Look
Back at Donna Summer's Long Commercial Career
The 'Queen of Disco' Was
a Favorite of Advertisers
Donna
Summer, the "Queen of Disco," who died of cancer on Thursday, at age
63, worked hard for the money. Her disco mega hits did more than flood dance
floors and top the charts; Ms. Summer's songs were used in plenty of
commercials, well after the peak of her popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. As recently
as 2011, a cover of Ms. Summer's "Love to Love You Baby," from her
second album of the same name, was used in Diesel's "Loverdose" commercial. The
remixed track was sold by Diesel as a special-edition track. The same song was
used in a 2007 Citroen ad and a 2000 Coca-Cola spot.
The
sultry song was also, perhaps a little more appropriately, used in a 1992
Belgian commercial for Durex Condoms, featuring a rabbit
bungee-jumping off a bridge.
Her
music was heard in a 2009 Flora by Gucci commercial,
which used Ms. Summer's "I Feel Love," from her 1977 album "I
Remember Yesterday." Ms. Summer rerecorded the track for the ad, and it
was remixed by Chris Cunningham. The commercial went on to win a Gold Cannes
Film Lion in 2009 for best use of music.
The
versatility of the song -- or perhaps the scope of marketers' imaginations --
is incredible. It was also used in a 2004 commercial for job site Monster, out of Deutsch,
Los Angeles, as the accompaniment to fast-paced shots of people getting ready
for work.
Ms.
Summer's 1983 female-empowerment anthem "She Works Hard for the
Money" was featured in a Burger King commercial, which advertised a
Whopper Jr. sandwich for just 89 cents. "Hot
Stuff" was another marketer favorite. That track appeared in a 1979
commercial in Australia for Four'n Twenty Pies, as
well as a 2003 Capital One spot and a 2003 Garnier Nutrisse ad.
Heard Ms. Summer's songs
in any other ads? Tell us in the comments. RIP, Donna.
Donna Summer at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2009.
| Background information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | LaDonna Adrian Gaines |
| Also known as | Donna Gaines The Queen of Disco |
| Born | December 31, 1948 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Origin | Dorchester, Massachusetts |
| Died | May 17, 2012 (aged 63) Key West, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop, disco, dance-pop, rock |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1969–2012 |
| Labels | Oasis Records Casablanca (1975–1980) Geffen (1980–1988) Atlantic (1988–1991) Mercury (1994–1996) Warner-Elektra-Atlantic (Outside of U.S. 1980–1991) Epic (1999–2001) Burgundy (2006–2012) |
| Associated acts | Giorgio Moroder, Brooklyn Dreams |
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