Donna Summer Photos

Donna Summer earned the title "Disco Queen" early in her career. Today her voice continues to soar with boundless range and fire whether recorded or live. The personable winner of Grammy Awards, gold albums, an Oscar and dozens of other honors continues in top form. Her latest release, "To Paris With Love," is already a hit with its irresistible melody and her signature disco beat that begs listeners to leap from their chairs and dance.

Donna Summer Photos

The incentive to compose the song was her unabashed love for Paris. Because France was one of the first countries to embrace her music, she wanted the song to express her boundless affection for the nation and its people. She initially planned to release it only in the south of France during the country's popular vacation season, but her co-writer, Bruce Roberts, thought it was perfect for summertime everywhere, so they put it out for her fans as an escape to the romance and allure of the City of Lights.

Donna Summer Photos

Summer has been a favorite in Europe since arriving in Germany during the late 1960s to play Sheila in "Hair." She regards performing in Europe for many years before returning home as a true learning experience that taught her the outlook on fame she has to this day. While Americans want fame right away, Europeans have a more sober idea of fame. She wholly embraces their concept of fame as a distant thing to achieve even though she is one of the most famous entertainers worldwide.

Donna Summer Photos

Employing the art of characterization she developed in "Hair" and succeeding musicals, she amassed fans at live concerts and began recording songs in the disco style that soon defined her. To this day, other musicians clamor to cover the songs she made famous, many of them her own compositions. Her goal is to tell the story of each song she sings by becoming the character in the song. The character can be light and fluffy, deadly serious, or something in-between. A painter with words, she wrote her earlier album "Crayons" with the idea that each song would stand for a different color in a box of crayons and represent a different dance style.

Donna Summer Photos

At age 60-plus and still a veritable bundle of energy, Summer is one of the most popular personalities in show business and is always ready and willing to pay homage to others. She sang in tribute to her close friend Barbra Streisand at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2008 and more recently in Oslo when President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. She herself was honored in June as an inductee of the Hollywood Bowl of Fame together with The Carpenters and French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. After her performance, Michael Christie, conductor of the Phoenix Symphony, rushed backstage to invite her to be the headliner at the orchestra's Gala concert in October.

Donna Summer Photos

Accepting with pleasure, she plowed into preparations for the show that has, in her words, everything:dancing, singing and visuals. She loves performing with symphonies and always laughs when she overhears the musicians griping and wondering why they have to play for her. Then they look at the charts that they have to learn very quickly and pay attention to every note. Getting it right is a lot more difficult than they realized. More likely than not, many approach her afterward to apologize.

Donna Summer Photos

While Summer is recording her next album, "Ordinary Girl" sits on the back burner. She began writing the musical shortly after her autobiography by the same name was published. At the time, she intended for the show bursting with her classic numbers to be a Broadway vehicle for her three talented daughters, but now that one has her own band and is on the road much of the time, Broadway must wait. As a devoted mother, Summer is always careful about what she says, especially because she is determined to let them find their own way in the business.

Donna Summer Photos

In the meantime, thankful for the career that has been good to her for so many years, she says, "Even though being on the road and singing is a lot of work, I love every minute of it. My greatest pleasure still is entertaining my fans."

Donna Summer Photos