Coordinates	0°54′″N119°50′″N
Name	Studio 54
Address	254 West 54th Street
City	New York City
Latitude	40.765266
Longitude	-73.98262
Architect	Eugene De Rosa
Owner	Roundabout Theatre Company
Capacity	1,006 (519 Orchestra/487 Mezzanine)
Opened	1977
Othernames	Gallo Opera House (1927)New Yorker Theatre (1930)Casino de Paris (1933)Palladium Theatre (1936)Federal Music Theatre (1937)New Yorker Theatre (1939)CBS Radio Playhouse No. 4 (1942)CBS Studio No. 52 (1942)Studio 54 (1977)The Ritz (1989)Studio 54 (1994)
Website	roundabouttheatre.org/ot_54.htm }}

Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque in the 1970s and early 1980s. Studio 54 was originally a New York City Broadway theatre, then a CBS radio and television studio. In the 1970s it became the legendary nightclub located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan. The club opened on April 26, 1977 and closed in March 1986. Since 1998, it has been a venue for the Roundabout Theatre Company. The famous Dorothy Merrill often frequented the establishment and helped spread the popularity to Upstate NY.

History

Early years

The building originated as the Gallo Opera House by Fortune Gallo in 1927 for his San Carlo Opera Company. It opened on February 7, 1927, with the opera ''La bohème''. A 1928 musical entitled ''Rainbow'' with a score by Vincent Youmans and Oscar Hammerstein II and choreography by Busby Berkeley lasted 29 performances. The Opera House closed in 1929 after a dismal runs of the comedies ''Ladies Don't Lie'' and ''A Tailor-Made Man''. Over the course of the next decade, the venue changed its name several times. It became known as the New Yorker Theater in 1930, booking Ibsen's play ''The Vikings'' (''The Vikings at Helgeland'') and the 1931 revue ''Fast and Furious'' with a cast that included Zora Neale Hurston, Moms Mabley, Juano Hernandez, and Tim Moore. Both flopped. From 1933 to 1936 it became a dinner theater called the Casino de Paree, managed by Billy Rose. It was then the Palladium Theater in 1936. The Federal Theatre Project leased it for its productions and changed its name to the Federal Music Theater in 1937. The Chicago Federal Theater achieved minor success here with its production of ''Swing Mikado'', a jazzy update of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta which competed with the smash hit ''The Hot Mikado'' with Bill Robinson. Later in 1937, the name was changed back to the New Yorker Theater.

CBS Studio 52

CBS purchased the facility in 1943, renaming it Studio 52 (CBS named its studios in order of purchase and the number had nothing to do with the street). During these pre-television years, CBS would use the theater for radio broadcasts.

From the 1950s to the mid-1970s, CBS used the location as a radio and TV stage that housed such shows as ''What's My Line?'', ''The $64,000 Question'', ''Password'', ''To Tell the Truth'', ''Beat the Clock'', ''The Jack Benny Show'', ''I've Got a Secret'', ''Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour'', and ''Captain Kangaroo''. The soap opera ''Love of Life'' was produced there until 1975.

In 1976, CBS concentrated most of its New York broadcast functions around the corner to its storied Ed Sullivan Theater (CBS-TV Studio 50) or west to the CBS Broadcast Center, and sold Studio 52. The Ed Sullivan Theater once had access to Studio 52 through an access door, which was cinder-blocked during the theater's 1993 renovation for ''Late Show with David Letterman''. However, it is possible that the door that was covered was, in fact, leading to an MTA utility building, instead of the Sullivan Theater.

Nightclub era

Founding

When CBS began marketing the building in 1976, various interests in the art and fashion world expressed an interest in seeing it converted into a nightclub. Male model Uva Harden tried to get gallery owner Frank Lloyd to finance the club, until Lloyd lost a $9 million lawsuit to the estate of the artist Mark Rothko, the Rothko Case.

Carmen D'Alessio, a Valentino public relations agent who had been throwing fashionable parties, encouraged Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, who were operating the Enchanted Garden in Queens, to make the leap into Manhattan. D'Alessio had "reluctantly" hosted parties outside of Manhattan at the Queens venue and had been profiled in ''Newsweek'' for doing so. She was to introduce Rubell and Schrager to the jet-set crowd, including a pre-opening dinner with Andy Warhol, Halston, and Calvin Klein.

During 1977, the building was purchased and renamed for its street address, 254 West 54th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue.

The nightclub was then founded by four equal partners: Steven Rubell, Ian Schrager, Tim Savage, and Jack Dushey. They operated the company as Broadway Catering Corp. Another partner, Richard DeCourcey, was present until September 1977.

Within a month of opening, the New York State Liquor Authority raided Studio 54 for selling liquor without a license, and closed it. The owners of the nightclub said the incident was a "misunderstanding". The next night the club reopened, but gave free fruit juice and soda instead of liquor. Prior to the raid, the nightclub had been using one-day use "caterers' permits", which enabled the nightclub to serve alcohol but were intended for weddings or political affairs. The State had denied the daily permit for the night and raided the nightclub. The nightclub had been using these permits while waiting for its liquor license to be processed.

The scene

Among the many celebrities present during opening night: Michael Jackson, Mick and Bianca Jagger, Rick James, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Diana Vreeland, Halston, Margaux Hemingway, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Salvador Dali, Brooke Shields, Francesco Scavullo, Janice Dickinson, Cher, Martha Graham, Debbie Harry, Robin Leach, newlyweds Donald and Ivana Trump, newly engaged Rick Hilton and Kathy Richards. Some celebrities, including Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Henry Winkler, and Frank Sinatra were unable to get in, in part due to Studio 54's doorman. The nightclub held around 700 patrons who paid an $8 cover charge to get in each night.

Studio 54 was operated by the flamboyant, publicly visible Rubell and his retiring silent partner Schrager. At the nightclub's prime, Rubell became widely known for hand-selecting guests from the always-huge crowds outside, mixing beautiful "nobodies" with glamorous celebrities in the same venue. Alongside Rubell, doorman Mark Benecke became a fixture on the scene selecting and admitting people to the club.

"Studio", as it came to be called, was notorious for the hedonism that occurred within it; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with a depiction of a Man in the Moon that included an animated cocaine spoon. Michael Fesco presented "Sundays at the Studio."

Event planner Robert Isabell had four tons of glitter dumped in a four-inch layer on the floor of Studio 54 for a New Year's Eve party, which owner Ian Schrager described as like "standing on stardust" and left glitter that could be found months later in their clothing and homes.

End of the first era

During December 1978 Rubell was quoted in the New York newspapers as saying the Studio had made $7 million in its first year and that "only the Mafia made more money." Shortly thereafter the nightclub was raided and Rubell and Schrager were arrested for skimming $2.5 million. After the arrests Rubell accused Jimmy Carter's White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan of snorting cocaine in the basement. A grand jury met 19 times and interviewed 33 witnesses before concluding that Rubell's testimony was hearsay and not reliable enough to file charges.

The nightclub closed with one final party called "The End of Modern-day Gomorrah", on February 4, 1980. Diana Ross, Ryan O'Neal, Mariel Hemingway, Jocelyn Wildenstein, Richard Gere, Gia Carangi, Jack Nicholson, Reggie Jackson, and Sylvester Stallone were among the guests that night. New York lawyer Gary P. Naftalis represented Schrager successfully in the ensuing tax-evasion prosecution. After the nightclub's closing, cocaine and money were found in its walls. Schrager and Rubell were found guilty and would spend 13 months in prison.

1980s

During 1981, the building was sold by JISA Associates, of which Steven Rubell was a principal, to Philip Pilevsky for $2.2 million. Pilevsky in turn leased it to Mark Fleischman and Stanley Tate, and Studio 54 reopened on September 12, 1981. That night's guest list consisted of Andy Warhol, Calvin Klein, Cary Grant, Lauren Hutton, Gloria Vanderbilt, Mark Gastineau, Gina Lollobrigida, and Brooke Shields. Emerging artists at the time, Madonna, Wham!, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Menudo, and Run-DMC would perform at the club, before going on to future success. KISS held a concert at the club in 1982 that was broadcast via satellite to the Sanremo Festival in Italy. During 1985, heavy metal groups Slayer, Venom and Exodus filmed a video at Studio 54 called ''Ultimate Revenge for Disco''.

The Ritz and Cabaret Royale

From 1989 until early 1993, the nightclub's lease was owned by CAT Entertainment Corp and known as The Ritz. During that period, the nightclub hosted occasional rock concerts and was otherwise used by CAT Entertainment as a public venue available for rent. In 1993, CAT Entertainment was acquired by Cabaret Royale Corporation, a nightclub operator based in Dallas. CAT Entertainment completed a renovation of the nightclub earlier abandoned because of a lack of funds, and resurrected both the nightclub and the Studio 54 trademark, which had never been properly registered by any of the prior owners or operators. The newly remodelled nightclub was operated as "Cabaret Royale at Studio 54" by CAT Entertainment until early 1995. The Pilevsky interests which owned the theater itself and the adjacent office building had several years earlier granted a mortgage on the properties to the Bank of Tokyo and, in an effort to resolve a large unpaid indebtedness of Pilevsky to the bank and to forestall foreclosure, a trustee had been appointed by Pilevsky and the bank and granted the right to sell those and numerous other properties owned by Pilevsky. During late 1994, Allied Partners acquired the Studio 54 properties and, after protracted litigation, CAT Entertainment lost its lease on the nightclub and ceased operations.

Roundabout Theater at Studio 54

During 1994 Allied Partners bought the building for $5.5 million. They restored much of the architectural detail that had been painted black or covered with plywood by Schrager and Rubell. The nightclub reopened with a live concert by disco stars Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson, and Sister Sledge. The building again went into bankruptcy in 1996 and Allied announced plans to demolish it and replace it with Cyberdrome, a virtual reality gaming venue; however the project was never completed.

During 1998, the collapse of a construction hoist blocked access to the Henry Miller Theatre on 43rd Street, where the successful revival of the Broadway musical Cabaret was playing. To keep the show accessible, the Roundabout Theater Company agreed to move the performance to Studio 54. Roundabout later bought the building in 2003 from Allied for $22.5 million, and ''Cabaret'' played until 2004.

Notable productions

1998: ''Cabaret''

2004: ''Assassins''

2004: ''Pacific Overtures''

2005: ''A Streetcar Named Desire''

2005: ''A Touch of the Poet''

2006: ''The Threepenny Opera''

2006: ''The Apple Tree''

2007: ''110 in the Shade''

2007: ''The Ritz''

2008: ''Sunday in the Park with George''

2008: ''Pal Joey''

2009: ''Waiting for Godot''

2009: ''Wishful Drinking''

2010: ''Sondheim on Sondheim''

2010: ''Brief Encounter''

2011: ''The People in the Picture''

Upstairs at Studio 54

The second floor of the theater was used as a nightclub on weeks when plays are not being staged; when it does so it operates under the name Upstairs at Studio 54. The club is operated by Josh Hadar who was one of the Allied partners. It was also briefly owned by Noel Ashman.

Upstairs at Studio 54 Performances:

Gloria Estefan

Jody Watley

Newsical

Other tenants

The building, which is still frequently referred to as the ''Studio 54 building'', houses a variety of tenants, among them a theater venue, offices, and an educational facility called Mandl School, the College of Allied Health. This building also houses Olivtree Securities LLC.

Cultural impact

In the late 1970s, the club was arguably the most well known nightclub in the world. The club played a major formative role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general. Several franchises, notably in Las Vegas, have sprung up around the country.

A compilation album of disco music, ''A Night at Studio 54'', was released by Casablanca Records in 1979. It peaked at #21.

DJs during the Studio 54 Nightclub era

Richie Kaczor

Leroy Washington

Richie Rivera

Robbie Leslie

Frank Corr

Oscar Padilla

Johnny 'Jellybean' Benitez

Kenny Carpenter

Nicky Siano

Osvaldo Labrador

See also

Disco

Celebrities

Popular culture

Theaters

Djs

Fiorucci, an Italian fashion boutique hosting the Studio 54 opening party

Literature

Haden-Guest, Anthony. ''The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night''. New York: ''William Morrow and Company'', 1997. ISBN 978-0688160982

References

External links

Andy Warhol and Friends in Studio 54, 1981

Broadway Theatre Guide with full show details for the Studio 54

Official website for Roundabout Theater at Studio 54

Studio 54: The Hotspot's Heyday - slideshow by ''Life magazine''

BBC Radio 2 Documentary about Studio 54 with Boy George First broadcast 17 April 2007

Category:1977 establishments Category:1986 disestablishments Category:Broadway theatres Category:CBS television studios Category:Disco Category:New York City cultural history Category:Nightclubs in New York City Category:Defunct nightclubs

de:Studio 54 es:Studio 54 fr:Studio 54 (discothèque) it:Studio 54 nl:Studio 54 pl:Studio 54 pt:Studio 54 ru:Студия 54 sr:Студио 54 fi:Studio 54 sv:Studio 54 zh:54俱樂部

Coordinates	0°54′″N119°50′″N
name	Grace Jones
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Grace Mendoza
born	May 19, 1948
origin	Spanish Town, Jamaica
occupation	actress, singer/songwriter, model, artist
genre	Pop, R&B;, dance-pop, synthpop, rock, New Wave, reggae, electronic, disco
years active	1976–present
label	Island Records, Manhattan Records, Capitol Records, Wall of Sound, PIAS Recordings
instrument	Vocals
quote	}}

Grace Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.

Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and angular, padded clothes. In 1981, her "Pull Up to the Bumper" spent seven weeks at #2 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, and became a Top 5 single on the U.S. R&B; chart. Although she has yet to become a truly mainstream recording artist in the United States, much of Jones's musical output is very popular in American clubs as many of the singles were hits on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play and Hot Dance Airplay charts. Jones was able to find mainstream success in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, scoring a number of Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart. Jones's most notable albums are ''Warm Leatherette'', ''Nightclubbing'' and ''Slave to the Rhythm'', while her biggest hits (other than "Pull Up to the Bumper") are "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)", "Private Life", "Slave to the Rhythm" and "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)". During the 1970s, she also became a muse to Andy Warhol, who photographed her extensively. During this era she regularly went to the New York City nightclub Studio 54.

Jones is also an actress. Her acting occasionally overshadowed her musical output in America; but not in Europe, where her profile as a recording artist was much higher. She appeared in some low-budget films in the 1970s and early 1980s. Her work as an actress in mainstream film began in the 1984 fantasy-action film ''Conan the Destroyer'' alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the 1985 James Bond movie ''A View to a Kill''. In 1986 she played a vampire in ''Vamp'', and both acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 film ''Boomerang'' with Eddie Murphy. In 2001, she appeared in ''Wolf Girl'' alongside Tim Curry.

Life and career

Background and early career

Grace Jones was born in Spanish Town, the daughter of Marjorie and Robert W. Jones, who was a politician and Apostolic clergyman. Her parents took Grace and her brothers, Chris and Noel Jones, and relocated to Syracuse in 1965. Before becoming a successful model in New York City and Paris, Jones studied theatre at Onondaga Community College. In the 1973 film ''Gordon's War'', Jones played the role of Mary, a Harlem drug courier.

Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits and a large gay following. The three disco-oriented albums she recorded – ''Portfolio'' (1977), ''Fame'' (1978), and ''Muse'' (1979) – generated considerable success in that market. These albums consisted of pop melodies set to a disco beat, such as "On Your Knees" or "Do or Die" and standards such as "What I Did for Love" from musical ''A Chorus Line'', Jacques Prévert's "Autumn Leaves", "Send in the Clowns" from Stephen Sondheim's ''A Little Night Music'' and Édith Piaf's signature tune "La Vie en rose". During this period, she also became a muse to Andy Warhol, who photographed her extensively. Jones also accompanied him to New York City nightclub Studio 54 on many occasions. The colourful artwork and design for Jones' three first albums and accompanying single releases were created by another of Warhol's longtime collaborators, Richard Bernstein, arguably best known for his many cover illustrations for ''Interview Magazine'' in the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1978, she appeared with French model and singer Amanda Lear in the controversial six-episode Italian TV series ''Stryx''.

Early 1980s: Compass Point Studios period

At the beginning of the 1980s, Jones adapted the emerging New Wave music to create a different style for herself. Still with Island, and now working with producers Chris Blackwell, Alex Sadkin and the Compass Point All Stars, and recording at Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, she released the acclaimed album ''Warm Leatherette'' in 1980. This included re-imaginings of songs by The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Tom Petty ("Breakdown"), The Normal ("Warm Leatherette") and Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"). The record met with even greater success than her previous disco albums and the song "Private Life" was her first to enter UK Singles Chart, still remaining one of her highest-charting singles in that country. Parallel to her musical shift was an equally dramatic visual makeover, created in partnership with stylist Jean-Paul Goude. Jones adopted a severe, androgynous look, with square-cut hair and angular, padded clothes. The cover photographs of ''Warm Leatherette'' and ''Nightclubbing'' exemplified this new identity.

1981 saw the release of ''Nightclubbing'', a rapid follow-up to ''Warm Leatherette''. Jones chose a number of well-known hits to reinterpret, including The Police's "Demolition Man", Iggy Pop's and David Bowie's "Nightclubbing" and Ástor Piazzolla's "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)". The latter would become one of the Jones's most recognisable tunes and the self-penned, post-disco dance track "Pull Up to the Bumper", which spent seven weeks at #2 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play chart, and became a Top 5 single on the U.S. R&B; chart when released as a single in the fall of 1981. However, both ''Warm Leatherette'' and ''Nightclubbing'' albums also included a few tracks co-written by Jones herself, such as "A Rolling Stone" and "Feel Up". In the UK, ''Nightclubbing'' claimed the number one slot on music magazine New Musical Express' Album of the Year listing. In 1981, Jones, appearing alongside noted psychotherapist Sonja Vetter, caused a controversy slapping chat show host Russell Harty across the face live on air after he turned to interview other guests and she felt she was being ignored. This topped a 2006 BBC poll of the most-shocking British TV chat show moments.

In 1981 and 1982, Jones toured the UK, Continental Europe, Scandinavia and the US with her ''One Man Show'', a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Jean-Paul Goude and Jones herself, in which she performed tracks from the albums ''Portfolio'', ''Warm Leatherette'' and ''Nightclubbing'' dressed in elaborate costumes and masks – in the opening sequence as a gorilla – and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video next year. Her collaboration with Blackwell, Sadkin and the Compass Point All Stars continued with the dub reggae-influenced album ''Living My Life'' (1982), which featured the self-penned "My Jamaican Guy", sung in patois and a cover of "The Apple Stretching" by Melvin Van Peebles. In 1984, Jones's work as an actress in mainstream film began, with the role of Zula, the Amazon, in ''Conan the Destroyer'' alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and former NBA player Wilt Chamberlain. She next landed the role of May Day in the fourteenth James Bond movie ''A View to a Kill'' (1985).

Late 1980s and 1990s

In the mid-1980s, she worked with Trevor Horn and Bruce Woolley for the conceptual musical collage ''Slave to the Rhythm'', which was released in the fall of 1985. The well-received album consisted of several re-workings of the title track, which is arguably the most popular song ever delivered by Grace Jones. Although never charted in the USA, the single did well in the UK, peaking at number 12. ''Slave to the Rhythm'', together with ''Warm Leatherette'' and ''Nightclubbing'' albums, is now recognised as one of Grace Jones's best works. In December, her first retrospective album was released. ''Island Life'' collected most of the singles from her 1977 debut up to recent 1985 hits. It included new versions of "Love Is the Drug" and "Pull Up to the Bumper," which were re-issued and charted again. Her next studio release, the first album after leaving the Island Records label, was ''Inside Story'' (1986), on which she worked with Nile Rodgers. It produced her last Billboard Hot 100 hit to date, "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)", one of several songs she co-wrote with Bruce Woolley.

She sang vocals along with Simon Le Bon in the international top 10 dance-pop hit "Election Day", which Le Bon's then band Arcadia released in October 1985. She appeared in the 1986 vampire film ''Vamp'' where she played a queen vampire.

Her ninth studio album, ''Bulletproof Heart'' (1989), spawned the Number 1 U.S. Hot Dance Club Play hit "Love on Top of Love (Killer Kiss)", produced by C+C Music Factory's David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The second and the final single, "Amado Mio", was a cover version of the song used in 1946 film ''Gilda'' and originally performed by Rita Hayworth. ''Bulletproof Heart'' met with lukewarm reception. In 1992 Jones appeared in Eddie Murphy film ''Boomerang'', for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack, and released two more singles in 1993: "Evilmainya", recorded for the film ''Freddie as F.R.O.7'', and "Sexdrive". She recorded two albums during the 1990s, but they remain unreleased thus far. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled ''Black Marilyn'' with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe; in 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled ''Force of Nature'', on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky. The release of ''Force of Nature'' was cancelled due to a disagreement between them and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane (Cradle to the Grave)" was issued; a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later. In 1999 she appeared in an episode of the ''Beastmaster'' television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

Recent career

In 2000, Jones cut "The Perfect Crime"(to the show "Crime Perfeito"), an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus & Kåre Jacobsen. A year later, she appeared alongside Tim Curry in ''Wolf Girl'' (also known as ''Blood Moon''), as a transvestite circus performer named Christoph/Christine. On 28 May 2002, she performed onstage in Modena, Italy with Italian opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti during his annual ''Pavarotti and Friends'' concert to support the UN refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. Together they performed the aria "Pourquoi me réveiller?" from Jules Massenet's opera ''Werther''. In November 2004, Jones sang her hit "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena. In April 2005 Jones raised a controversy, when she was accused of verbally abusing a Eurostar train manager in a quarrel over a ticket upgrade, and she either was escorted off the train or left of her own accord, later saying that she had been mistreated. In February 2006, Jones was the celebrity runway model for Diesel's show in New York.

Producer Ivor Guest confirmed that he and Jones had completed recording her new album in 2007. Other participants on the album included the original Compass Point All Stars line-up, including Sly and Robbie, Mikey Chung and Wally Badarou, joined by Brian Eno, Bruce Woolley, Tricky and Tony Allen. The ''Hurricane'' album (initially to be titled ''Corporate Cannibal'') was released on 27 October 2008, on Wall of Sound/PIAS Records, meeting with positive reviews. "Corporate Cannibal" became the album's lead single, with its music video directed by Nick Hooker. Jones embarked on a concert tour at the end of 08 and beginning of 09, and appeared at Secret Garden Party and Latitude Festival to promote the new album. The video for the second single, "Williams' Blood", used live footage from the Hurricane Tour. Grace Jones also collaborated with the avant-garde poet Brigitte Fontaine on a duet named " Soufi" from Fontaine's latest album 'Prohibition' released in the fall 2009, and produced by Ivor Guest. On 26 April 2010 Grace Jones performed at Royal Albert Hall, receiving rave reviews. ''A One Man Show'' was released on DVD, as ''Grace Jones – Live in Concert'', in 2010 with 3 bonus videoclips ("Slave to the Rhythm", "Love Is the Drug" and "Crush"). "Love You to Life", the third single off ''Hurricane'', was released on 2 May 2010. Grace Jones collaborated again with the French avant-garde poet Brigitte Fontaine on two tracks (Dancefloor and La Caravane) on Fontaine's 2011 release entitled "L'un n'empêche pas l'autre". (This album also produced by Ivor Guest). Jones performed at the opening ceremony of the 61st FIFA Congress.

Style, image and voice

In the late 1970s, Jones adapted the emerging New Wave music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look, with square-cut hair and angular, padded clothes, created in partnership with stylist Jean-Paul Goude. She would also exemplify the so-called "flat top" hairstyle in many of her concerts in the 1970s, which would become popular among black men in the 1980s. Her first album cover to feature this hairstyle was 1980's ''Warm Leatherette''. Her strong visual presence was an advantage for her music videos and concert tours. In her concert performances, she adopted various personas and wore outlandish costumes, particularly during her years with Goude. One such performance was at the Paradise Garage in 1985, for which she collaborated with visual artist Keith Haring for her costume. Haring painted her body in tribal patterns and fitted her with wire armour. The muralist also painted her body for the video to "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)" and the 1986 vampire film ''Vamp''. Grace Jones's striking appearance, height (5'10½" or 1.79 m), and manner influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s. To this day, she is known for her unique look at least as much as she is for her music and has been an inspiration for numerous other artists, including Annie Lennox and Lady Gaga.

Jones is a contralto. Although her image became equally as notable as her voice, she is a highly stylised vocalist.

Personal life

At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, Jones was in a relationship with a French graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she has a son, Paulo. Her engagement with Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren was cancelled and in 1996 she married Atila Altunbay.

Discography

''Portfolio'' (1977)

''Fame'' (1978)

''Muse'' (1979)

''Warm Leatherette'' (1980)

''Nightclubbing'' (1981)

''Living My Life'' (1982)

''Slave to the Rhythm'' (1985)

''Inside Story'' (1986)

''Bulletproof Heart'' (1989)

''Hurricane'' (2008)

Filmography

Movies

1973: ''Gordon's War''

1976: ''Let's Make a Dirty Movie''

1976: ''Colt 38 Special Squad''

1979: ''Army of Lovers or Revolution of the Perverts'' (documentary)

1981: ''Deadly Vengeance''

1984: ''Made in France'' (documentary)

1984: ''Conan the Destroyer''

1985: ''A View to a Kill''

1986: ''Vamp''

1987: ''Straight to Hell''

1987: ''Siesta''

1990: ''Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol'' (documentary)

1992: ''Boomerang''

1995: ''Cyber Bandits''

1998: ''McCinsey's Island''

1999: ''Palmer's Pick Up''

2006: ''No Place Like Home''

2008: ''Falco – Verdammt, Wir Leben Noch!''

2008: ''Chelsea on the Rocks''

Television work

1978: ''Stryx''

1982: ''A One Man Show''

1988: ''Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special''

1999: ''Beastmaster''

2001: ''Wolf Girl''

2001: ''Shaka Zulu: The Citadel''

Awards and nominations

Jones is a three-time Saturn Award nominee, a Grammy nominee, an MTV Video Music Awards nominee, a Razzie Award nominee and a Q Awards winner. She has also ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll.

Saturn Awards

1985: Best Supporting Actress for ''Conan the Destroyer'' (Nomination)

1986: Best Supporting Actress for ''A View to a Kill'' (Nomination)

1987: Best Supporting Actress for ''Vamp'' (Nomination)

Grammy Awards

1983: Best Long Form Music Video for her ''A One Man Show'' (Nomination)

MTV Video Music Award

1986: Best Female Video for "Slave to the Rhythm" (Nomination)

Razzie Awards

1987: Worst Supporting Actress for ''Siesta'' (Nomination)

Q Music Award

2008: Q Idol (Winner)

References

External links

Grace Jones official website

Official Grace Jones page at MySpace

Grace Jones fan blog

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:American contraltos Category:American disco musicians Category:American female models Category:American female singers Category:American house musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Androgyny Category:American disco musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Female New Wave singers Category:French-language singers Category:American people of Jamaican descent Category:Jamaican female models Category:Jamaican female singers Category:Jamaican emigrants to the United States Category:People from Saint Catherine Parish Category:People from Syracuse, New York Category:ZTT Records artists

da:Grace Jones de:Grace Jones es:Grace Jones fr:Grace Jones hr:Grace Jones id:Grace Jones it:Grace Jones ht:Grace Jones hu:Grace Jones nl:Grace Jones ja:グレイス・ジョーンズ no:Grace Jones nn:Grace Jones pl:Grace Jones pt:Grace Jones ru:Джонс, Грейс sl:Grace Jones sr:Грејс Џоунс fi:Grace Jones sv:Grace Jones

Coordinates	0°54′″N119°50′″N
alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	Michael Joe Jackson, MJ, King of Pop
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals
genre	R&B;, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy
associated acts	The Jackson 5
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	}}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B;, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Life and career

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B; band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.

The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.

Move to Epic and ''Off the Wall'' (1975–81)

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B; Album, Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B; Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B; Album and Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25'' (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona. ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading

External links

Michael Jackson Live: Best Pics – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths Category:African American dancers Category:African American male singers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American beatboxers Category:American businesspeople Category:American child singers Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American disco musicians Category:American male singers Category:American boogie musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul singers Category:American tenors Category:American vegetarians Category:Boy sopranos Category:Brit Award winners Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:Child pop musicians Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:English-language singers Category:Epic Records artists Category:Expatriates in Bahrain Category:Former Jehovah's Witnesses Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Legend Award Michael Jackson Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People acquitted of sex crimes Category:People from Gary, Indiana Category:People from Santa Barbara County, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters from Indiana Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Young Artist Award winners

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Coordinates	0°54′″N119°50′″N
Name	Steve Rubell
Birth date	December 02, 1943
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Death date	July 25, 1989
Death place	New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	}}

Steve Rubell (December 2, 1943 - July 25, 1989) was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York disco Studio 54.

Early life

Rubell and his brother Don spent their childhoods with their parents in Brooklyn, New York. His father worked for the U.S. Postal Service and later became a tennis pro. Rubell attended Wingate High School, and was also an avid tennis player, but decided against playing professionally.

Education

Entering Syracuse University Rubell had the intention of becoming a dentist, but failed his courses and switched majors, studying finance and history. Rubell was reportedly not a good student but managed to complete his studies, going on to complete a Master's degree in Finance. While attending college Rubell met Ian Schrager, who became a lifelong friend and business partner.

Business

Rubell joined the National Guard, returning to New York after a tour of duty in the military intelligence unit, he worked at a brokerage firm after his return. Rubell then decided to start his own business and opened two restaurants, one in Queens, New York and the other in New Haven, Connecticut.

Studio 54 Era

In 1974, Rubell teamed up with Schrager to run a chain of Steak Loft restaurants, and after spending some time in the NY nightclub scene, the two decided to open a club of their own. John Addison, owner of La Jardin on West 43rd Street, introduced Rubell to Billy Smith A/K/A Billy Amato, in 1974. Smith was asked by Schrager and Rubell to handle the promotions for their new disco club called "Enchanted Gardens", a dinner/disco in Queens. While still in the music business, Smith then joined Rubell and Schrager part-time at Studio 54 in the Spring of 1977 and full-time in 1981. Smith stayed with the pair until the closing of Studio 54 in April 1986.

Rubell and Schrager opened two clubs, one in Boston with John Addison from La Jardin, the other, called ''The Enchanted Garden'', in Queens in 1975. In April 1977, they opened Studio 54 in an old television studio on West 54th Street. Rubell became a familiar face in front of the building, turning people down at the door and only letting in those who met his specific standards. Rubell also dealt with the club's celebrity patrons, ensuring that they were thrown lavish parties. His tactics worked, and the club made $7 million during its first year.

In December 1978, Studio 54 was raided after Rubell was quoted as saying that only the Mafia made more money than the club brought in. In June 1979, Rubell and Schrager were charged with tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy for reportedly skimming nearly $2.5 million in unreported income from the club's receipts, in a system Rubell called "cash-in, cash-out and skim." A second raid occurred in December 1979. The pair hired Roy Cohn to defend them, but on January 18, 1980, they were sentenced to three and a half years in prison and a $20,000 fine each for the tax evasion charge. On February 4, 1980, Rubell and Schrager went to prison and Studio 54 was sold in November of that year for $4.75 million. In January 1981, Rubell and Schrager were released from prison after handing over the names of other club owners involved in tax evasion.

Hotels

Once released, Rubell and Schrager purchased the Executive Hotel on Madison Ave and renamed it Morgan's. Rubell later opened the Palladium, a large dance club famous for displaying art by Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, and considered central to the New York club scene in the 1980s. In 1998, the Palladium was demolished so that New York University dorms could be built in its place.

Pop culture

Mike Myers played the part of Steve Rubell in the movie ''54.'' Rubell has also been the topic of an episode of ''Biography'' titled ''Steve Rubell: Lord of the Disco.''

Death

In 1985, after discovering he had contracted AIDS, Rubell (who was closeted for most of his life) began taking AZT, but his illness was furthered by his continued drug usage and drinking, which affected his already compromised immune system. Rubell died on July 25, 1989, with the official cause of death listed as hepatitis.

References

External links

Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American people convicted of tax crimes Category:People convicted of obstruction of justice Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:People from New York City Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:New York City nightlife Category:AIDS-related deaths in New York Category:1943 births Category:1989 deaths

de:Steve Rubell es:Steve Rubell it:Steve Rubell pt:Steve Rubell sv:Steve Rubell

Coordinates	0°54′″N119°50′″N
name	Donna Summer
background	solo_singer
background	solo_singer
alias	Donna Gaines
birth name	LaDonna Adrian Gaines
born	December 31, 1948 Boston, Massachusetts, USA
origin	Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
genre	Dance-pop, disco, pop, rock, new wave
occupation	Singer-songwriter
years active	1968–present
instrument	Vocals, piano
label	Oasis RecordsCasablanca (1975–1980)Geffen (1980–1988)Atlantic (1988–1991)Mercury (1994–1996) Warner-Elektra-Atlantic (Outside of U.S. 1980–1991)Epic (1999–2001)Burgundy (2006–present)
associated acts	Giorgio Moroder, Brooklyn Dreams }}

LaDonna Adrian Gaines (born December 31, 1948), known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was 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 US within a thirteen-month period.

Early life and career

Donna Summer was born on New Year's Eve 1948 in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, she was one of seven children raised by devout Christian parents. Influenced by Mahalia Jackson, Summer began singing in the church at a young age. In her teens, she formed several musical groups including one with her sister and a cousin, imitating Motown girl groups such as The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas in Boston.

In the late 1960s, Summer was influenced by Janis Joplin after listening to her albums as member of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and joined the psychedelic rock group the Crow as lead singer. Beforehand, Summer dropped out of school convinced that music was her way out of Boston, where she had always felt herself to be an outsider, even among her own family who ridiculed her for her voice and her looks. The group was short-lived, as they split upon their arrival in New York. In 1968, Summer auditioned for a role in the Broadway musical, ''Hair''. She lost the part of Sheila to Melba Moore. When the musical moved to Europe, Summer was offered the role. She took it and moved to Germany for several years. While in Germany, where she learned to speak German fluently, she participated in the musicals ''Godspell'' and ''Show Boat''. After settling in Munich, she began performing in several ensembles including the Viennese Folk Opera and even sang as a member of the pop group FamilyTree – "invented" and created by the German music producer Guenter "Yogi" Lauke & the Munich Machine. She came to the group in 1973 and toured with the 11-people pop group throughout Europe. She also sang as a studio session singer and in theaters. In 1971, while still using her birth name Donna Gaines, she released her first single, a cover of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", though it was not a hit. In 1972, she married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer and gave birth to their daughter Mimi Sommer in 1973. Citing marital problems caused by his frequent absences, she divorced him but kept his last name, changing the "o" to a "u".

1970s

It was while singing background for the hit-making 1970s trio Three Dog Night that Summer met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. She eventually made a deal with the European label Groovy Records and issued her first album, ''Lady of the Night'', in 1974. The album was not released in America, but found some limited European success on the strength of the song "The Hostage", which reached number one in Belgium and number two in the Netherlands. Summer's early material consisted of pop rock and folk rock material. She stated years later that had she not recorded disco she would have been a black rock singer, but considering there was not a market for black rock singers, Summer thought it would be hard to get promoted as such.

In 1975, Summer approached Moroder with an idea for a song he and Bellotte were working on for another singer. She had come up with the lyrics "love to love you, baby". Moroder was interested in developing the new sound that was becoming popular and used Summer's lyric to develop the song. Moroder persuaded Summer to record what was to be a demo track for another performer. She later said that she had thought of how the song might sound if Marilyn Monroe had sung it and began cooing the lyrics. To get into the mood of recording the song, she requested the producers turn off the lights while she sat on a sofa inducing moans and groans. After hearing playback of the song, Moroder felt Summer's version should actually be distributed. Released as "Love to Love You" in Europe, some radio stations refused to play it, but the song found modest chart success in several countries there. The song was a real piece of work with sensual elegance.

The song was then sent to America and arrived in the office of Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart in hopes of getting an American release. Casablanca was known around the industry for throwing lavish parties. At one of these parties, Bogart, still undecided about releasing the song on his label, had "Love To Love You" played so he could gauge the reaction of people on the dancefloor. The crowd took to the song (which was less than five minutes) so strongly that they kept asking for it to be played over and over consecutively so they could continue dancing in the same groove. Soon after that night, Bogart informed Summer and Moroder he would release the song but requested that Moroder produce a longer version, about 15 to 20 minutes in length. Moroder, Bellotte, and Summer returned with a 17 minute version that included a soulful chorus and an instrumental break where Summer invoked even more moans. Bogart stated the name would be slightly changed to "Love to Love You Baby" for the American release. Casablanca signed Summer and it released the single in November 1975. The shorter version of the single was promoted to radio stations while clubs received the 17 minute version (the longer version would also appear on the album). When Casablanca released the 17 minute version in its entirety as a single, it became one of the first record labels, to help make popular a format that would later be known as the 12 inch. By early 1976, "Love To Love You Baby" had reached #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album of the same name sold over a million copies. The song generated controversy for Summer's moans and groans and some American radio stations, like several in Europe, refused to play it. ''Time magazine'' would report that 22 orgasms were simulated in the making of the song. Other upcoming singles included "Try Me, I Know We can Make It", US #80; "Could It Be Magic", US #52; "Spring Affair", US #58; and "Winter Melody", US #43. The subsequent albums ''Love Trilogy'' and ''Four Seasons of Love'' both went gold in the US.

In 1977, Summer released the concept album ''I Remember Yesterday''. This album included her second top ten single, "I Feel Love", which reached number six in the US and number one in the UK. These US Hot 100 entries on the singles chart would help get Summer deemed in the press as "The First Lady of Love", a title which she was not totally comfortable with.

Another concept album, also released in 1977, was the double album, ''Once Upon a Time'', which told of a modern-day Cinderella "rags to riches" story through the elements of orchestral disco and ballads. This album would also attain gold status. In 1978, Summer released her version of the Richard Harris ballad, "MacArthur Park", which became her first number one US hit. The song was featured on Summer's first live album, ''Live and More'', which also became her first album to hit number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, and went platinum selling over a million copies. Other studio tracks included the top ten hit, "Heaven Knows", which featured the group Brooklyn Dreams accompanying her on background and Joe "Bean" Esposito singing alongside her on the verses. Summer would later be involved romantically with Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sudano and the couple married two years after the song's release. Also in 1978, Summer acted in the film, ''Thank God It's Friday'', playing a singer determined to perform at a hot disco club. The film met modest success, but a song from the film, entitled "Last Dance", reached number three on the Hot 100 and resulted in Summer winning her first Grammy Award. Its writer, Paul Jabara, won an Academy Award for the composition. Despite her musical success, Summer was struggling with anxiety and depression and fell into a prescription drug addiction for several years.

In 1979, Summer was a performer on the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert. The United Nations organization Unicef had declared 1979 as the Year of the Child. Summer joined contemporaries like Abba, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earth, Wind and Fire, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson for an hour's TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world's children. Artists donated royalties of certain songs, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause.

''Bad Girls'' and the break from disco

Following her recovery from prescription drug addiction, Summer worked on her next album with Moroder and Bellotte. The result was ''Bad Girls'', an album that had been in production for nearly two years. Summer based the concept of the album on a prostitute, as was made clear in the lyrics. The album became a success, spawning the number one hits "Hot Stuff" and Bad Girls, and the number two ballad "Dim All the Lights" With ''MacArthur Park'', ''Hot Stuff'', ''Bad Girls'', and the Barbra Streisand duet "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" (which appeared on Streisand's album ''Wet''), Summer achieved four number-one hits within a thirteen month period. Those aforementioned songs, along with ''Heaven Knows'', ''Last Dance'', ''Dim All The Lights'', and ''On the Radio'' (from her upcoming double-album) would give her eight US Top 5 singles within a two year period. "Hot Stuff" later won her a second Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, which was the first time that category was ever brought to the award's show. That year, Summer played eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

Summer released her first greatest hits set in 1979, a double-album entitled ''On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2''. The album reached number one in the US, becoming her third consecutive number one album. A new song from the compilation, "On the Radio", reached the US top five.

1980s

After the release of the greatest hits album, Summer wanted to branch out with other musical styles in addition to disco. This led to tensions between her and Casablanca Records. Sensing that they could no longer come to terms, Summer and the label parted ways in 1980, and she signed with Geffen Records, the new label started by David Geffen.

Summer's first release on Geffen Records was ''The Wanderer''; it replaced the disco sound of Summer's previous releases with more of the burgeoning new wave sound and elements of rock, such as the material being recorded at this time by Pat Benatar. The first single, the title track, became a hit and peaked at #3 in the US, subsequent singles were moderate hits. The album achieved gold status in the US, but met limited success on the UK charts.

Summer's projected second Geffen release, entitled ''I'm a Rainbow'', was shelved by Geffen Records (though two of the album's songs would surface in soundtracks of the 1980s films ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' and ''Flashdance''). Summer reluctantly parted company with Moroder after seven years working together as Geffen had recruited Quincy Jones to produce her next album. The result was the 1982 album ''Donna Summer''. The album had taken a lengthy six months to record. The album's first single, the dance track "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)", became an American top ten hit on the Hot 100, followed by more moderate hits "State of Independence"(#41 pop) and "The Woman In Me"(#33 pop). Problems then increased between Summer and Geffen Records after they were notified by Polygram Records, the parent company of Summer's former label Casablanca, that she needed to deliver them one more album to fulfill her agreement with them. Summer delivered the album ''She Works Hard for the Money'' and Polygram released it on its Mercury imprint in 1983. The title song became a hit reaching number three on the US Hot 100, and would provide Summer with a Grammy nomination. The album also featured the reggae-flavored top 20 UK hit "Unconditional Love", which featured the group Musical Youth who were riding high from the success of their single "Pass the Dutchie". The third US single, "Love Has A Mind of Its Own", reached the top forty of the Billboard R&B; chart. The album was certified gold. During the '80's Donna Summers stage and wardrobe designer was James Hopkins of Jopkin Design designing costumes and wardrobe that help tell the story of her music.

In late 1984, with no more albums due to Polygram, Summer returned on Geffen Records with her next release. Geffen, wanting to keep the momentum going, enlisted ''She Works Hard For the Money'''s producer Michael Omartian to produce ''Cats Without Claws''. The album, however, was not as successful as ''She Works Hard For the Money'' and failed to attain gold status of 500,000 copies sold in the US, becoming her first album since her 1974 debut not to do so. It did include a moderate hit in "There Goes My Baby", which peaked at #21.

Controversy

In the mid 1980s, Summer was in the midst of a controversy. She had allegedly made anti-gay remarks regarding the then-relatively new disease AIDS, which as a result had a significantly negative impact on her career and saw thousands of her records being returned to her record company by angered fans. Summer, by this time a born-again Christian, was alleged to have said that AIDS was a punishment from God for the immoral lifestyles of homosexuals. However, she later denied that she had ever made any such comment and, in a letter to the AIDS campaign group ACT UP in 1989, she claimed that it was a ''"terrible misunderstanding. I was unknowingly protected by those around me from the bad press and hate letters....If I have caused you pain, forgive me."'' She went on to apologise for the delay in refuting the rumors and closed her letter with quotes from Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians from the Bible.

Also in 1989, Summer told ''The Advocate'' magazine that ''"A couple of the people I write with are gay, and they have been ever since I met them. What people want to do with their bodies is their personal preference."''. A couple of years later she filed a lawsuit against ''New York'' magazine when it reprinted the rumors as fact just as she was about to release her album ''Mistaken Identity'' in 1991. According to an ''A&E; Biography'' program dedicated to Summer in which she participated in 1995, the lawsuit was settled out of court though neither side were able to divulge any details.

European success

In 1987, Summer returned with the album ''All Systems Go'', which did not sell well, becoming her second consecutive album not to achieve gold status. It featured the single "Dinner with Gershwin" (written by Brenda Russell), which was only a minor US hit, though it peaked at #13 in the UK. The album's title track, "All Systems Go", was released only in the UK where it peaked at #54.

For Summer's next album, Geffen Records hired the hit production team of Stock Aitken Waterman (or ''SAW''), who had experienced incredible success by writing and producing for such acts as Kylie Minogue, Dead or Alive, Bananarama, and Rick Astley among others. However, Geffen decided not to release the album, entitled ''Another Place and Time'', and Summer and Geffen Records parted ways in 1988. The album was released in Europe in March 1989 on Warner Bros. Records, which had been Summer's label in Europe since 1982. The single "This Time I Know It's For Real" had become a top ten hit in several countries in Europe, prompting the Warner Bros. subsidiary company Atlantic Records to sign Summer in the US and pick up the album for a North American release soon after. The single peaked at #7 on the Hot 100 in the US, and became her twelfth gold single there. It was also Summer's final Top 40 hit on the American pop charts, though she scored two more UK hits from the album, "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt" (UK #7) and "Love's About To Change My Heart" (UK #20).

1990s

In 1990, ''The Best of Donna Summer'' was released on Warner Bros. Records. It featured some of Summer's biggest hits from this period (with the exception of any material from the Mercury album, as this was not a division of Warner Bros.) plus a small selection of her 1970s disco hits licensed from PolyGram.

In 1991, Summer released the new jack swing style album ''Mistaken Identity''. It did not sell well, but did contain the #18 R&B; hit "When Love Cries".

In 1993, Polygram Records released an extended greatest hits collection entitled ''The Donna Summer Anthology''. It included 34 songs totally over two and a half hours of music. It not only included songs from the Polygram-owned labels of Casablanca and Mercury, but also material from Atlantic and Geffen Records as well.

In 1994, Summer return with a new album on Mercury/Polygram, a gospel-influenced Christmas album entitled ''Christmas Spirit''. It included classic Christmas songs such as "O Holy Night", "Joy To The World", and "O Come All Ye Faithful" as well as some original songs.

Some of Summer's dance releases including "Carry On" (her first collaboration with Moroder in a decade) and "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)" charted on the US Dance Chart, with "Melody of Love" reaching number one on that chart and also reaching number 21 on the UK Singles Chart

Also in 1994, Polygram would release yet another Summer album (Polygram's third Summer album within a two year period); a collection called "Endless Summer: Greatest Hits". The differences between this greatest hits album and the ''Anthology'' collection would be that this package contained 18 songs, while ''Anthology'' contained 34; and the songs here were mainly the radio versions heard at the time of their release, while ''Anthology'' contained somewhat longer versions of the songs.

While touring, Summer was offered a role guest-starring on the sitcom ''Family Matters'' as Steve Urkel's (Jaleel White) Aunt Oona in 1994, and again in 1997. In 1998, Summer received a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, being the first to do so, after a remixed version of her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, "Carry On", was released in 1997. In 1999, Summer taped a live television special for VH1 titled ''Donna Summer – Live and More Encore'', producing the second highest ratings that year for the network, after their annual ''Divas'' special. A CD of the event was released by Epic Records and featured two studio recordings, "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)" and "Love Is the Healer" reached number one on the Billboard Dance Charts.

2000s

Summer scored top ten hits on Billboard's Dance Chart in the beginning of the new millennium. In 2000, she also appeared on the third annual ''Divas'' special, dedicated to Diana Ross, though Summer sang her own material for the show. In 2004, Summer was inducted to the Dance Music Hall of Fame alongside The Bee Gees and Barry Gibb as an artist. Her classic song, "I Feel Love", was also inducted that night. Also, that year, she became one of the first acts, as both an Artist Inductee and a Record Inductee (for 1977’s “I Feel Love”) into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.

In 2008, Summer released her first studio album of original music in 14 years since 1994 '' (Christmas Spirit)''; years entitled ''Crayons'', which peaked at #17 on the US Top 200 Album Chart, and achieved modest international success. The album was released on the Sony BMG label Burgundy Records. The songs "I'm A Fire", "Stamp Your Feet", and "Fame (The Game)" reached number one on the US Billboard Dance Chart. The ballad "Sand on My Feet" was released to adult contemporary stations and reached number thirty on that chart.

While commenting on the album, Summer said “I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it. I did not want it to be any one baby. I just wanted it to be a sampler of flavors and influences from all over the world. There’s a touch of this, a little smidgeon of that, a dash of something else…like when you’re cooking.” On the song “The Queen Is Back”, Summer reveals her wry and witty self-awareness of her musical legacy and her public persona. “I’m making fun of myself,” she admits. “There’s irony, it’s poking fun at the idea of being called a queen. That’s a title that has followed me, followed me, and followed me. We were sitting and writing and that title kept popping up in my mind and I’m thinking, ‘Am I supposed to write this? Is this too arrogant to write?’ But people call me ‘the queen,’ so I guess it's ok to refer to myself as what everybody else refers to me as. We started writing the song and thought it was kind of cute and funny.” Summer wrote “The Queen Is Back” and “Mr. Music” with J.R. Rotem and Evan Bogart, the son of Neil Bogart, Casablanca Records founder. Neil Bogart died from cancer at the age of 39. He signed Summer to his Casablanca Records label in 1975 and released most of her biggest records during the 1970s. “I adored him and would have given up everything for him to be alive,” says Summer, remembering a time backstage long ago “when the nail person didn’t show up and Neil got on his knees and did my toenails. In many ways he was my mentor and I didn’t get to say goodbye to him.” When Summer met Evan Bogart, she was struck by his uncanny resemblance to his father. “It’s almost like they chiseled him out of his father,” Summer observed. “I’m in the studio looking at him and I get tears in my eyes, he has no idea why. I just wanted to hug him because it’s like I’m seeing someone I haven’t seen since his father passed away. It’s almost like Neil is looking at me through him. Evan and I hit it off immediately; there was a synergy that happened really quickly.”

On December 11, 2009, Summer performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, in honor of US President Barack Obama. She was backed by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

2010s

In August 2010, she released the single "To Paris With Love", co-written with Bruce Roberts and produced by Peter Stengaard. In October 2010, the single reached #1 on the US Billboard Dance Chart. Also that month, Summer appeared in the PBS Television Special ''Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends''. In it, Summer performed with Seal on a medley of the songs "Unbreak My Heart / Crazy / On The Radio", before Summer closed the show with "Last Dance".

On July 29, 2010, Summer gave an interview with allvoices.com where she was asked if she would consider doing an album of standards. She replied:

:"I actually am, probably in September. I will begin work on a standards album. I will probably do an all-out dance album and a standards album. I'm gonna do both, and we will release them however were gonna release them. We are not sure which is going first."

On September 15, 2010, Summer appeared as a guest celebrity singing alongside rising star Prince Poppycock on the television show ''America's Got Talent''.

On October 16, 2010, she performed at a benefit concert at the Phoenix Symphony.

On June 6, 2011, Summer was a guest judge on the show, ''Platinum Hit'' in week two titled, Dance Floor Royalty. ''Platinum Hit'' is a reality competition series on Bravo launched in 2011 in which 12 singer-songwriters compete through innovative songwriting challenges that will test their creativity, patience and drive. Every episode features a different topic from a dance track to a love ballad, that require the contestants to write and perform lyrics from a multiple of genres, for a cash prize of $100,000, a publishing deal with songwriting collective The Writing Camp, and a recording deal with RCA/Jive label

In July, 2011 Summer was working at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer O'Mega Red. Together they worked on a track entitled "Angel".

Awards and recognition

One NAACP Image Award.

One time Juno Award nomination for Best Selling International Single,"I feel Love".

Three Multi-Platinum albums in the US.

Eleven of her albums went Gold in the US.

Twelve Gold singles.

Six American Music Awards.

She was the first female African American to receive an MTV Video Music Awards nomination. ("Best Female Video" and "Best Choreography" for "She Works Hard For The Money")

Academy Award for Best Original Song "Last Dance".

Two Golden Globe Award nominations (one win for "Last Dance" Song and one nominated for "The Deep" John Barry's Song).

Summer has received five Grammy Awards.

*1979 – Best R&B; Vocal Performance (Female), ''Last Dance''

*1980 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), ''Hot Stuff''

*1984 – Best Inspirational Performance, ''He's a Rebel''

*1985 – Best Inspirational Performance, ''Forgive Me''

*1998 – Best Dance Recording, ''Carry On''

Twelve Grammy Award nominations (total of seventeen).

*1979 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), ''MacArthur Park''

*1980 – Album of the Year, ''Bad Girls''

*1980 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), ''Bad Girls''

*1980 – Best R&B; Vocal Performance (Female), ''Dim All the Lights''

*1980 – Best Disco Recording, ''Bad Girls''

*1981 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), ''On the Radio''

*1982 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), ''Cold Love''

*1982 – Best Inspirational Performance, ''I Believe in Jesus''

*1983 – Best Rock Vocal Performance (Female), ''Protection''

*1983 – Best R&B; Vocal Performance (Female), ''Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)''

*1984 – Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), ''She Works Hard for the Money''

*2000 – Best Dance Recording, ''I Will Go with You (Con te Partiro)''

Summer placed a Top Forty hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in every year from 1976 ("Love to Love You Baby") to 1984 ("There Goes My Baby").

Summer was the first artist to score three consecutive number-one double albums.

Summer was twice honored by the Dance Music Hall of Fame; once with her induction as a recording artist and again with the induction for her influential single "I Feel Love". Summer's music career has landed her as the eighth most successful female recording artist in history according to ''Billboard'' .

Summer's career span of ''Billboard'' number-one Disco/Club Play hits spans from 1975's "Love to Love You Baby" through 2010's "[To Paris With Love]".

Summer was nominated for 2010 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but was not chosen.

Cover versions by other artists

"I Feel Love" has been sampled several times. The song was sampled by Madonna, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Moloko, Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, Darren Hayes, Mylo, David Guetta, Stuart Price, and Moby among others. "I Feel Love" was recorded by classical pop musician Vanessa-Mae for her 1998 album ''Storm''. Italian company Gucci used a special version of it in the "Flora" perfume advertising, filmed by Chris Cunningham. "I Feel Love" has been covered onstage by Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, Kylie Minogue, Blondie, Basement Jaxx, and Finnish progressive rock band Kingston Wall. Venus Hum with Blue Man Group also performed this song with Japanese singer Kumi Koda for their album ''The Complex'', and in 2006, Tracy Bonham stood in for Hum on the Blue Man Group tour, performing the song. Bronski Beat and Marc Almond released the track as a duet with an added bridge section and titled it "I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me", reaching number 3 in the UK charts in April 1985. In 1992 U.K. alterna-pop group Curve recorded a version for the NME's 40th anniversary compilation ''Ruby Trax'', which became an instant underground classic.

"Love to Love You Baby" was sampled in Beyoncé Knowles's "Naughty Girl" and by TLC on their original version of "I'm Good at Being Bad", but was removed by request of Summer on later editions. The song has been covered in portions onstage by Dionne Warwick.

"I Feel Love" was covered by French Canadian artist Jorane for her 2004 album ''The You and the Now''. LA based band Dengue Fever covered this song on their album ''Radio Dance Floor''. Kylie Minogue's team also sampled this for her 2002 KylieFever. Kylie performed "Light Years" which contains elements of "I Feel Love".

Madonna combined her song "Future Lovers" from her hit album ''Confessions on a Dancefloor'' with "I Feel Love" as the opening song on her Confessions Tour in 2006.

Summer's "Starting Over Again" was a number one hit on the Hot Country Songs chart as a single for Dolly Parton in 1980. It also was a top-forty hit for Parton on the Billboard Hot 100. Reba McEntire named her 1995 album after the song, and McEntire's version hit no. 17 on the country singles chart in 1996. McEntire stated in the album's liner notes that her recording of the song was intended as something of a tribute to Summer and Parton, both artists whom she admired.

Summer's "On the Radio" was covered by country artist Emmylou Harris for her 1983 album ''White Shoes''. British singer and actress Martine McCutcheon recorded a version that reached number 7 in the UK charts in February 2001. An acoustic rendition was released by alt. rock band Hypnogaja in January 2010.

Summer's "Sunset People" was covered by E.G. Daily on her ''Wild Child'' album (1985).

Summer's "Dim All the Lights" was a Top 40 Dance hit for Laura Branigan in 1995, appearing on her ''The Best of Branigan'' album.

Summer's "Last Dance" and "On the Radio" were covered by Tejano/pop singer Selena, most famously at one of her last shows at the Houston Astrodome, on February 26, 1995.

Summer's "All Through the Night" was covered in 1982 by KC and The Sunshine Band on their Painter album, and in 1995 by supermodel Naomi Campbell for her album ''Baby Woman'', featuring Luther Vandross on backing vocals.

Summer's "Bad Girls" was recorded by British Jazz and US pop singer Juliet Roberts in 1998, and again in 2000 by Cheryl Chase for the Nick film ''Rugrats in Paris: The Movie''.

Summer's "Love Is in Control" was covered by pop singer Sheena Easton on her 2000 disco album ''Fabulous''.

In 1985 Dusty Springfield reached number 83 on the UK charts with a cover of "Sometimes like Butterflies".

Summer's "Heaven Knows" was recorded by Faith Evans for inclusion on the soundtrack for the film, The Fighting Temptations.

Summer's "The Woman In Me" was recorded by Heart in the early 1990s.

Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money" was often performed by Millie Jackson during her 1980s concerts. "She Works Hard For The Money" was covered by Kris Allen during an American Idol Season 8 episode and recorded by Allen for the American Idol Season 8 CD.

Summer's "All Through The Night" from the album "Bad Girls", is recorded by model Naomi Campbell in 1994 included in her album "BabyWoman".

Jeffree Star covered her song "Bad Girls" for the upcoming movie called "Turn The Beat Around" for MTV.

Monica Naranjo Fuego de pasion "Love's About To Change My Heart".

Mexican singer Lorena Herrera samples "Try Me ,I Know We Can Make It" in her song Dame Amor from the album Desnudame el Alma.

In 2010, Keri Hilson portrayed Summer in her music video for her hit-single, Pretty Girl Rock.

In 2010 – Rhythm Masters and MYNC Project released a remake of "I Feel Love" on CR2 Records in the UK, with vocals by American Electro/Pop/Dance Artist Wynter Gordon.

Donna Summer concert tours

''Once Upon A Time Tour'' (1977–1978)

''Bad Girls Tour'' (1979)

''The Wanderer Tour'' (1981)

''Hard For The Money Tour'' (1983)

''The Rainbow Tour'' (1984)

''Silver Girl Tour'' (1986)

''All Systems Go Tour'' (1987)

''Endless Summer Tour'' (1995)

''Mid Summer Nights Dream Tour'' ( 1996–1997)

''Live & More Encore Tour'' (1999)

''Greatest Hits Tour'' (2005)

''Crayons Tour'' (2008)

Discography

1974: ''Lady of the Night''

1975: ''Love to Love You Baby''

1976: ''A Love Trilogy''

1976: ''Four Seasons of Love''

1977: ''I Remember Yesterday''

1977: ''Once Upon a Time''

1979: ''Bad Girls''

1980: ''The Wanderer''

1981: ''I'm a Rainbow''

1982: ''Donna Summer''

1983: ''She Works Hard for the Money''

1984: ''Cats Without Claws''

1987: ''All Systems Go''

1989: ''Another Place and Time''

1991: ''Mistaken Identity''

1994: ''Christmas Spirit''

2008: ''Crayons''

See also

Brooklyn Dreams

Best selling music artists

References

External links

Official website

A hit search page

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