~R&R!ative.' But because I was black,they couldn't understand mehaving that level of creativity."Neil Bogart's son Evan,

a producer and songwriter,worked with his "Aunt Donna"on her final album, Crayons,which came out in 2008. "Youcan count on one or two handsthe voices as big as hers," hesays. And Bogart hears her in-fluence in electronic acts fromChromeo to Daft Punk: "DavidGuetta specifically told me hewouldn't be doing what he'sdoing without 'I Feel Love.'Disco never died - it turnedinto dance music."Like most friends, Bogart

was unaware Summer had lungcancer; not even her agent atWilliam Morris knew. "I sawher a year ago, and she lookedgreat," Bogart says. One of thefew people who knew was Mi-chael Omartian, who co-wroteand produced "She Works Hardfor the Money." He'd been di-agnosed with lymphoma, andthey both began treatment atCedars-Sinai hospital in L.A. in2011. "She was adamant aboutkeeping it private," Omartiansays. In the last two monthsof Summer's life, Omartiantalked often with her husbandof 31 years, songwriter BruceSudano, with whom she hadtwo daughters. "He said, 'We'refighting, Mike, we're fighting.'Those were his words. 'We'replanning on winning.'''Summer was sure that one

day her music would be un-derstood as more than disco."When people go back, they'regonna be like, 'Whoa,''' shesaid. "'Where was her mindat? She was out there!'" ~

DONNA SUMMER

[Cant. from 15J well, and peo-ple believed the story I was act-ing," Summer said in 1979.Neil Bogart, the shame-

less, marketing-savvy head ofdisco label Casablanca Rec-ords, heard "Love to Love YouBaby" and instructed More-der to expand the song fromthree minutes to 17. "You'recrazy," Moroder supposedly re-torted, but he complied - andthe song was a breakthroughsmash. Summer had found thesong "very difficult" to record,and she later said, "There weretimes when I hated the ... sex-goddess image."When her subsequent rec-

ords with Moroder and co-producer Pete Bellotte didn'tmatch "Love to Love You Baby,"Casablanca worried that shewould become a one-hit won-der. The retro-sounding titletrack from her 1977 album I Re-member Yesterday was a dud,until DJs began playing the Bside, "I Feel Love," on whichMoroder and Bellotte layeredsynthesizers, drum machinesand other otherworldly elec-tronic effects. When Brian Enoheard the record, he told DavidBowie, "I have heard the soundof the future." He was right: "IFeel Love" is one ofthe build-ing blocks of modern dancemusic, and its influence hasnever waned.As Summer's fame grew, she

struggled with depression. Shebegan balancing anti-depres-sants with Valium, and "wentthrough years of walking intorooms ... unable to rememberanyone's name because I was

BOOKER T. AND THE

MGs bassist Donald"Duck" .Dunn - whose

low-end grooves on classicsincluding Wilson Pickett's "Inthe Midnight Hour," Sam andDave's "Hold On, I'm Com-ing" and Otis Redding's "(Sit-tin' on) The Dock of the Bay"helped define the sound ofSixties soul- died in his sleepon May 13th while on tour inJapan. He was 70.

18 I ROLLING STONE I rollingstone.com

When Eno heard "I Feel Love," he toldBowie, "Iheard the sound of the future."

so out of it." In her memoir,Summer wrote about an abort-ed suicide attempt in a hotelroom in 1976, after which shebecame a born-again Chris-tian. "She always tried to con-vince us to be born-again," saysHarold Faltermeyer, who co-wrote "Hot Stuff." "We weren'tallowed to use the 'f-word' inthe studio. She was a tough,strong woman."

In 1979, Summer recorded"Hot Stuff" with a rock solofrom Steely Dan guitarist Jeff"Skunk" Baxter. She won aGrammyfor Best Female RockVocal Performance, becomingthe first winner of the then-newaward. Albums like the doubleLP Bad Girls were packed withmultipart suites that showedoff Summer's songwritingchops and ambition.

Bruce Springsteen wrote"Cover Me" for Summer to sing,and after deciding to keep it forhis Born in the U.S.A. album,he wrote her another one, "Pro-tection," which Summer re-corded with Quincy Jones in1982. (Springsteen played gui-tar and sang backing vocals.)A year later, she released "SheWorks Hard for the Money," anuplifting song about the strug-gles of working women; it wasanMTVhit.Summer came to dislike

the term "disco singer," whichshe felt minimized her range."When I was younger, I wouldwear wild costumes and paintmy face," she said in 2010. ''I'dbeen in Europe for years, andI was doing a lot of strangethings. If I'd been white, itwould have been seen as 'ere-

TRIBUTE

.~•~.-.:..'". (

'.,; \\\Dunn: /.'. .,

Born in Memphis,Dunn bought hisfirst bass at age 16."I tried the guitar,"he once recalled. "Itwas just too com-plicated, man!" Be-fore long, he joinedorganist Booker T.Jones' legendary Stax Recordshouse band, playing on count-less hits. "He was so physical-ly strong - we had such a solid

Stax Bassist 'Duck' Dunn, Played on Immortal Soul Hitsbottom with Duck,"says Jones. "He's theonly bass player ofhis kind."

Dunn went on towork with a widerange of stars in-cluding Bob Dylan,Eric Clapton, Jerry

Lee Lewis, Neil Young, RodStewart and Torri Petty. "Heplayed simply, but melodical-ly and brilliantly," says Petty.

"The two greatest bass play-ers that ever lived are PaulMcCartney and Duck Dunn -he's on that level."Like many session players

of his era, Dunn was neverproperly compensated forthe smash Stax singles heplayed on. "We were cheat-ed a little bit," he later said."But with the music and whatI learned ... it doesn't matter. Ihave no regrets." AUSTIN SCAGGS

JUNE 7, 2012