I was just on Twitter and saw that she was trending. Of course, my first thought was "WHY is Donna trending?!" And then my fears were confirmed:

http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/17/donna-summer-dead-last-dance/

This is so, so shocking. I wonder how our pal EricinMontreal is doing. I know he's a huge fan not just from his posts here, but on other music boards as well. In this case it's a shock because she's so young and I really had no idea. Just last year she was a guest just on Bravo's Platinum Hit. She seemed fine. Cancer can be such a sudden killer.

My first thoughts when learning about her death at work was Eric too. He posted about her death on his FB. There is a lot of fans of hers posting stuff on FB...music that is. I did leave Eric a little message on his FB. I'm sure Eric pulled out her music and played it today in memory of her or he will soon.

Donna had so many hits. There were so many favorites. It is hard to pick just one. There was a song she sang recently that was somewhat a hit here in the US but I cant think of it. It was another song of hers I liked.

I can't believe this. So unexpected... and she really kept her voice intact all the way up until the last time I saw her perform on TV. It's so hard to lose one of the true greats.

She was really far too good a singer to have been trapped by disco. A real shame she never was given the respect she deserved.

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Unlike so many with far less talent, she did not have to resort to so-called runs. She was able to hit every note clean.

Her start was in Germany in Hair..... a little song from that soundtrack:

The beauty of the best of disco is that it enhanced the power and strength of great singers, unlike the Autotuning of today or the mechanical, hollow numbers or the novelty songs of the worst disco. Donna was an incredible singer but I think with disco she truly soared. as it brought out facets in her which more standard pop wouldn't have done (I think lesser known artists like Vicki Sue Robinson or Evelyn "Champagne" King were the same).

For those who enjoy her straight singing, here's an Oscars performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D29OANPopCM

Here's Donna singing one of my all time favorite pop songs, from Gloria Estefan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5JKgngEVgI&feature=related

One of my favourite GH scenes, set to Donna's music, skip to 6:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LWrhn-VVc

I always remember that scene because someone wrote into SPW saying that Paul Jabara had passed away from AIDS, making this more than appropriate for the Nurses' Ball. It's a nice reminder of when soaps cared.

Hometown memories.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061132371

Her 1980 new wave/pop-rock album The Wanderer is very underrated.

I loved how she didn't care about being labeled a "sell-out" and experimented with so many different styles of music (of course, some of it was forced on her by various record labels).

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That's the song with a video where she was a recording studio, wasn't it?

It's always interesting when I see comments saying that She Works Hard for the Money was a big departure. I guess it is in some ways, as it's not a dance song, but it fits into her wheelhouse.

I liked this article.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/17/opinion/coleman-summer/index.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2012/05/donna-summer-ruled-majestically-if-uneasily.html

Some brief words from Madonna, Kylie, Quincy Jones (who Donna hated working with), and the irrelevant Kelly Roland.

http://www.metro.co.uk/music/899425-donna-summer-tributes-flood-in-from-madonna-kylie-and-quincy-jones

It must get very morbid after a while for Madonna and Streisand and Aretha, with women who are in their age range.

I heard some criticism of Pete Waterman because of comments he made in another interview which were just about the time he worked with her, not her entire career, but that was a big comeback for her so I'm glad he talked about this.

The song you posted with the video she refused to appear in - I thought it was a good song up to the part the electronica belching came on (so reminiscent of that silliness in Fleetwood Mac's "Big Love").

It was long rumoured that she hated I Don't Wanna Get Hurt, but she strangely performed it on Top of the Pops.

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