Another Donna Summer Tribute

Six things you may not know about Donna Summer





Why She Stopped Singing 'Love to Love You Baby'


In December 1975, Summer told Time magazine that she put aside her Christian beliefs to write the sexual song. "I let go long enough to show all the things I've been told since childhood to keep secret," she said. That year, Time counted 22 orgasms in the extended version of the song.

In 1979, Summer recommitted herself to her faith and stopped performing "Love to Love You Baby." "If I were to do that song like I did it in the old days, the fire department would have to be at the show," she told Telegraph magazine in 2008. "Seriously. Riots broke out in, like, Argentina and Italy. ... It's not the kind of song you just want to throw out there."





Why She Wrote 'She Works Hard for the Money'


"I was at a Grammys party … and I went to the ladies room and on my way in I saw this little old lady sitting at the end of the bar. And she was asleep," Summer told "Nightline." "She was the bathroom attendant. And at that same moment, a group of ladies walked into the room and started spraying their hair and doing all these things. And my first thought was 'God, she works hard for her money, that lady.'" "And then I thought, 'man, that's a song. So I went and grabbed my manager and we went back into the bathroom and started writing the song on a piece of toilet paper."




The Song That Inspired Her Career


In a 2008 interview with ABC News' "Nightline," Summer said that Mahalia Jackson's "I Found the Answer" made her realize she was meant to be a singer. "She was probably my first spiritual inspiration," she said. "'I Found the Answer' was the first song I sang when I started singing solo in church. I was only 8. I opened my mouth and this voice just shot out of me. It shocked me, it shocked everyone in the room."




The Song She Sang When No One Was Watching


Summer told "Nightline" that she couldn't help but belt out Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" when she was alone. "When I go to my beach house I throw that on, and I'm dancing around the house by myself, singing out loud, screaming, nobody else knows I'm there," she said. "That remains, for one reason or another, one of my favorite songs."




Her Nickname


Up until the end, the Queen of Disco's associates called her the Queen. "People in my camp still call me the Queen," she told "Nightline." "It started off as a joke but now they do it and it just sounds like part of my name."




How She Influenced a New Generation of Singers


Beyonce sampled "Love to Love You Baby" on her 2004 hit single "Naughty Girl." Jennifer Lopez recorded a cover of "On the Radio" in 2010. "Last Dance" has been performed multiple times on "American Idol," and for the season seven finale, Summer herself joined in.