Donna Summer
Birthday: 31 December 1948, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Birth Name: LaDonna Adrian Gaines
Height: 170 cm
Donna Summer rocketed to international super-stardom in the mid-1970s when her groundbreaking merger of R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, disco and avant-garde electronica catapulted underground dance m ...Show More
[on making a comeback upon recording a new album at almost 60 years of age] I was sitting at home, w Show more
[on making a comeback upon recording a new album at almost 60 years of age] I was sitting at home, watching TV, eating potato chips, fast becoming a "Desperate Housewife", as I sing onstage, which is my onstage light, and I thought, "Is this going to be the rest of my life? Is this all there is?" I mean, I can't do this forever, I'll be this big and that wide, and I've got to find a day job. And so, at first, I thought I would go to designing school and study architecture or something, and then, all of a sudden, my light bulb went off on my head one day, and said, "You probably should go start recording again", and it happened to me in the beginning of my career, it was sexified, and it was difficult because I was fighting, not being that way, because it was not that accepted back then, and they were pushing me to be that way, and I kept going, "Why can't I just be who I am?" when it was a big struggle, and they kept pushing me more towards that, and I kept emptying my weight back, this way, and I think eventually, over the course of two or three years, I kind of put my foot down and said, "That's it, I'm not doing that anymore!". It's really hard being a diva these days, and that they have to learn to let me grow older and let me grow gracefully, because I don't plan on having 900 facelifts to please them. Hide
The minute that I got off the plane from Germany, with Susan Mineo, and we got in a limo. George [Gi Show more
The minute that I got off the plane from Germany, with Susan Mineo, and we got in a limo. George [Giorgio Moroder] was getting the bags and got back, we sat in a limo and the doors closed. Susan Mineo and I--who at the time, was with my record company--looked at each other, and all of a sudden the driver reached over and turned on [what they thought was] an eight-track CD or whatever, only it was the radio. The radio was playing exactly that minute. All of a sudden, we heard the baseline, and we started screaming out loud, and from that moment on my life was just gone--it was no more. The old me was departed and the new me was on the rise. Hide
[in 1999] Most people don't get called a queen. I appreciate the reference and that I've gotten to b Show more
[in 1999] Most people don't get called a queen. I appreciate the reference and that I've gotten to be part of people's lives. But now I have to make a new title for myself. That diva thing is getting a little used. Hide
[on her popularity as a disco singer] I think, no question, when you're a singer and you're looking Show more
[on her popularity as a disco singer] I think, no question, when you're a singer and you're looking to become so successful, it's the moments of success, singing the Oscar-winning song and having that moment, winning Grammies and all that, but after you get those things, you're sorta sitting there in the room and you're thinking, "OK, what next?". When actors say they got the Oscar and then they didn't get [a] job for five years . . . it feels like internally, and it's like, "Oh, OK, is that all there is?" and so I think you just have to keep setting new goals for yourself. For me, after I had success on that level, my next goals were personal, they were my family, go on it's time now, "You've done this, you've proven this, let's get on with your real-life". Hide
God had to create disco music so that I could be born and be successful.
God had to create disco music so that I could be born and be successful.
[about her suicide attempt] It sorta snuck up on me, and I think it because I had my daughter, and d Show more
[about her suicide attempt] It sorta snuck up on me, and I think it because I had my daughter, and during that period my marriage broke up, and I was alone, and I was staying up at night, and I would go out and work and then I would be getting 2 to 3 hours a sleep a day. It was scary, and so I couldn't deal [with] another minute of it, and I was on my way out the window, I was sticking my foot out, I was shifting my weight, and I got caught in a curtain and the maid opened the door, exactly that time. I was literally shifting my weight, and I was looking at my curtain, the chain rattled on the door and I looked after I saw the maid looking at me, and I thought, "Oh, my God!", It really kind of shook me, it woke me up and I'll let you in, and then I let her in, and I got on the phone, and I think I called somebody and said, "I need help", and thank God that lady came, because I'd be gone today. Hide
Whenever success comes it is a stranger. When it knocks, it is something you hope for, but the form Show more
Whenever success comes it is a stranger. When it knocks, it is something you hope for, but the form it takes on when it comes, and sometimes the moment it comes in, is so odd and so obscure. Hide
Donna Summer's FILMOGRAPHY
as Actor (63)
Donna Summer'S roles
Herself - Performer
Aunt Oona
Herself - Performer, Herself - Guest, Herself - Guest Judge
