Disco Queen Donna Summer Dead At Age 63

Donna Summer, whom millions of fans revered as “the Queen of Disco,” has died at the age of 63 in Florida after a battle with cancer, the Associated Press has confirmed with the singer’s family Thursday morning. The news comes as a surprise to those who were not aware that she was ill. The legendary superstar was publicly active as recently as last June, when she appeared as a guest panelist on Bravo’s music reality show Platinum Hit. However, a reportby TMZ, which initially broke the story, notes that those close to the singer–known for mega-hits including “Last Dance” and “Bad Girls”–revealed she had been trying to hide how sick she was. A source said that Summer did not seem to be in that bad of shape two weeks ago. She is survived by daughters Brooklyn and Amanda, her grown daughters with husband Bruce Sudano, a fellow musician whom she married in 1980, and Mimi, her eldest daughter with first husband, actor Helmuth Sommer. In addition to her status as a pioneer in the dance music genre, Summer was a five-time Grammy Award winner, the first artist ever to score three back-to-back No. 1 double albums, and was nominated–but not chosen–for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. She is credited with influencing stars ranging from Madonna and Michael Jackson, to Beyonce and Rihanna. Her last album, Crayons, was
released in 2008