Hot Stuff singer Donna Summer is understood to have died this morning after a battle with cancer at 63.
The star, known as the Queen of Disco, passed away in Florida, according to TMZ.
Sources say she had attempted to keep the extent of her illness from fans and was recently trying to finish up her latest album.
The news has not yet been confirmed by her spokesperson.
Summers, real name LaDonna Gaines, is best know for her string of 70s hits, including I Feel Love, Last Dance and Bad Girls.
She was a five-time Grammy Award winner and the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart.
She also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a thirteen-month period.
Summers married actor Helmuth Sommer in 1973 before giving birth to the couple’s daughter Mimi later that year.
Although the marriage crumbled in 1975, she kept an altered version of her ex’s surname to use as her stage name. She married Brooklyn Dreams musician Bruce Sudano in 1980 and the couple went on to have two daughters, Brooklyn, born in 1981 and Amanda the following year.
I love the videos showing how much Donna Summer loved singing. She took real joy in using her vocal cords. Just witnessing her joy always made me happy. What an example Donna was, for all of us to take joy in our talents.
For those who never saw her in concert, the consensus is this DVD is the best. I saw the live performance and have a copy of it also.
Highly Recommended.
Donna Summer: VH1 Presents Live and More Encore!
posted 5/17 105pm Texas[Honk Honk, Beep Beep] Time
Her voice was amazingly powerful! She was a gifted singer.
I’m very sad to hear of her passing. May she Rest in Peace.
Cancer. We’re all just walking through life on eggshells really. To think of how marvelously complex our organisms are, and the multitude of glitches that can and do occur in their functioning (and equally marvelously how the body can and does overcome them), its a wonder we survive as long as we do.
I was lucky to have seen her live several years ago. She was just as good live as she was recorded…..a lost gift these days!
what a great & modest talent…what’s superb besides her naturally unforced sound, was her mechanics…if you look at her throat very carefully while she sang in this video, it’s almost impossible to detect anything happening…she made it look so easy…what a year so far with houston’s death & now summer’s …sooo sad
I hope I can post this: “Enough is Enough”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsY066wa08E&feature=player_embedded#!
I immediately went to listen to this classic. It amazed me to realize Ms. Summer really carried all the energy and drive of this song. Babs really sang background for the Queen in this disco anthem. And what a great song for the POTUS election! Thank you Donna.
I was also lucky enough to see her a while back when she came through LV. Everyone there had a great time. So much energy!! Having graduated HS in 1978 her music was part of the soundtrack of my youth. Back then us rockers had to quietly like music like hers, EWF, The Commodores, and so many more. I think some people forget how big she was. As one article said she had 19 #1 dance songs – second only to Madonna. I imagine she and Mini Riperton are blowing the bolts outta’ that place about now.
I loved this lady-she was such a gifted performer and a beautiful woman. She gave me many days, hours, weeks, months and years of joy. I recently had an all disco day at my house where my hubby pulled out my Donna Summer albums and played them on his digital turntable. Brought back great memories! Rest in Peace, my dear.
Rest in Peace, Donna.
I’m sure you’re singing a duet with Elvis now, with Bo Diddley on the guitar.
It must have been terrifying for her to know or at least believe that the toxic dust from 9-11 sparked her lung cancer and attacked the very source of her gift — her voice. If that was what happened, imagine suffering this way at the hands of the terrorists. It’s surreal. She always had the voice of an angel and now she is one. Bless her and her family.
It is humbling to know how unwavering time marches on. I remember vividly getting my first radio and being able to tune into the latest from both Bee Gees whose Spirits Having Flown album had just come out and Donna Summer’s hits from her then forthcoming Bad Girls album. Their songs provided respite from adolescent struggles and family instability. May the impact of their voices and music live on.