Why does it always seem like when I come back to posting that after a brief layoff that it always has to be about death? Maybe if I would post a little more often I wouldn't have that problem. It is what it is though. I'm certainly not going to let some of these important folks go uneulogized by me when they played a part in my pop culture in one way or another.
The Queen of Disco Donna Summer passed away last Friday as a result of lung cancer. She was only 63-years-old.
You all know I'm a child of the 70s so I'm very familiar with the artists of that era. Not so much disco per se, but I clearly remember Donna's records getting frequent play on my favorite Kansas City station KPRS. Cuts like "Bad Girls" and "Street Life" stuck with me for years. In fact, I doubt there's anyone from my age group who doesn't remember the intro from that KUCB talk show that came on at 6pm. If you never heard "Street Life" before you at least definitely know it from that intro.
My favorite recollection of her though was her role in "Thank God It's Friday". Just as "Breakin'" would later become movie that highlighted the breakdance culture, "TGIF" did that for disco. It is one of the corniest movies you'll ever see, but that's what made it SO good. Summer played a struggling artist trying to catch a big break at a local disco with her classic cut "Last Dance" being the hit of the film. Ever since seing that that flick that's the only thing I can think of whenever someone mentions "TGIF".
The interesting thing about her illness is Donna's people say the cause of her lung cancer was not related to smoking because she was not a smoker. She had indicated in her last days that it was something she had caught as a result of being in very close proximity to Ground Zero when 9/11 took place. If that truly is the case then that makes her passing all the more tragic. Whatever the case may be she will be missed.
Rest in peace, Queen.
