In the late 1970s Donna Summer was known as the "Queen of Disco." She was a familiar hit-maker in a style dominated by one-hit wonders and a songwriter in a sea of manufactured talent. LaDonna Andre Gaines grew up in Boston. She was part of a religious family and started singing in her church's gospel choir at a young age. In her teen years she formed a rock band called the Crow but left the group when she moved to New York after graduating from high school. After a few auditions she was cast in a German production of the new musical Hair. She remained in Germany after the tour and found a job with the Viennese Folk Opera; she later married Helmut Sommer and moved to Munich. She was working as a studio vocalist in the city, making demos for other artists, when producers Giorgio Marader and Pete Bellotte gave her a chance to record an English language version of the French pop hit "Je T'aime . . . Moi Non Plus." "Love to Love You Baby"—a passionate, romantic epic similar to the sexy mood music of Barry White—was a smash hit in Europe. Neil Bogart, president of Casablanca records, quickly signed Summer to a contract and released "Love to Love You Baby" in the United States, where it hit number two.
Summer was infrequently off the charts from 1977 to 1980. She had a string of Top Ten hits (including the duet "Enough Is Enough" with Barbara Streisand), won fourteen Grammy awards, was nominated for an Academy Award, and is still the only person to send three consecutive double albums to the top of the charts. When disco's popularity began to fade Summer redirected her career and had several pop and gospel hits in the early 1980s. While she failed to find a niche in the 1990s, she did find new fans among devotees of trance and house music—those still committed to danceable hits.
Many cultural theorists suggest that the rejection of disco was fueled by homophobia and racism. However, evidence suggests that disco was unpopular with most rock fans not because of associations with African American or gay culture—most weren't aware that many early discos were gay night clubs, and black artists regularly placed songs on the charts—but because they genuinely disliked the music and the related corporate marketing frenzy. Most were dismayed by the use of electronic drum kits and keyboards, which gave the music an impersonal quality, and the unrelenting sameness of most disco songs. At the height of the disco fad, its clubs and bars replaced live music with jukeboxes stocked with disco records, radio stations were switched to all disco formats, DJs released disco versions of classical hits and popular standards, and bands like Kiss and the Rolling Stone hurried to release disco-like singles. "Disco sucks" became the rallying cry of American rock fans looking for someone to mount a serious challenge to the monolithic popularity of disco; most were unaware that punk and new wave were already on the case.
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Diana Ross, Mahalia Jackson, Patti Labelle, Barbara Streisand, Judy Garland
Must Haves:
 "Enough Is Enough" (with Barbara Streisand)
"Last Dance"
"She Works Hard for the Money"
"Sunset People"
Irene Cara, Alicia Keys, Gloria Gaynor, Taylor Dayne, Madonna
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