Theatre Veteran & Disco Legend Donna Summer Passes Away at 63
By: Nicole Rosky May. 17, 2012
According to TMZ, theatre veteran and disco legend Donna Summer passed away this morning, May 17 in Florida after a long battle with cancer. She was 63 years old.
In 1968, Summer auditioned for a role in the Broadway musical, Hair, but lost the part of Sheila to Melba Moore. When the musical moved to Europe, Summer was offered the role. She took it and moved to Germany for several years. While in Germany, where she learned to speak German fluently, she participated in the musicals "Ich Bin Ich, the German version of The Me Nobody Knows,"Godspell and Show Boat.
In 1996 Summer revealed that she was busy working on developing a Broadway musical.
Summer gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She had a mezzo-soprano vocal range, and was a five-time Grammy Award winner. Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart, and she also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a thirteen-month period.
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