Dan's Papers - July 18, 2008 - WHPAC Celebrates 10 Years, with the Queen of Disco

Donna Summer will be coming to the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on July 27 to help the theater celebrate its 10th anniversary. And you can expect her to perform some of her biggest hits and fan favorites - which run the gamut from disco to rock to funk to pop - such as "Hot Stuff," "On the Radio," "She Works Hard for the Money" and "Last Dance," as well as songs from her brand new album, Crayons, her first release of new material since 1991's Mistaken Identity.

Trained as a gospel singer while growing up in Boston, Summer's big voice landed her a lot of session work, singing back-up vocals for other groups, in the early and mid-1970s. This is how she met producers George Moroder and Peter Bellotte, who recognized her star potential. They got to work and, in 1974, she released her first album, which featured the single "The Hostage," and became a huge dance hit in Europe.

It wasn't long before Summer was collaborating with Moroder and Bellotte, co-writing many of her hits. Summer first came to them with an idea for a song in 1975, and before long, her first American hit, "Love to Love You Baby" was born. She went on to release hit after hit throughout the rest of the '70s and the '80s, with 14 top ten hits, four number singles and three platinum albums, as well as 17 Grammy nominations, resulting in five wins (including the first Grammys ever for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female [1979, "Hot Stuff"] and Best Dance Recording [1997, "Carry On"]). Throughout her entire career, it's estimated that she's sold about 130 million records worldwide. Not only that, but she's the only female artist to have four number one singles in a year, as well as the only artist of either gender to release three number one double albums in a row.

Her career waned for a bit in the 1990s, though Summer did release several hits compilations and singles. But in 2007, she bounced back, signing a deal with Sony/BMG imprint, Burgundy Records, to release an album of new material. "I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it," Summer said. "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." She co-wrote all of the songs on Crayons, which was released in May, and features the number one dance single, "I'm a Fire," making her the only artist to achieve a number one dance single in every decade since the 1970s.

As Summer forges ahead, attempting to recreate the success she had in the '70s and '80s, the title of one of the tracks on her new album says it all - "The Queen is Back."

Donna Summer will be performing at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Sunday, July 27, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $500/$400/$300, with a special $1,000 fantasy package available. As this show is WHBPAC's 10th anniversary party, all proceeds will benefit the theater. Tickets can be purchased at www.whbpac.org or by calling the box office at 631-288-1500. For more information on Summer and her new album, go to www.donnasummer.com.