GRAMMY WTF? DONNA SUMMER. Concludes: on Monday.
The Grammy Awards are one of music’s most prestigious
trophies. Since the inaugural ceremony in 1959, winners have spanned a vast
array of musical styles and winners as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Aretha
Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Eminem and Lizzo. There have, however, been some
instances where one can’t comprehend the outcomes and omissions. Caffè Lattè
looks back on some of the most baffling moments and unsuccessful -yet
influential- acts…
GRAMMY WTF?
DONNA SUMMER
She was crowned the “Queen of Disco” with her revolutionary dance hits,
but Donna Summer never received a Grammy Award for any of her disco tracks.
The Academy finally decided to introduce the Best Disco Recording category in 1980.
By that time, disco was petering out and a backlash was percolating. The
category was scrapped after just one year.
Donna Summer was among the nominees in that inaugural year, for “Bad Girls”.
The Grammy went to Gloria Gaynor (the original “Queen of Disco”) for the disco
classic “I Will Survive”. By then, Summer had already collected a Grammy for “Last
Dance” in the Best R&B Vocal Performance -Female category. That same year, she
was also nominated in the Pop category for “MacArthur Park”.
The following year, Summer collected the Best Rock Vocal Performance –
Female Grammy for “Hot Stuff”. Among some of the other categories she was a
contender in was Best Inspirational Performance for “I Believe In Jesus” in
1981; R&B Vocal Performance for “Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)”
in 1982; wins in 1983 and 1984 in the Inspirational category for the album tracks “He’s A Rebel”
and “Forgive Me”.
Summer was finally recognized in the Best Dance Recording category in 1997
for “Carry On”, a song that re-united the singer with her disco era producer
Giorgio Moroder. Incredibly, no Grammy Award came her way for the highly
influential and futuristic 1977 hit “I Feel Love”.
