Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ UMe) Today, one week before Donna Summer's posthumous induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Universal
Music Enterprises (UMe) releases
Donna Summer ICON, a new single-disc collection featuring 11 of the legendary singer's biggest hits and fan favorites.
Donna Summer rocketed to international superstardom in the mid-1970s, working with producer Giorgio Moroder on a revolutionary sound that combined elements of R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, disco and avant-garde electronica, and helping to catapult underground dance music out of the clubs of the U.S. and
Europe to the pinnacles of sales and radio charts around the world.
Maintaining an unbroken string of hits throughout the 1970s and '80s, most of which she wrote, Summer maintains the record for the most consecutive double albums to hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts (three), and she was the first female artist to have four singles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 within a 12-month period (three as a solo artist and one as a duo with Barbra Streisand). Summer earned a total of 32 hit singles on the Hot 100, with 14 of those reaching the Top 10. Between 1976 and the end of 1982, she had more Top 10 hits -- 12 -- than any other act, and between 1976 and 1984, she had at least one Top 40 hit on the chart each year.
In 1975, Summer's international smash "Love to Love You Baby" rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, launching her as a key figure of the then-emerging disco genre. The song's success paved the way for other border-crossing chart singles, including "MacArthur Park," "Bad Girls," "Hot Stuff," "Dim All The Lights," "On The Radio," and "Enough Is Enough," as well as the GRAMMY and Academy Award®-winning theme song "
Last Dance" from the film 'Thank God It's Friday,' a Top 5 Billboard Hot 100 and R&B chart hit which remains a milestone in Summer's career.
A five-time GRAMMY® winner,
Donna Summer was the first artist to win the award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (1979, "
Hot Stuff"), as well as the first-ever recipient of the GRAMMY for Best Dance Recording (1997, "
Carry On"). In 2004, she became one of the first inductees into the Dance
Music Hall of Fame in New York City, as both an Artist Inductee and a Record Inductee (for 1977's "
I Feel Love").
In 1980, Summer became the first artist to sign with
David Geffen's new label, Geffen Records, leaving her disco days behind and moving into the next phase of her career. In the years that followed, Summer collaborated with writers and producers such as
Quincy Jones, Michael Omartian, and England's dance-pop production compound Stock Aitken Waterman. She released a steady stream of hits, from "State of Independence," featuring
Michael Jackson on backing vocals, to the abiding feminist anthem "She Works Hard For The Money," one of radio's most-played songs of all-time, and the infectious "This Time I Know It's For Real."
In addition to her five GRAMMY Awards, Summer earned six American
Music Awards, three consecutive No. 1 platinum double albums (she holds the record as the only solo artist, male or female, ever to accomplish this), 11 gold albums, four No. 1 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart, three platinum singles, and 12 gold singles. It is estimated that more than 150 million copies of Summer's albums have been sold worldwide, and she is ranked at No. 24 on Billboard Magazine's "Hot 100 Artists of All Time" (50th Anniversary issue).
In May 2012,
Donna Summer died at the age of 63. A who's who of entertainment, including many of her contemporaries (Bette Midler, Nile Rodgers, Deborah Harry, Duran Duran, Ian Schrager,
Sheila E, and
Gloria Estefan, among others) and younger artists she inspired (Questlove, Tom Morello, Katharine McPhee, Flea, Mary J. Blige, and Timbaland, among others), reacted to the news of her death with a sustained flurry of condolences and memories shared via media interviews and social media messages. Summer's sultry, jubilant, and free-spirited songs are timeless anthems that continue to influence musicians from each new generation.
The 28th Annual Rock and Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 18. The induction ceremony will be broadcast on HBO on Saturday, May 18 at 9 pm EST/PST.
Donna Summer: ICON
1. Hot Stuff [Album Version]
2. Bad Girls [Album Version]
3. She Works Hard For The Money [Edited Single Version]
4. On The
Radio [Album Version]
5. Love To Love You Baby [Single Edit]
6. I Feel Love [Edit]
7. MacArthur Park [Single Version]
8.
Heaven Knows [Single Version]
9. Dim All The
Lights [Edit]
10. Could It Be Magic [Single Version]
11. Last Dance [Single Version]
On March 19, UMe released 15 new collections in the ICON series from many of music's most popular artists, including Trace Adkins, Alien Ant Farm, The Beach Boys, Pat Benatar, blink-182, Chris Cagle, Glen Campbell,
Captain & Tennille,
Belinda Carlisle, Everclear, Liberace, New Found Glory, Poison, Something Corporate, and André Rieu.
Bon Jovi ICON was released on March 26.
With its history and vast catalog of artists, UMe's continuing ICON series showcases music from the most popular, iconic and influential artists of all time.
