You have probably heard by now that Donna Summer lost her battle with cancer at 63.   Sure her heyday was 30 years ago, but just say the words – “Hey Beep Beep” around anyone that loves music and they will say something about being a Bad Girl. It’s called “enduring music” for a reason.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t like Disco music.  Never did.  When I started my full time radio career Disco was the hot music of the day.  I had a weekly feature where I would start a disco song, play a machine gun sound effect, cut the power to the turntable so the song would slow down and stop.  This would be followed by whatever Rock anthem was hot at the time.

“Dave’s Disco Destruction” was very popular.  Listeners would call with song suggestions.  Donna Summer, strangely enough, never came up.   I’m not sure why, I believe it had something to do fact her music was more than a pounding bass line that was played at 180 beats per second.  She actually told a story in her songs.  Some were joyful , some were pretty dark, some were about lost love found, and some the pain of just plain lost love.

Donna Summers’ star rose and fell a long time ago.  She was still a respected mentor for new musicians, influencing some of today’s top stars including Rhianna and Beyonce.   It’s a shame that we have lost her so soon.