LaDonna Adrian Gaines, better known as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter who was born on December 31, 1948, and passed away on May 17, 2012.
During the disco era of the 1970s, she rose to fame and earned the title of “Queen of Disco,” while her music attracted fans all over the world.
Donna Summer parents: Meet Andrew Gaines, Mary Gaines
Donna was born to Andrew Gaines and Mary Gaines.
LaDonna Adrian Gaines was the third of seven children born to Andrew and Mary Gaines on December 31, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was raised in Mission Hill, a district of Boston. Her mother taught in a school, and her father worked as a butcher.
When Summer was ten years old, she made her stage debut at church, filling in for a vocalist who had failed to show.
She went to Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Boston, where she participated in school plays and was popular. Summer moved to New York City just a few weeks before graduating in 1967, joining the blues-rock group Crow. The band decided to disband after a record label declined to sign them because it was only interested in the band’s main singer.
