LaDonna American singer and composer Adrian Gaines, better known by her stage name Donna Summer, lived from December 31, 1948, to May 17, 2012. During the disco era of the 1970s, she gained notoriety and the title “Queen of Disco,” and her music drew admirers from all over the globe.
Summer moved to New York City to take on the role of lead vocalist for the psychedelic rock band Crow after being influenced by the counterculture of the 1960s. In Munich, where she spent a number of years, she started acting and singing in a German production of the musical Hair in 1968.
How old was Donna Summers when she died?
At the age of 63, Summer passed away from lung cancer at her Naples, Florida, home on May 17, 2012.
Summer, who had long since given up smoking, believed that the September 11 attacks in New York City, where she was at the time of the attacks at her apartment close to Ground Zero, were to blame for her cancer.
Summer amassed 32 chart singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 throughout the course of her career, including 14 top-ten singles and four number-one singles. She had a top-40 hit each year from 1976 through 1984.
She had more top-ten singles than any other performer between 1976 and 1982, with 12 top-ten songs, 10 of which were top-five hits.
She made her way back into the top five of the Hot 100 in 1983, and in 1989, with the top-ten hit “This Time I Know It’s for Real,” she finally achieved success.
