#VivaLaDonna

Without putting a number on it, I will say that I was born long after the music I was raised on.

Stax, Motown, Chess, and many, many more; I was the only 8-year-old in the surrounding Boroughs that could sing you the running order on all three Nite Flite compilations released up to that date. Bananarama, Cyndi Lauper, Five Star and Rick Astley were about as far as I ventured into catalogues of my school friends. Amongst my own you were much more likely to find the Jacksons, Sister Sledge, Shalamar, Lionel, Evelyn 'Champagne' King and the One and Only Donna Summer.

At 17:44, I opened the dreaded CNN Breaking News Alert - I swear I'm going to unsubscribe, they bring me nothing but tragic news; Michael, Whitney and now my Donna. Once again, the world turned greyer than the natural Skies could paint.

Donna Summer died today, aged 63.

If you're a regular reader, you will know that I am a HUGE Mariah Carey fan; well 'La Donna' was my first Mariah; I'm quite sure it was through her that my obsession with big hair, heels, jewellery and sequins were borne.


I'm told I have a 'Diva' side; since I read that Breast Cancer (unconfirmed) claimed another staple of my earliest memories, I've been playing her back catalogue and doing nothing but thinking of the childhood days she brightened. The days when I would 'perform' 'La Donna's' tracklistings on the vinyl my Mum forbade me to touch, having raided the make up bag I was forbidden to enter, dressed up in anything I could find that resembled the wardrobe on Donna's album sleeves, including the 'Once in a Blue Moon' stilettos that Mum would save for 'Crackers' in Oxford Circus on a rare Saturday night.

I would worry about finding excuse after wide-eyed excuse to explain how my 'Au Natrel',  VERY big, Donna-like hair had found it's own way out of the plaits my Mum had spent hours tidying, after my 'sets' were done...Til then, many a hairbrush and I would make some sweet, sweet D.I.S.C.O. music...Didn't no-one have those 'I Feel Love' moves down like this little single-figured, Divette-in-Training.

Donna Summer died today, aged 63 before I ever got to see her live. She was one of those TRUE vocalists; no autotune, No Help Required - Thank You. It was all her Baby and what you saw was what you got. Her voice was as iconic as rules she broke and the trails she blazed. 'State of Independence' is playing right now to remind me of what she taught me and the Legacy she's left behind. Her so-called scandals were only ever career-related (so far as I was aware), she was in every essence a true ARTIST. I remember the first time I heard Erasure cover 'Could It Be Magic'; I'm pretty sure that cemented my hatred for them as Ruiners of Music forever.

Donna Summer died today, aged 63; and no matter how many times I write the words, it's clear and inherent that the happy nugget of childhood that she took with her, will never come back again. My heart goes out to her husband and children, because although Music has lost a Legend; they lost a Wife and Mother.

Donna Summer died today, aged 63...and what a tragic day it is, indeed.

Ms. Donna, Baddest Girl of all, I Remember Yesterday all too vividly. I Feel Love for the saddest of times because you were On The Radio...

You will forever be comparable to NONE.


Viva 'La Donna'.
ES < /3