R.I.P.

Donna Summer, of cancer at age 63, at her home in Key West.

Born Ladonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948 in Boston, she was one of seven children.

She started her career as a backup singer for Three Dog Night, and was spotted by disco promoter/producer Giorgio Moroder. They came up with her first hit, "Love to Love You Baby", which was basically an orgasm on a 12 inch record. She then released two albums of disco music, which made her extremely popular in the dance club scene.

Soon after followed "Heaven Knows", "MacArthur Park", "Last Dance", Heaven Knows", "Dim All the Lights" and "On the Radio". She moved away from disco into rock with "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff" (the former having a blistering guitar solo by Jeff Baxter) and pop with the Barbra Streisand duet "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)".

Her song "She Works Hard For the Money" became a feminist anthem in the 80's. Her last big hit was "This Time I Know It's for Real", which was her 12th gold record single in the US to go along with 11 gold albums (three of which went platinum). Her career cooled off in the 1990's and the 2000's, but she still had hit albums in the R & B and Gospel charts, and at the end she had totaled 17 Grammy nominations, winning five times in the dance, rock, R&B and inspirational categories.

In addition, her songs were covered by artists as diverse as Emmy Lou Harris, the Blue Man Group, Dolly Parton, Madonna and Reba McIntire. Summer was nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, but so far has not been elected.