If you haven’t by now heard the tragic news, that Donna Summer has passed away. This is a major blow to the gay community. For me personally and dragqueendiaries.com the grieving has just begun. Here’s Nitrogen-E’s story:
I was just 8 years old and remember shopping with my grandmother at K-mart. Back then in 1978 they sold vinyl records, and even had a section for music. With my grandmother at my side, I begged her to get me the “On The Radio” double LP. The cost back then was a whopping $10.73.
I took it home and it was on my record player the entire summer. Then I began to collect all of Donna Summer’s records. The double LP “Bad Girls”. Then I found the original 12″ Inch Record for “MacArthur Park Suite”. The records made me happy, and by the time I was 16, I had discovered that I was gay.
As a gay teenager I could always throw on a Donna Summer record and dance in my bedroom, it would be when I turned 19, and got my first DJ gig at a nightclub that I would discover what Donna Summer records did to the dance floor. It would pack the floor and every single person knew the words by heart. Shirts off, fists pumping in the air, it was a spectacle that I will never forget.
For ten years I would play the catalog Donna had recorded including, “Bad Girls”, “Love To Love You Baby”, “I Feel Love”, and a personal favorite “This Time I Know It’s For Real”.
Twenty years later Donna Summer would cross my path again, this time as the General Manager of a local “Johnny Rockets”. Me and my entire staff would dance to “Last Dance” to entertain our guests. I did that for three years. We were a hit!
Today at 11:44pm My Partner of 7 years sent me a text saying that my queen of pop and disco had succumbed to Cancer at 63. What a shock to the system. You never realize how important something is in your life until it’s gone. So with this final thought, “Let’s Dance the Last Dance…Tonight”
RIP Donna. You will forever be remembered for defining a new kind of music. “Disco.”
As I am sitting hear listening to the Donna Summer back catalog one thing is certain, there will NEVER be another Donna. So our dear readers, what are your memories of Miss Donna?










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