I was at work. I found out in the break room when it was broadcast on the five o'clock news while I was eating my dinner.
You've seen Guy Standeven in something because the man was in everything.

The night before I couldn't seem to get enough of listening to "MacArthur Park" over and over again, the next day I get up, go to the library and get on the computer and on yahoo's homepage "Disco Diva Dead at 63". I had the feeling someone had thrown ice water on me.

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Hard to believe it's been a year already. I tend to move on after the deaths of celebrities I admire, but this one's been particularly difficult for me.

Remembering

Excellent points about Skeeter Davis, Barbara Mandrell and the others. Good music is good music period and if it doesn't fall into easy classification all the better. Soul and country are really like long-long twins of the same mother.
Radio in the '60s and '70s seemed to be a lot more diverse, with any number of artists doing any number of styles, all in the name of Billboard Hot 100 recognition. Then it became increasingly segmented, with more niche stations and charts. At least the euphemistic "black" and "urban" charts have been replaced by the more descriptive "R&B/hip-hop," but radio and the charts these days are still a mess of ghettoization to me.

Yes, country music and rhythm and blues have a lot in common, quite a few songs written for one market were covered by an artist in the other and al5b4so a big hit there. A lot of people think of "The Dark End of the Street" as a soul song but it actually was originally first a country music hit for Archie Campbell(!) and Lorene Mann. And they turned around and did a cover of Aaron Neville's "Tell it Like it Is" that became a country hit. And of course there are the famous cases like Whitney Houston doing "I Will Always Love You" or Barbara Mandrell's multiple covers of soul hits.
Amazing but true Skeeter Davis' classic "The End of the World" was not only a chart topping country, pop, and easy listening record but actually hit the top 5 on the soul chart back in 1963 when it appeared great records were starting to have no borders (unfortunately that didn't last long).
I can easily see Donna singing country songs, she could really do it all. And she was such a good songwriter I think she could have specifically written some country hits had she pursued that arena.

Hi, Harlow: Thanks for the heads-up about the duet with Eddie Rabbit. So sad both Donna and Eddie are gone now.
I had forgotten that Donna wrote "Starting Over Again" (I think of that as a Dolly Parton song), and Donna's pairing with Eddie has slipped my awareness all these years. Thankfully, evidence of Donna's country ability is just a YouTube click away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRceduoj2cw
.
I remember a brief interview on "Entertainment Tonight" when Donna had moved to Nashville and joked (I think) about recording a country album, but I was hoping it was true. She did an excellent job on the rock/new wave-oriented "Wanderer," and it wouldn't be a reach to go country. Tina Turner did it years earlier with "Tina Turns the Country On" (<- great title, eh?), and this album of country/R&B duets is superb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm,_Country_and_Blues
Sadly, this will always be just another "what if" in Donna's career.

I always hoped she would record a country album when she moved to Nashville, as she had once mentioned (perhaps joking).
I don't think she was totally serious but not really joking either as I could easily see her doing it if the offer came up. She did sing a duet of a country song with Eddie Rabbitt on tv years ago and she was friends with Dottie West (whom I can't believe has been dead 22 years now). I remember reading a review of her stage act in BILLBOARD from circa 1983 and it mentioned that as a gag two of her background singers were dressed as Dolly Parton and Dottie West singing "Stand By Your Man" and I think then Donna led them into singing her song "Woman". Did anybody see this? How long was it part of her act? I believe BB panned it as kind of corny so she might not have kept it long.
Anyway, Donna and her husband did participate in the Nashville music scene on occasion and she sang once at the famous Bluebird cafe there, there's a bit about it in the book written about the cafe.

Great post! I have noticed this generation doesn't seem to care about anything but the now. I remember as a kid wanting to know who influenced the bands I liked. Led Zeppelin credited the blues and people like Muddy Waters with their sound. Donna always listed Mahalia Jackson as an influence. I remember buying more blues and listening to Mahalia because of that. Sad thing is, this generation only has to scan their phone to find the kind of info we had to spend days or weeks finding!

I was in my local IHOP with my dad and sister - we had all met there for breakfast. From our booth, I could see the big flat screen TV over the breakfast counter, and saw the streaming headlines under her picture - and reading out loud to my dad and sister (2000who were facing me). My telephone started ringing, texts were coming in (all my friends knew I was a huge Summer fan) and the same with my sister's phone. (I was 48, my sister just shy of 51 - we grew up on her music!). We were both in a state of shock.
Sadly, the young (cute hunky) waiter whom we had didn't know who Summer wasneither did his co-workers. They were all in their 20s, and had no idea who she waspathetic.
"I prefer fantasy over reality TV - like Fox News" - B.Streisand

I was watching the noon news, and they promo'd it by saying that ab68 disco star had died. I assumed it was a lesser talent because they didn't give the name until they gave the report. I was shocked when I found it was
the
giant of disco. But in hindsight, I wasn't overly surprised because Donna's profile was very relatively low in recent years.
I always hoped she would record a country album when she moved to Nashville, as she had once mentioned (perhaps joking). There's nothing that she couldn't sing, but I think the expectations placed on her were pretty limited. Though of course, she excelled at dance music.

I was in a car, helping my friend move from Chicago to Alabama. As soon as the radio announcer said, "Donna Summer" I knew what the rest was going to be. I don't think a celebrity's death has ever hit me so hard. Her music made me FEEL HAPPY, goddamnit!!! And I think she personified the 70s music scene more than any other, especially if we're talking disco. But her death made me feel like just a little bit more innocence slipped away. I would gladly give my soul away if every year were 1977.

I also would like to know what happened to Jimmyuscareways. He hasn't been active on IMDB since Jan 2012. He always gave the best, most up-to-date info on Donna. I hope he is ok.

I was in my kitchen when I heard it on the local noon news. It was said in a "this just in" kind of way. She died earlier that day but, I think it hit press about noon. I'm almost sure that the way he (anchor) said it he was just finding out himself. Very strange, my heart sank and yea i cried. Then my phone and facebook blew up. I lost my Aunt a year ago this week and in all honesty Donna's death was just like a family member. I still get sad. More recently scanning youtube for live stuff I missed on her last few tours. The loss is that much greater for me, for as much as she carved out a legendary career Oh what could have been!
Check out on youtube Donna's covers of Procal Harum's Whiter Shade Of Pale and Sade's Pearls OUTSTANDING!