onna Summer proved herself to be one of the most versatile women in pop music in 1979, when she managed to top the charts with a dance record, a rock record, and came dangerously close to repeating the feat with a ballad.

"I just got bored with things quickly," Donna confessed. "I couldn't see doing the same thing for the rest of my life. The audience isn't always going to get it, but it should always be new for you." That approach to diversity came on Summer's 1979 double album Bad Girls. The album's first single, a rock-influenced number called "Hot Stuff," soared to #1, her second chart-topper.

First charting on Sept. 15, 1979, "Dim All The Lights" was Boston-born Donna Summer's ninth Top 40 single, rising to #2 on the pop charts for two weeks and remaining on the charts for 14 weeks. It was the third straight Top 5 single from her 1979 double LP Bad Girls, which topped the Hot 200 album chart for six weeks and remained on the chart for 49 weeks. It was certified platinum by the R.I.A.A. on May 3, 1979.

While "Hot Stuff" was still on its way to the top, the single "Bad Girls" was released. A disco tune, the song shared the Top 5 with "Hot Stuff" before reaching #1 itself. For the album's third single Summer chose a ballad called "Dim All The Lights." Although the Summer composition obviously had a sensual element to it, Donna admitted that she found that particular aspect of her career irritating. She stated in the July 19, 1979, issue of Us magazine, "I got tired of the sex image very early. I felt annoyed that people were surprised I could think. Male reporters were so psyched out by my image, they were paralyzed. I'd say, 'How do you do?' and their mouths would fall open."

"Dim All The Lights" entered the pop charts at #70, while "Bad Girls" was still in the Top 5. As "Dim All The Lights" climbed to #6 Donna found herself in even more self-competition when "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," a duet with Barbra Streisand, started climbing the charts. As "Dim The Lights" ended its reign at #2, the Summer/Streisand duet went on to become a #1 hit.

At the 1979 Grammy Awards show Summer found herself nominated in a variety of categories. The album Bad Girls was nominated for Best Female Pop Performance, but she lost to Dionne Warwick. "Dim All The Lights" was nominated for Best Female R&B Performance, but once again she lost to Dionne Warwick. However, Donna did prevail in the newly created Best Female Rock Performance category, winning the award for "Hot Stuff." In a bizarre irony Summer failed to win an award she had lobbied hard to have created. In 1979, the new category of Best Disco Recording was created. Summer was nominated for the Bad Girls album but lost to Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive. The category was dropped the following year.

Although Donna didn't reach chart-topping heights again, two of her songs climbed to #3. In 1980, she hit #3 with "The Wanderer," and three years later she again reached that peak with "She Works Hard For The Money." Her career dimmed a bit after that, with her last Top 10 hit being 1989's #7 dance smash "This Time I Know It's For Real," and her last Hot 100 hit coming in 1999 with "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)". While her fortunes on the Hot 100 waned in subsequent decades, Summer remained a force on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart throughout her entire career.

Donna died of cancer on May 17, 2012, at age 63 at her home in Naples, Florida. Although she thought her cancer diagnosis had been caused by inhaling toxic fumes and dust from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- she was in her apartment near Ground Zero when the attacks occurred -- some reports attributed the cancer to her smoking during her younger years, second-hand smoking while performing in clubs after kicking the habit, and/or a predisposition to this disease in the family. She was buried in Nashville, Tenn., where she and her family had relocated to from the Sherman Oaks, Calif., area. in 1995. In her London Times obituary, she was described as the "undisputed queen of the Seventies disco boom" who reached the status of "one of the world's leading female singers." In December 2016, Billboard ranked her sixth on its list of the "Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists."

- Christopher G. Feldman, The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles, Billboard, 2000.

 

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