&B chart. The album itself was certified gold.

In late 1984, with her obligation to Polygram complete, Summer returned on Geffen Records with her next release. Geffen, wanting to keep the momentum going, enlisted She Works Hard For the Money's producer Michael Omartian to produce Cats Without Claws. The album, however, was not as successful as She Works Hard For the Money and failed to attain gold status of 500,000 copies sold in the US, becoming her first album since her 1974 debut not to do so. It did include a moderate hit in "There Goes My Baby", which peaked at #21.

Controversy

In the mid 1980s, Summer was embroiled in a controversy. She had allegedly made anti-gay remarks regarding the then-relatively new disease, AIDS, which as a result had a significantly negative impact on her career and saw thousands of her records being returned to her record company by angered fans. Summer, by this time a born-again Christian, was alleged to have said that AIDS was a punishment from God for the immoral lifestyles of homosexuals. However, she denied that she had ever made any such comment and, in a letter to the AIDS campaign group ACT UP in 1989, she said that it was "a terrible misunderstanding. I was unknowingly protected by those around me from the bad press and hate letters ... If I have caused you pain, forgive me." She went on to apologize for the delay in refuting the rumours and closed her letter with quotes from Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians from the Bible.[8]

Also in 1989, Summer told The Advocate magazine that "A couple of the people I write with are gay, and they have been ever since I met them. What people want to do with their bodies is their personal preference." A couple of years later she filed a lawsuit against New York magazine when it reprinted the rumours as fact just as she was about to release her album Mistaken Identity in 1991. According to a Biography television program dedicated to Summer in which she participated in 1995, the lawsuit was settled out of court though neither side was able to divulge any details.

European success

In 1987, Summer returned with the album All Systems Go, which did not sell well, becoming her second consecutive album not to achieve gold status. It featured the single "Dinner with Gershwin" (written by Brenda Russell), which was only a minor US hit, though it peaked at #13 in the UK. The album's title track, "All Systems Go", was released only in the UK where it peaked at #54.

For Summer's next album, Geffen Records hired the British hit production team of Stock Aitken Waterman (or SAW), who had enjoyed incredible success by writing and producing for such acts asKylie Minogue, Dead or Alive, Bananarama, and Rick Astley among others. However, Geffen decided not to release the album, entitled Another Place and Time, and Summer and Geffen Records parted ways in 1988. The album was released in Europe in March 1989 on Warner Bros. Records, which had been Summer's label in Europe since 1982. The single "This Time I Know It's For Real" had become a top ten hit in several countries in Europe, prompting the Warner Bros. subsidiary company Atlantic Records to sign Summer in the US and pick up the album for a North Americanrelease soon after. The single peaked at #7 on the Hot 100 in the US, and became her twelfth gold single there. It was also Summer's final Top 40 hit on the American pop charts, though she scored two more UK hits from the album, "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt" (UK #7) and "Love's About To Change My Heart" (UK #20).

1990s

In 1990, a new compilation, The Best of Donna Summer, was released on Warner Bros. Records. It featured some of Summer's biggest hits from the 1970s and 1980s. The album achieved Gold status in the UK, where "State of Independence" had been re-released to promote it.

In 1991, Summer released the new jack swing style album Mistaken Identity. It did not sell well, but did contain the #18 R&B hit "When Love Cries".

In 1993, Polygram Records released an extended greatest hits collection entitled The Donna Summer Anthology. It included 34 songs, totalling over two and a half hours of music. It not only included songs from the Polygram-owned labels of Casablanca and Mercury, but also material from Atlantic and Geffen Records as well.

In 1994, Summer return with a new album on Mercury/Polygram, a gospel-influenced Christmas album entitled Christmas Spirit. It included classic Christmas songs such as "O Holy Night", "Joy To The World", and "O Come All Ye Faithful",and a stiring rendition of Amy Grant's "Breath Of Heaven", as well as some original songs.

Some of Summer's dance releases including "Carry On" (her first collaboration with Moroder in a decade) and "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)" charted on the US Dance Chart, with "Melody of Love" reaching number one on that chart and also reaching number 21 on the UK Singles Chart.

Also in 1994, Polygram would release yet another Summer compilation album entitled "Endless Summer: Greatest Hits", containing 18 songs which were mainly the radio versions heard at the time of their release (as opposed to the Anthology album the year before which contained many longer versions of the songs).

During this time, Summer was offered a guest role on the sitcom Family Matters as Steve Urkel's (Jaleel White) Aunt Oona. She made a second appearance in 1997. In 1998, Summer received a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, being the first to do so, after a remixed version of her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, "Carry On", was released in 1997. In 1999, Summer taped a live television special for VH1 titled Donna Summer – Live and More Encore, producing the second highest ratings that year for the network, after their annual Divas special. A CD of the event was released by Epic Records and featured two studio recordings, "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)" and "Love Is the Healer" which reached number one on the Billboard Dance Charts.

2000s

Summer continued to score top ten hits on Billboard's Dance Chart in the new millennium. In 2000, she also appeared on the third annual Divas special, dedicated to Diana Ross, though Summer sang her own material for the show. In 2004, Summer was inducted to the Dance Music Hall of Fame alongside The Bee Gees and Barry Gibb as an artist. Her classic song, "I Feel Love", was also inducted that night.

In 2008, Summer released her first studio album of fully original material in 17 years, entitled Crayons. Released on the Sony BMG label Burgundy Records, it peaked at #17 on the US Top 200 Album Chart (her highest placing on the chart since 1983), and achieved modest international success. The songs "I'm a Fire", "Stamp Your Feet", and "Fame (The Game)" reached number one on the US Billboard Dance Chart. The ballad "Sand on My Feet" was released to adult contemporary stations and reached number thirty on that chart. While commenting on the album, Summer said "I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it. I did not want it to be any one baby. I just wanted it to be a sampler of flavors and influences from all over the world. There's a touch of this, a little smidgeon of that, a dash of something else...like when you're cooking." On the song "The Queen Is Back", Summer reveals her wry and witty self-awareness of her musical legacy and her public persona. "I'm making fun of myself," she admits. "There's irony, it's poking fun at the idea of being called a queen. That's a title that has followed me, followed me, and followed me. We were sitting and writing and that title kept popping up in my mind and I'm thinking, ‘Am I supposed to write this? Is this too arrogant to write?' But people call me ‘the queen,' so I guess it's ok to refer to myself as what everybody else refers to me as. We started writing the song and thought it was kind of cute and funny." Summer wrote "The Queen Is Back" and "Mr. Music" with J.R. Rotem and Evan Bogart, the son of Casablanca Records founder, Neil Bogart.

On December 11, 2009, Summer performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, in honor of United States President Barack Obama. She was backed by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

2010s

In August 2010, she released the single "To Paris With Love", co-written with Bruce Roberts and produced by Peter Stengaard. In October 2010, the single reached #1 on the US Billboard Dance Chart. Also that month, Summer appeared in the PBS Television Special Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends. In it, Summer performed with Seal on a medley of the songs "Unbreak My Heart /Crazy / On the Radio", before Summer closed the show with "Last Dance".

On July 29, 2010, Summer gave an interview with allvoices.com where she was asked if she would consider doing an album of standards. She replied:

"I actually am, probably in September. I will begin work on a standards album. I will probably do an all-out dance album and a standards album. I'm gonna do both, and we will release them however were gonna release them. We are not sure which is going first."

On September 15, 2010, Summer appeared as a guest celebrity singing alongside rising star Prince Poppycock on the television show America's Got Talent.

On October 16, 2010, she performed at a benefit concert at the Phoenix Symphony.

On June 6, 2011, Summer was a guest judge on the show, Platinum Hit in week two titled, Dance Floor Royalty. Platinum Hit is a reality competition series on Bravo launched in 2011 in which 12 singer-songwriters compete through innovative songwriting challenges that will test their creativity, patience and drive. Every episode features a different topic from a dance track to a love ballad, that require the contestants to write and perform lyrics from a multiple of genres, for a cash prize of $100,000, a publishing deal with songwriting collective The Writing Camp, and a recording deal with RCA/Jive label.

In July 2011, Summer was working at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer O'Mega Red. Together they worked on a track entitled "Angel".

Later years and death

On May 17, 2012, Summer died at the age of 63 after a battle with lung cancer and breast cancer. Summer is survived by her husband Bruce Sudano, their daughters Brooklyn and Amanda, as well as her daughter Mimi from her previous marriage.

 

Summer was one of seven children born and raised in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, living on the first floor of a three-decker home. Following her move to Austria in 1971, she met and fell in love with actor Helmuth Sommer while the two were acting in Godspell. In 1973, the couple married and that year Summer gave birth to her first child, daughter Mimi Sommer. However, the marriage crumbled and by 1975, they had formally divorced. Summer took her husband's last name, translated to english, as her stage name. After she had divorced from Helmuth, she moved into her Los Angeles house with lover Peter Mühldorfer, who was a respected surrealist painter. As her fame increased, Mühldorfer resented all the press and public attention and it drove a wedge between them. She has stated that he became violent and with the help of Casablanca Records mogul Neil Bogart he was eventually forced to return to Germany after his visa was revoked.

In 1978, while working on the hit track, "Heaven Knows" which featured Brooklyn Dreams member Joe "Bean" Esposito on vocals, Summer met fellow member Bruce Sudano. Within a few months, Summer and Sudano became an item. The couple married on July 16, 1980. A year later, Summer gave birth to another daughter (her first child with Sudano), Brooklyn Sudano, named after Sudano's group. A year after that, Summer and Sudano had their second child, Amanda.

Summer had often talked about her early successful years as a period of confusion and anxiety. By mid-1977, struggling with the media's titles of her as the first lady of love, she began suffering from depression and anxiety attacks. Summer wrote in her memoirs that she had attempted suicide several times. Her rapid rise to success, combined with some serious regrets about mistakes in her personal life, began to take its toll. During this time, she self-medicated on prescription medication, resulting in an addiction. Following a nervous breakdown at her home in 1979, Summer went to a local church attended with her sister Dara and declared herself a born again Christian. Summer then decided that from then on, the song that had won her international fame and recognition, "Love to Love You Baby", would no longer be performed. A quarter of a century later, however, she began performing the song again live. As recently as 2011, she even rerecorded the track, complete with racy sighs and moans, for the "Loverdose" fragrance advertisement by Diesel.

In 1994, Summer and her family moved from Los Angeles to Nashville where she took time out from show business to focus on painting, a hobby she began in 1985. In 1995, Summer's mother died.

 

Awards and recognition

• One NAACP Image Award
• One time Juno Award nomination for Best Selling International Single,"I Feel Love"
• Three Multi-Platinum albums in the United States
• Eleven of her albums went Gold in the United States
• Twelve Gold singles
• Six American Music Awards
• She was the first female African American to receive an MTV Video Music Awards nomination ("Best Female Video" and "Best Choreography" for "She Works Hard For The Money")
• Two Golden Globe Award nominations (one win for "Last Dance" Song and one nominated for "The Deep" John Barry's Song)
• Summer has received five Grammy Awards.
  • 1979 – Best R&B Vocal Performance (Female), Last Dance
  • 1980 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), Hot Stuff
  • 1984 – Best Inspirational Performance, He's a Rebel
  • 1985 – Best Inspirational Performance, Forgive Me
  • 1998 – Best Dance Recording, Carry On
• Twelve Grammy Award nominations (total of seventeen).
  • 1979 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), MacArthur Park
  • 1980 – Album of the Year, Bad Girls
  • 1980 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Bad Girls
  • 1980 – Best R&B Vocal Performance (Female), Bad Girls
  • 1980 – Best Disco Recording, Dim All The Lights
  • 1981 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), On the Radio
  • 1982 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), Cold Love
  • 1982 – Best Inspirational Performance, I Believe in Jesus
  • 1983 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), Protection
  • 1983 – Best R&B Vocal Performance (Female), Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)
  • 1984 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), She Works Hard for the Money
  • 2000 – Best Dance Recording, I Will Go with You (Con te Partiro)
• Summer placed a Top Forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in every year from 1976 ("Love to Love You Baby") to 1984 ("There Goes My Baby").
• Summer was the first artist to score three consecutive number-one double albums.
• Summer was twice honored by the Dance Music Hall of Fame; once with her induction as a recording artist and again with the induction for her influential single "I Feel Love".[16]
• Summer's music career has landed her as the eighth most successful female recording artist in history according to Billboard[citation needed].
• Summer's career span of Billboard number-one Disco/Club Play hits spans from 1975's "Love to Love You Baby" through 2010's "[To Paris With Love]".
• Summer was nominated for 2010 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but was not chosen.[17]

Cover versions by other artists

• "I Feel Love" has been sampled several times. The song was sampled by Madonna, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Moloko, Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, Darren Hayes, Mylo,David Guetta, Stuart Price, and Moby among others. "I Feel Love" was recorded by classical pop musician Vanessa-Mae for her 1998 album Storm. Italian company Gucci used a special version of it in the "Flora" perfume advertising, filmed by Chris Cunningham. "I Feel Love" has been covered onstage by Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, Kylie Minogue, Blondie,Basement Jaxx, and Finnish progressive rock band Kingston Wall. Venus Hum with Blue Man Group also performed this song with Japanese singer Kumi Koda for their album The Complex, and in 2006, Tracy Bonham stood in for Hum on the Blue Man Group tour, performing the song. Bronski Beat and Marc Almond released the track as a duet with an added bridge section and titled it "I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me", reaching number 3 in the UK charts in April 1985. In 1992 U.K. alterna-pop group Curve recorded a version for the NME's 40th anniversary compilation Ruby Trax, which became an instant underground classic.

• "Love to Love You Baby" was sampled in Beyoncé Knowles's "Naughty Girl" and by TLC on their original version of "I'm Good at Being Bad", but was removed by request of Summer on later editions. The song has been covered in portions onstage by Dionne Warwick.

• "I Feel Love" was covered by French Canadian artist Jorane for her 2004 album The You and the Now. LA based band Dengue Fever covered this song on their album Radio Dance Floor. Kylie Minogue's team also sampled this for her 2002 KylieFever. Kylie performed "Light Years" which contains elements of "I Feel Love".

• Madonna combined her song "Future Lovers" from her hit album Confessions on a Dance Floor with "I Feel Love" as the opening song on her Confessions Tour in 2006.

• Summer's "Starting Over Again" was a number one hit on the Hot Country Songs chart as a single for Dolly Parton in 1980. It also was a top-forty hit for Parton on the Billboard Hot 100. Reba McEntire named her 1995 album after the song, and McEntire's version hit no. 17 on the country singles chart in 1996. McEntire stated in the album's liner notes that her recording of the song was intended as something of a tribute to Summer and Parton, both artists whom she admired.

• Summer's "On the Radio" was covered by country artist Emmylou Harris for her 1983 album White Shoes. British singer and actress Martine McCutcheon recorded a version that reached number 7 in the UK charts in February 2001. An acoustic rendition was released by alt. rock band Hypnogaja in January 2010.
• Summer's "Sunset People" was covered by E.G. Daily on her Wild Child album (1985).
• Summer's "Dim All the Lights" was a Top 40 Dance hit for Laura Branigan in 1995, appearing on her The Best of Branigan album.
• Summer's "Last Dance" and "On the Radio" were covered by Tejano/pop singer Selena, most famously at one of her last shows at the Houston Astrodome, on February 26, 1995.
• Summer's "All Through the Night" was covered in 1982 by KC and The Sunshine Band on their Painter album, and in 1995 by supermodel Naomi Campbell for her album Baby Woman, featuringLuther Vandross on backing vocals.
• Summer's "Bad Girls" was recorded by British Jazz and US pop singer Juliet Roberts in 1998, and again in 2000 by Cheryl Chase for the Nick film Rugrats in Paris: The Movie.
• Summer's "Love Is in Control" was covered by pop singer Sheena Easton on her 2000 disco album Fabulous.
• In 1985 Dusty Springfield reached number 83 on the UK charts with a cover of "Sometimes like Butterflies".
• Summer's "Heaven Knows" was recorded by Faith Evans for inclusion on the soundtrack for the film, The Fighting Temptations.
• Summer's "The Woman In Me" was recorded by Heart in the early 1990s.
• Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money" was often performed by Millie Jackson during her 1980s concerts. "She Works Hard For The Money" was covered by Kris Allen during an American Idol Season 8 episode and recorded by Allen for the American Idol Season 8 CD.
• Summer's "All Through The Night" from the album "Bad Girls", is recorded by model Naomi Campbell in 1994 included in her album "BabyWoman".
• Jeffree Star covered her song "Bad Girls" for the upcoming movie called "Turn The Beat Around" for MTV.
• Monica Naranjo Fuego de pasion "Love's About To Change My Heart".
• Mexican singer Lorena Herrera samples "Try Me ,I Know We Can Make It" in her song Dame Amor from the album Desnudame el Alma.
• In 2010, Keri Hilson portrayed Summer in her music video for her hit-single, Pretty Girl Rock.
• In 2010 – Rhythm Masters and MYNC Project released a remake of "I Feel Love" on CR2 Records in the UK, with vocals by American Electro/Pop/Dance Artist Wynter Gordon.

 

 

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