DONNA SUMMER: The 100 Essential Songs. Starts with #100-96. Continues: tomorrow.

Caffè Lattè presents…  THE 100 ESSENTIAL SONGS BY DONNA SUMMER Ladonna Gaines was born into a religious family in Boston, U.S.A. in 1948. Before adulthood, she had started singing in a church gospel choir and performed in a rock group. Next, the aspiring singer moved to New York and was cast in a German production of the rock musical “Hair”. In Germany, she later met Helmut Sommer. They married. She adopted an Anglicized version of his name and became Donna Summer. Her big break finally came when she met Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. The two men helped shape the sound of disco as songwriter/ producers.

100 MY LIFE Live Co-written by Donna for her play “Ordinary Girl”. Recorded live in February 1999 for VH-1.

99 ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT  Donna penned this track on the ‘Bad Girls’ album with Bruce Roberts.

98 THERE GOES MY BABY A remake of The Drifters’ hit single from Donna’s 1984 ‘Cats Without Claws’ album.

97 SWEET ROMANCE With some radio hits under her belt, Donna branched out with the double album ‘Once Upon A Time’ in 1977. This ballad was written by her with producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte.

96 DON’T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA Although synonymous with disco, Donna Summer was more than the Queen of that musical trend. Her recordings included other genres. The ‘I’m A Rainbow’ sessions saw her cover the show-stopper from the Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice musical “Evita”.