The Link Between Donna + The Bee Gees
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Donna Summer
happipuppi13 — 13 years ago(May 23, 2012 06:03 PM)
I've noticed,in the musical history of these two acts,that they seem to have done things at the same time. (Not just that they both did Disco in the 70s).
First obvious one,they were all born in the late 1940s.
1975 - The Bee Gees launch their comeback on RSO with "Jive Talkin'" - Donna debuts with "Love To Love You Baby"
1977 - Donna has "I Feel Love" - The Bee Gees Have "How Deep Is Your Love"
1978 - The Bee Gees (and other RSO acts) have #1 hits from Saturday Night Fever - Donna has her first #1 "MacArthur Park"
1979 - Donna Has 3 number ones and the Bee Gees have 3 more #1's also. Donna's "Hot Stuff" knocked out of #1 spot by the Bee Gee's "Love You Inside Out" for 1 week,Donna knocks that song out and her song is at the top for 2 more weeks.
She and The guys all rack up a good number of Gold & Platinum singles.
1980/1981 - After 6 #1s in row from 2 albums,The Bee Gees fall out of favor but keep trying to have hits but don't fare to well,Donna still continues to have hits in the top 10.
1983 - The Bee Gees have one hit with "The Woman In You" - Donna has lasst top 10 hit for 6 years with "She Works Hard For The Money"
1984 - Donna has minor hit with "There Goes My Baby" #21 -
Robin & Barry both have a solo hit apiece. Barry : "Shine-Shine" Robin : "Boys Do Fall In Love",both songs only make it to #37.
1987/1988 - Both Donna & Bee Gees have commercially failed album projects & singles. Donna "Dinner With Gershwin" / BG - "You Win Again" & "ESP"
1989 - Donna returns to the top 10 (#7),in the early summer,with her final hit,"This Time I Know It's For Real". Gold single.
The Bee Gees return in August with "One" also #7.1990s through 2000s -
Donna still records,does concerts and TV appearences but her hit making has stopped.
The Bee Gees have an album in 1993,with single "Decadance",not a hit.
Return in 1997 with album "Still Waters" & final top 40 hit "Alone" #28 & the title track which makes the Hot 100 only.
Have also the concert album and PBS special,"One Night Only". April 2001,Bee Gees final album "This Is Where I Came In". Jan. 2003 - Maurice Gibb dies.
May 2012 - Donna Summer and Robin Gibb pass away 3 days apart (May 17th & May 20th.)
happipuppi13
arf,man!! -
3_Beekman_Place — 13 years ago(May 23, 2012 07:35 PM)
Hmmm.
Not sure if I understand all the parallels you draw (1980/81 Bee Gees fall out of favor but Donna still has hits)?
Also, I'm assuming you are talking about US sales, since the Bee Gees E.S.P. went top 5 in Europe and hit #2 in UK. The first single You Win Again went #1 in 5 countries.
But I think a simple answer to most of them is Donna and the Bee Gees were the cream of the crop when it came to disco in the 70's(though the Bee Gees had 9 top 20 US hits before 1975). So of course they were battling each other for chart position. The was a tremendous backlash to disco in the 80's (though the 80's saw the rise of Madonna and George Michael) so most disco acts had spotty chart entries in the 80's. Also, while the Bee Gees and Donna Summer may have struggled in the 80's, Barry Gibb had HUGE success with Barbra Streisand's Guilty album, as well as producing for Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Dionne Warwick among others.
I do strongly object to one statement
1990s/2000s
"Donna still records,does concerts and TV appearences but her hit making has stopped."
As far as Donna's chart history, she always was the dance queen. One look at her post 80's dance chart entries prove she never really had lulls in her career! In 1993 an anthology collection featured Donna reuniting with Giorgio Moroder on the single, Carry On. The song hit #25 on the dance chart and won Donna a Grammy in '94. Also in '94 yet another hits collection featured a new track Melody Of Love (Wanna Be Loved) hit #1 on the dance charts. In '95 a remix of I Feel Love hit #9. She made another "comeback" in 1999 with a live VH-1 special and album that featured some new songs, BOTH I Will Go With You and Love Is The Healer hit #1 on the dance charts. In 2000 her song from the Pokemon soundtrack, The Power Of One hit #2. A "leaked" song You're So Beautiful hit #5 in 2004. She also had a top 20 dance hit Dream-A-Lot's Theme (I Will Live For Love) that year. 2005 saw her single I Got Your Love go to #4. In 2008 she released what would be her final album Crayons. It entered the chart at #17 (her highest debut on Billboards Top 200) and went top 5 R&B and featured THREE #1 dance songs I"m A Fire, Stamp Your Feet, and Fame (the game). Her last number one dance hit was 2010's To Paris With Love.
Purely looking at the dance charts, Donna had dance chart hits in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's7ec and 10's! If you break down her Billboard top 10 dance hits by decade (keeping in mind some chart entries were multiple tracks, like Hot Stuff/Bad Girls were 1 number one entry) Donna had 12 Top 10's in the 1970's, 6 top 10's in the 1980's, 4 top 10's in the 1990's, 6 top 10's in the 2000's and only 1 in this decade. Yet,over the span of 5 decades she was a viable presence in her genre and that is something not many musicians can claim! -
happipuppi13 — 13 years ago(May 24, 2012 04:39 PM)
Hey,thanks for your input.
Yes,I'm only going by how they did in the U.S. on the Hot 100. I never really paid much attention to any other charts.
After the 90s started,Donna was virtually invisible here. I saw her on some TV shows,Tv concert specials and saw only in that time her single fom the movie "Daylight" and the Pokemon one.
I'd like to let you know,I applaud how Europe and other countries regard their artists and artists of other countries so highly. Here in the U.S.,
most of the public seems to be as fickle as a man or woman who can't decide who they love romantically.
Bless the Bee Gees though for their perserverance. They never stopped making albums,either as the Bee Gees or solo,so they were always out there, Even if they didn;t getg a hit sometimes.
I was happy as can be when they returned in 1997 with "Alone",but shocked when it only got 5b4to #28,after moving up the chart so fast.
The '80-'81.well,Donna's chart numbers were still up there in 1980,slipped "a bit" in 1981 & '82,"She Works Hard." made #3,but after that 1 hit in 1984 and then her last Top 40 in 1989,which got to #7.
The Bee Gees virtually collapsed in 1981. Aside from the Disco backlash,I think they may have also suffered from over-exposure. I own the "Living Eyes" album,and it's quite an odd assortment of music. (That's just one opinion, I know.)
Not quite an equal comparsion but it's the only one I could muster.
happipuppi13
arf,man!! -
buby1987 — 13 years ago(June 05, 2012 11:32 AM)
It's valid to compare the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. Their careers followed parallel paths both acts attained success around the same time.
The Bee Gees got on the disco bandwagon early, with Jive Talkin' in the summer of 75. They were one of the first white acts to get into the disco genre, which had been mainly an outgrowth of black music. Summer hit the big time in early 76 with Love to Love You Baby.
The Bee Gees continued to rack up big disco hits at the same time Donna Summer did, in 76, 77, 78 and 79. Saturday Night Fever was still in theaters when Donna's movie, Thank God It's Friday, was released.
79 was a big year for both, as the Bee Gees scored with Spirits Having Flown, and Donna released the blockbuster Bad Girls. In fact, as the Bee Gees album ran its course, Bad Girls came out and dominated the airwaves and sales charts for months.
Disco cooled off in 1980, and the Bee Gees went underground by writing and producing music for other artists during the 80's Streisand's Guilty album was a huge success, arguably as big as a lot of Bee Gees albums.
In 1981, the Bee Gees released Living Eyes, which didn't do well on the charts. Donna's double album, I'm A Rainbow, was shelved. Not a good year for either act.
In 1982, Donna teamed up with a new producer, Quincy Jones. That same year, Barry Gibb found a new singer to produce and write for Dionne Warwick. So it seems from 75 to 82 the careers of the Gibss and Donna Summer followed similar trajectories.
In the summer of 1989, Donna Summer and the Bee Gees both scored big hits, after a few lean years out of the top ten. At that time, it made me take stock of their respective careers.
When the word "disco" is heard, what is the first thing most people think of? Probably Donna Summer and the Bee Gees.
I also just realized Barry Gibb worked with a lot of female singers in the 80's such as Streisand and Dionne Warwicks. Wouldn't it have been interesting to see Barry Gibb and Donna Summer team up? What a dream team! Donna worked well with high-powered, creative producers like Moroder and Quincy Jones. That would have been quite a collaboration. -
3_Beekman_Place — 13 years ago(June 05, 2012 10:59 PM)
I never said it was wrong to compare the 2 acts just some of the comparisons were a bit reaching.
First let me point out Love To Love You, Baby was a hit in 1975, it peaked on the chart in 76.
Again though Donna's Top 40 hits from 80's on were spotty at best, she never stopped having HUGE hits on the dance chart! The Bee Gees had moments where they were hardly relevant at all as artists or producers. Donna NEVER seemed like a washed up novelty act you would see hawking a concert dvd on PBS or QVC. She always took the stage as a headlining LEGEND. She never had to tour with Gloria Gaynor and Evelyn "Champagne" King to play a sell-out crowd!
Also, when Donna teamed with QJ it was sort of forced on her, I'm sure Barry chose to work with Dionne. Donna was produced by Quincy in order to "save" her career, Dionne had already revived her career before Barry Gibb with a platinum 1979 release produced by another Barry.. Manilow! But Gibbs #10 hit Heartbreaker didn't beat Mainlow's #5 I'll Never Love This Way Again. Before these, Dionne's last hit was '74's Then Came You.
BTW, rumor has it Donna did not "work well with high-powered, creative producer" Jones.
I'm not trying to say there is no comparison between Donna and the Bee Gees. But it's no different than comparing any 2 musical acts that were the tops in their genre at the same point in time!
ps it also hurts when you say you just realized Barry worked with other females since I pointed that out in my earlier post! D'OH! -
buby1987 — 13 years ago(June 06, 2012 08:06 AM)
Oops, you're right about Barry Gibb. Sorry about that.
I think because of the proximity of the deaths of Donna and Mr. Gibb, journalists and everyone else can't help but compare/contrast the two parallel (and sometimes diverging) careers of both acts.
In a broad sense, there are a lot of parallels and in fact Billboard magazine this week lumped the two acts together to take a retrospective look at their impact on the charts.
Since we are all fans of Donna Summer here, we all know that Donna did more than disco, and that the media likes to reduce people to a simple category. One thing I just discovered is that Donna wrote a country song for Dolly Parton, Starting Over Again, which hit No. 1 on the country charts! I bet that Donna is the only songwriter who has written songs that went to Number One on the Hot 100 Pop Chart, the Dance chart, and the country chart!
In sum, there is a link between Donna and the Bee Gees. There are also differences. I love both Donna and the Bee Gees, they have all done great music.
By the way, I'm going to Los Angeles today, and I plan to visit Donna's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. -
pvd295 — 13 years ago(June 08, 2012 06:19 AM)
Also, when Donna teamed with QJ it was sort of forced on her, I'm sure Barry chose to work with Dionne. Donna was produced by Quincy in order to "save" her career, Dionne hab68d already revived her career before Barry Gibb with a platinum 1979 release produced by another Barry.. Manilow!
This is very true. In a 2000 interview, Barry Gibb said that he asked Clive Davis if he could produce an album for Warwick back in 1980, shortly after the success of her 1979 hit album 'Dionne'. He said Warwick was always one of his favorite artists. Warwick was already in the process of recording 'No Night So Long' and Gibb began working with Streisand. They finally got together in 1982, to record 'Heartbreaker' LP which was another hit for both of them.
Summer/Quincy Jones was a last minute pairing by David Geffen, when he shelved her 1981 album "I'm A Rainbow". He wanted an album like 'Off The Wall' (MJ & QJ in 1979) for Summer, but missed the mark.
Paul Ryan's proposal is a budget that goes against the teachings of Jesus. -
ejcrandolph — 13 years ago(June 09, 2012 03:37 AM)
I just have to say I am enjoying the thread. Obviously RIP to both Donna and Robin.
They really did have a lot of similarities in their careers.
As someone born in the mid 70's and growing up in the 80's they are both missed. I sadly never got to see them during their prime years but I think some of the stuff was being played again from about the late 80's on (and not just talking the US top ten hits they both had in 1989).
Or, it could be just my own memory playing tricks on me.
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buby1987 — 13 years ago(June 09, 2012 11:04 PM)
I visited Los Angeles the past few days, and I took some time to visit Donna Summer's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. No more flowers were left there, no cards left behind. I spent a moment and paid my respects.
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jefgg — 12 years ago(May 31, 2013 04:42 PM)
In 1979 Summer performed at the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert joining contemporaries including the Bee Gees for a TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world's children. Artists donated royalties of certain songs, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause.