Donna Summer: Losing the Queen of Disco

2012 continues to be the year the music died.

Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, passed away at 63 after struggling against lung cancer.  She was a 5 time Grammy Award winner, who made a big splash during the 1970s with her iconic disco hits “Last Dance” and “Hot Stuff”.  She continued her success during the 1980s with additional hits “She Works Hard for the Money” and “This Time I Know It’s for Real”.

Summer was an incredibly successful recording artist.  In fact, she was the first female artist to hit the charts with back-to-back multi-platinum albums.  However, she was also a formally trained painter.  She reported back in 2010 to Atlantic City Weekly that she sold her first painting for $38,000.  She estimated that she sold nearly $1 million of her art work.

Apparently, Summer attributed her lung cancer to having breathed in toxic particles in the air after the 9/11 attacks.  At that time, she lived in an apartment in New York Citynot far from Ground Zero.  However, her lung cancer was more likely related to years of smoking and working in clubs where inhaling second hand smoke was a liability.

Summer is survived by her husband, Bruce Sudano, three daughters and four grandchildren.  There has been no information about her estate at this point, although there are some rumors that she was working on another album at the time of her death—which may create some interesting property questions.  Hopefully she took the time to do some estate planning to protect her legacy and fortune.

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