We Love to Love Donna Summer

By Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier | Word In Black Courtesy of istockphoto She’s been sampled by Lizzo, Ne-Yo, Sza, and Beyoncé — and by rappers like Nas, Dr. Dre, Digital Underground, and The Game. It’s no wonder because Donna Summer was not just the “Queen of Disco.” She was a pop icon, the first Black woman with a music video played on MTV, and a five-time Grammy winner who scored 32 single hits on Billboard’s Hot 100.& And if you need an extra reason to cue up a playlist of classics like “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls,” and “She Works Hard for the Money,” get the party started because December 31 marks what would have been Summer’s 75th birthday.& I often forget that Summer is gone, but it’s been nearly a dozen years since the Boston native’s untimely death from cancer on May 17, 2012, at the age of 63. She was the first singer I can recall wanting to look like — OK, that I wanted to& be. “Love Is In Control” coming on WBMX, one of Chicago’s Black stations back in 1982, was my signal to lip-synch in the bathroom mirror, complete with a towel strategically hung over my head to...