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/

AP on her funeral:

NEW YORK (AP) — Donna Summer's funeral will be a private one for family and close friends.

Publicist Brian Edwards said in a statement Friday that Summer's family is overwhelmed and appreciates the outreach from fans and friends, but that her funeral services will remain private.

He didn't provide details on when and where services would be held.

Summer died Thursday morning of lung cancer at age 63 in Naples, Fla. Edwards also said that the singer did not smoke.

Summer earned the title of Queen of Disco after releasing a string of dance hits in the 1970s, including "I Feel Love," ''Love to Love You Baby" and "Last Dance."

I forgot that her daughter is an actress

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1479002/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/fashion/memories-of-donna-summer-from-her-disco-days.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donna-summer-death-barbra-streisand-duet-enough-is-enough-326744

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57436970-10391698/donna-summer-remembered-by-president-obama-barbra-streisand-and-more/

That comment from Chaka is so sad.

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).

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL71F4F6970C8EC5DC&amp;hl=en_US" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I just got reamed out on a Broadway forum for calling it new wave (who knew there were Broadway punk fans?)

Reading all of these posts makes me happy. I feel ashamed to say it but, no other celebrity death has affected me like this--I spent the first two days in bed. RIP Donna

We were all thinking of you, Eric - you were the first thing I thought of when I heard this news. And I really did gain a whole new appreciation for Donna over the last few years because of your posts.

I read that the Billboard Awards cut a tribute to her short so ABC could go to an ad break. Reason #9438 why I skip most awards shows.

They did--it was horrible. And thanks guys

Eric did you see the tribute on the BET Awards? It was a whopping 1 minute and 44 seconds! The tribute for Whitney Houston was 20 minutes. I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous. Donna deserved a full tribute. The sad thing is, what they did show was great, but her career was so much. I don't understand how a network devoted to African Americans can spit on a legend like that.

I may be totally wrong about this -- and if I am, I'd love it if someone corrected/elaborated -- but I've always gotten the idea that Donna has never really been seen as "one of ours" in the way Whitney, Aretha, Patti, etc. have been. I think it's disgusting treatment.

Edited July 4, 201213 yr by All My Shadows

Which is really interesting since Whitney probably had the biggest backlash from the black community for being a "sellout" than any other artist from 1985 onwards.

Though, I do think Donna was never seen as an artist with much reputation in the black community. While disco was heavily influenced by a lot of what was "black music" it was still far more associated with gay men and the club scene, and not what was "black/R&B music." Not to mention, Donna had no problem experimenting with rock, new-wave, eletronica, etc - genres which typically are more geared towards white audiences.

Hell, if you went to a Donna Summer concert, you were bound to see more white people in the audience the black. That was my experience at least. The same is true for Tina Turner, but it never seems to get mentioned with her.

Edited July 4, 201213 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Donna also seemed to keep her private life private and there were none of the strong emotional upheavals which bonded some to Whitney Houston or other artists.