Donna Summer (1948–2012) was an American singer and songwriter. She achieved her breakthrough with the 1975 single, "Love to Love You Baby", which helped her sign with Casablanca Records and propelled her into a sex symbol. Her 1977 single, "I Feel Love", was nominated for the Best Selling International Single at the Juno Award. The following year, she made her film debut in Thank God It's Friday and contributed to its soundtrack. "Last Dance", an original song from the film, earned Summer the American Music Award for Favorite Disco Single and the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
In 1978, Summer achieved her first number-one album and single on the US Billboard charts, with Live and More and "MacArthur Park", respectively. Bad Girls (1979) became her critical and commercial peak, earning five Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. "Dim All the Lights" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and set a Guinness World Record for the longest-held vocal note in a US hit single. Summer won the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Hot Stuff", making her the first black artist to win a Grammy in a rock category. She was Billboards Top Female Artist and Top Singles Artist of 1979, achieving three number-one singles in a single calendar year and three consecutive number-one double albums, an unprecedented feat for a female singer.
The singer signed with Geffen Records in 1980, and earned four Grammy nominations for The Wanderer (1980) and Donna Summer (1982), including two consecutive Best Female Rock Vocal Performance nominations for "Cold Love" and "Protection". Summer received numerous nominations for her hit single, "She Works Hard for the Money" (1983), with the song nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and the video nominated for Best Female Video at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.
After a period of seclusion and moderate follow-ups, Summer made a comeback with the album, Another Place and Time (1989), which featured the hit single, "This Time I Know It's for Real", which won Summer an Ivor Novello Award. In March 1992, at the age of 43, Summer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1998, Summer made Grammy history again when she became the first recipient of Best Dance Recording with the song "Carry On", following a 1997 remix release, being Summer's fifth and last competitive Grammy. By the turn of the new millennium, Summer was starting to get recognition for her career. In 2004, she was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. After four previous nominations, Summer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
Awards and nominations
+Key Indicates non-competitive categories
Award Year Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result American Music Awards 1978 Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist 1979 Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist Favorite Disco Female Artist Favorite Disco Album Live and More Favorite Disco Single "Last Dance" 1980 Favorite Pop/Rock Album Bad Girls Favorite Pop/Rock Single "Bad Girls" Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist 1984 Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist Favorite Soul/R&B Video "She Works Hard for the Money" ASCAP Pop Music Awards 1990 Most Performed Song "This Time I Know It's for Real" Dance Music Hall of Fame 2004 Recording Artist Influential Single "I Feel Love" Grammy Awards Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female "MacArthur Park" Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female "Last Dance" Album of the Year Bad Girls Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female Best Disco Recording "Bad Girls" Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female "Dim All the Lights" Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female "Hot Stuff" Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female "On the Radio" Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female "Cold Love" Best Inspirational Performance "I Believe in Jesus" Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female "Protection" Album of the Year Flashdance: Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female "She Works Hard for the Money" Best Inspirational Performance "He's a Rebel" "Forgive Me" Best Dance Recording "Carry On" (with Giorgio Moroder) "I Will Go with You (Con te partiró)" Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy Hall of Fame Award "I Feel Love" Hollywood Walk of Fame 1992 Recording Donna Summer Ivor Novello Awards 1990 Most Performed Work "This Time I Know It's for Real" Juno Awards 1977 Best Selling International Single "I Feel Love" MTV Video Music Awards 1984 Best Female Video "She Works Hard for the Money" Best Choreography in a Video National Recording Registry 2011 – "I Feel Love" NAACP Image Awards 1980 Outstanding Recording Artist Donna Summer National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame 2021 National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Donna Summer Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2012 Performer Donna Summer Songs of the Century 2001 Songs of the Century "She Works Hard for the Money" Songwriters Hall of Fame 2025 Songwriter Herself
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