Donna Summer

Released: February 26, 1974

Songwriter: Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Producer: Pete Bellotte

Well there's a whole lot of hurting being going on
Well I've been wounded, wounded, wounded
This ain't no way to be carrying on
You see me wounded, wounded, wounded

I'm taken like a stone
That you've thrown in the deep blue sea
Giving me the scars that will never heal
Wounded, wounded, wounded

I remember the day when you came up to me
Almost breaking on your knees
Said you needed me more than anything else
You really took me in

But it'd make you feel good to know
I'd do anything you say
Well forget that line 'cause I ain't gonna play
Wounded, wounded, wounded

I remember the day when you came up to me
Almost breaking on your knees
Said you needed me more than anything else
You really took me in

But it'd make you feel good to know
I'd do anything you say
Well forget that line 'cause I ain't gonna play
Wounded, wounded, wounded

As the unquestioned queen of disco, the one and only Donna Summer lit up the late 70s and 80s with flashy, exuberant vocals and automatic earworms. Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on Dec. 31, 1948, Summer moved to Germany after being cast in a Munich production of Hair. There, she happened to meet Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and the trio conglomerated to form a dynamic music team. With Moroder, Summer forged together her first album, The Hostage, which reached moderate success in Northern Europe. Summer’s big break, however, would come later with the release of 1975’s sexual “Love to Love You Baby”, which became one of disco’s first mainstream hits and reached #2 on the Billboard Charts.

1977 came around with the concept album I Remember Yesterday, which featured the Top 10 single “I Feel Love”. The next year, Summer hit the silver screen with the movie Thank God It’s Friday, whose soundtrack featured one of her own the iconic “Last Dance.” This would later become one of the disco legends' signature songs. “Dance” would take home an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe, and it jumped to a peak of #3 on the charts.

Yet Summer’s illustrious career was far from finished – Summer’s first live album Live and More featured the single “MacArthur Park”, a melting ballad that was a cover of the Jimmy Webb ballad of the same name. “Park” became Summer’s first – and perhaps most memorable – No. 1 hit, and cemented her status as a vocalist as well as a performer. With the track, she became the first female in modern rock history to hold the top spot in both the Hot 100 and the Billboard 200. 1979, though, would really be the peak of her career.

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