Why Did Laura Branigan’s Career Go Down The Shitter?

cocaine

Gloria:

Solitaire:

She died.

I like this one too: laura branigan - spirit of love

How Am I Supposed to Live Without You:

“Hold Me” was a good album but had one of the worst album covers of all time.

The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

Self control number one! Solitaire a distant second

I think it was called "cancer"

A talent, but, also a nasty piece of work. Branigan once referred to San Francisco as the "AIDS District".

Please tell me that is untrue r11.

Brain aneurism.

She had really stong pipes and a great vibrato and she could peg a note -- but she had a limited range. And she tended to shout.

And that hair.

I wish she'd done an entire album with Stock Aitken Waterman. I remember that the Popbitch newsletter posted an item a year or two before Laura died. Apparently some gay nightclub had hired her to perform, and on the bottom of advertising posters and flyers they put:

"Notice! This is the REAL Laura Branigan, not a drag queen impersonator!"

She lacked a unique image.

She was by no means ugly or anything, but she wasn't super gorgeous, she didn't have a distinct fashion style, and she came along in the early MTV era when looks and image started to REALLY matter.

She tried to make it on her voice alone, and it worked...for a few years. But it wasn't enough to generate any real excitement over her in the public's mind. Nobody was holding their breath, waiting for the next Laura Branigan album.

If she'd gone all slutty like her contemporary Sheena Easton, she might have hung in there for a few additional years.

Self Control:

She had no stage presence and couldn’t dance and both of those things were incredibly important in the visual 80’s.

Just look at her stiff performance of “I Found Someone.”

Frau tears alert

In 1985, female artists had to compete with Madonna for radio airtime. That meant flashing skin and ultra sexualized lyrics.

I suspect Laura refused to play the game.

M*A*D*O*N*N*A came along and blew everyone else off the charts.

Excellent Mobituaries episode

Her Self Control video was very controversial at the time, and MTV initially refused to show it because they thought it was too risque. She had to edit parts out before they would air it.

R12, sorry, but it's true, Branigan stated that to "People" magazine, AIDS scared the shit out of everyone. Branigan promptly disassociated herself from her gay fans when her career took off, Bette Midler tried this, as well, circa 1980's.

That is not true of Bette Midler, at all. Don't tell lies. Why are old gay white men so bitter about everything? Midler was always an ally and an advocate for gay men. Especially in the terrible 1980s. What she tried to discuss was her part in promoting casual sex and promiscuity before AIDS. She had a lot of it herself. Midler lost over 50 close friends to AIDS and she has never hesitated to speak and sing for the cause. You're plain lying R24.

It reeks of Aramis and poppers in the front rows.....Bette had a sense of humor you know? She always cared for her friends and fans. What nonsense.

How do you know the person who wrote that is a bitter, old, white guy? I would have thought you are.

[quote]Bette had a sense of humor you know? She always cared for her friends and fans.

Yeah, she cared. Except when she changed around musician arrangements during recording session when the musician wasn't present.

[quote]Bette Midler tried this, as well, circa 1980's.

Bette did it by making Disney movies.

[quote]Bette did it by making Disney movies.

And singing schmaltzy, frau ballads.

[quote] Branigan once referred to San Francisco as the "AIDS District".

F/F.

I have no idea why certain posters keep spreading these disgusting rumors.

The infamous 1982 SNL performance of "Gloria":

Laura Branigan had a big hit with “Gloria” in 1982, and was booked on the show in December of that year. Unfortunately, it seems she was under the weather that weekend because her voice was shot. She resorts to speak-singing for much of the song, but at one point her voice gives out and squeaks a high note.

Direct quote from the 1983 "People" article:

"When Gloria became the favorite in gay discos last year, Branigan toured relentlessly on what promoters—a fraternity not known for its tact—refer to as the “AIDS circuit,” predominantly homosexual dance halls from New York’s Fire Island to San Francisco."

So, it was the promoters who referred to the gay club performing scene as the "AIDS circuit". Not Laura Branigan.

We live in an era where it's VERY easy to verify and clarify this type of thing. It's really a shame that people don't take advantage of the tools at their disposal and make sure they're being accurate before spreading something negative and nasty.

r18 I had no idea "I Found Someone" was originally sung by Laura Branigan and not Cher, or that it was written by Michael Bolton.

R26, Gay men don't like having their delusions about their "divas" snatched away.

^Ancient white fag. Hating on Bette Midler for no reason. So he's properly been called out. Don't lay your troubles on mine lady.

Does that make country music the COVID Circuit now?

Power of Love is from her 1987 album Touch

R35 =Trans sex worker of color, hates gay men, but, wants to be part of the tribe.

She hasn't been murdered yet, but, one lives in hope.

Laura Branigan seems to have made a career of releasing a song, then being bested by another performer singing the same song.

It started with "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You", which she took to #12. Michael Bolton, who co-wrote it, later recorded it himself and it went to #1.

Then she released "I Found Someone" as a single, and it petered out at a pathetic #90. A year later, Cher sang it and it went to #10.

Her final hit was "The Power of Love", which she took to #26 (having already flopped in prior versions by Jennifer Rush and Air Supply)...only to have Celine Dion come along and steal her thunder 6 years later, by having a #1 hit with it.

Poor Laura!

Maybe the record company chose the wrong songs to release as singles.

That People Magazine article shaved 5 years off Laura's age.

According to Wikipedia, she was born in 1952, not 1957.

No comment.

"a lot of people went screaming for the hills, and fuck em I say!" Bette Midler did everything for gay men and the AIDS cause. For DECADES. It was personal to her. She never deserted her fans.

R38 just spread the virus around. All of his bitterness stems from his advanced age and HIV status. (He is also the same poster known as miss warwicke) A grotesque human being.

R39 - I honestly prefer Branigan’s versions of all three songs.

I do too r44

Still showing up. World Pride. Bette Midler. An old woman now, like R38.

How many of you have seen Laura's two starring movie roles. One was an Australian movie where she consented to show one bosom, like Miss Ross in "Mahogany."

Umm.... “Dim All the Lights,” anyone?

She covered Its Been Hard Enough Getting Over You from Cher’s 1987 album on her 1993 album Over My Heart.

R46 seems to have gone still, she either passed out or a trick snuffed her.

I see that she had eyebrows like Fuad Ramses in BLOOD FEAST. Unfortunate.

What a disgusting diseased piece of filth R50 is. He is that ancient racist WHITE man from Missouri, who used to post as miss warwicke. He's banned from this site. Also he is the scat troll. The one who posts elaborate scenarios about how his guest left shit all over the walls.

Right now he's calling me a dead trans woman because I called him out for his Bette Midler lies? The HIV went deep into the brains of lots of men before the Cock - Tale came to save them. miss warwicke is the most racist and misogynist and hateful poster to ever spew her scatty minded bullshit on Datalounge. Shame on you R50. Because you are that grotesque poster. Soon to be dead. The worst of DL is dying. We celebrate your absence.

R52 is he friends with Shirley Q. Liquor?

Race play in a thread about Laura Branigan? Stay weird, Data Lounge.

“When The Heat Hits The Street” - I really liked this track. It wasn’t released as a single but I remember it being used in a series of car commercials in the 80s.

R31 This version actually really works for me. Glad she didn’t cancel.

Because she shout-sang every one of her notes, lyrics and songs as if a truck tire had just rolled over her foot?

She was a crackhead and it showed. Pick some better disco memories old timers. Glo ooooh ooorrrr rreeeee aAHH! She was not a good singer at all. Christ. I enjoy the cocaine cry of her voice though. It was a much sadder sound when it came to the great Whitney and Mariah. This Laura person sang in a very constrained pinched vocal style of production. She didn't know how to sing at all - beyond a few notes in her modal voice. How Am I Supposed to Listen to Her Sing that Song so badly?

Whatever R58 . I bet your a fucking hoot at parties. I LOVE Laura and her songs and always will. Deal .

We're replacing the Vivaldi Gloria with the Branigan Gloria at our Christmas Eve service this year. We want to attract some of the hip young kids to the church

Me neither, R30.

I loved Spanish Eddie. I was surprised it only reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Wasn't her MO to remake Italian disco/pop hits? Is that what Gloria and Self Control were?

She did an American remake of a hugely successful Italian song. It wasn't a fluke that it was popular - but it thrust her onto the American stage as this great upcoming star, but anyone could have sung that song and made it a hit.

Secondly, it was hard to transition from early 80's to mid/late 80's - the sounds changed a lot. Early 80's still had some 70's feel/spillover - fucking Juice Newton is a great example.

Anyone who has multiple years of success in a highly competitive music industry IS a success. She did fine - and people still remember her. That's better than 98% of pop artists.

By the late 80s female pop rock was on the decline and sexy pop R&B was on the upswing where it's been ever since. She was never going to be able to compete.

Laura Branigan should've gone the adult contemporary route and had an even bigger career in the 90s but a flat-chested Canadian clydesdale had other plans.

[quote]By the late 80s female pop rock was on the decline

That’s a laugh.

She tried for a more AC sound after the "Hold Me" album bombed but she couldn't get the songs. It's why he label continued to try to recycle Euro hits ("The Power of Love", "Show Me Heaven") for the US market. She might have done well to flip it and do some US hits for the Euro market, e.g. Patti LaBelle's "New Attitude," which did nothing across the pond.

Didn't Bonnie Raitt rise like a phoenix in 1989? Bonnie knew how to source a good, relatively obscure song better than Laura.

Laura should have tried to replace Pattie Darcy in Smokey Joe's Cafe. She could have done "Pearl's A Singer."

Laura only managed two performances as Janis Joplin in "Love, Janis" Off-Broadway. The pink Power Ranger also only lasted a couple of performances in the same role. I guess both underestimated the toll of singing in Joplin's raucous style.

I don’t agree with r65 or r66.

Thanks for letting us know.

Is anyone else surprised she was 30 when Gloria hit? There's a debate on her Wiki page:

[quote] Branigan's year of birth has been disputed. Although most sources at the time of her death gave her birth year as 1957, it has subsequently been accepted by reliable sources that she was born in 1952.

[Quote] Is anyone else surprised she was 30 when Gloria hit?

No. Her weight gain is pretty standard for people in their 30s.

The way she moves here, I would have thought she was actually older than 52.

[quote] She had no stage presence and couldn’t dance

False.

The "Moonlight on Water" choreography is STILL being imitated 30 years later.

I think it had something to do with her death

[quote] Maybe it is time for all those who told I was a liar with fabricated pictures and articles to apologize? So many hard words from contributors that I wasn't trustful or reliable in my research. Yes, it was I who contacted AP late summer 2016. They were not interested making chances though their own information and sources were accurate, they told me. But after 65 emails with details from my research they gave up and changed their mind. I told them I wanted to read the correction, but they said no. I couldn't do anything. (I have the emails in my research). So after 3 years of research and struggling I think I can say...I won over AP, Wikipedia, IMDb (they let me do the corrections I wanted, and after that they closed and protected her biography. It is only I who can make changes.) Swedish papers were in contact with me, they wanted to see my research. People in Armonk, Laura's former friends, neighbours, classmates, etc, has sent me congratulations for my work. They said that Laura is back again. Thanks to me! People in Armonk stood by my side and also confirmed my research as true, when AP asked them. They also invited me to be a member if their Facebook group "You know you from Armonk". As a Swede it was their way to show their appreciation to me. If you are interested, you can watch my research. Some chapters are finished and has been ended. Laura Branigan Encyclopedia. She was born 3 July, 1952 in Mt Kisco, NY I think you will enjoy it.

[quote] 2016-10-03 Manhattan's a better read than Mt. Kisco! So you mean Manhattan, New York is correct? People from Armonk said to me... hmmm sure of that? So it is Manhattan? StigP No. NOT Manhattan. It sounds hip & sexy! She didn't want to say Mount Kisco. A teenager telling a lie. ®olle Not born in Manhattan !!!! Period. Paragraph. ®olle Laura was born: City: Mt. Kisco County: Westchester But you already know this. ®olle . Are we agreed about Mt Kisco? StigP . This is her last contact with me. She was very furious when I still asked about NY or Mt. Kisco. This answer ended all.. Enough! You know she was born in Mount Kisco !!!! I wouldn't read too much into her writing Manhattan. However If it's desperately important to you find an expert online. Good luck & good bye. ®olle. I was later told that Laura hated to say Mount Kisco. It was more cool, hip, etc. by saying New York. I decided to trust her, though she knew Laura. And Mt Kisco hasn't been denied from the Branigan's who still are alive. A lady from Armonk has offered to help me in my search for Laura's birth announcements. She is a former librarian at The New York Public Library. She has access to the archives and knows where to look. The paper we are looking after is on microfilm. I can only hope and pray she will find something. That would end all discussions about Laura Branigan. That's all I have, hope you are satisfied. Though I have ended writing in Wikipedia, this was just for me a "one time" jump in. Now it is up to wikipedia to handle it like you want. To be honest, wiki doesn't interest me. I have my own Laura wiki, supported from Los Angeles

[quote] Can we also agree I was right from the very beginning? Like Philip Martin from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote: Stig-Ake Persson of Halmstad, Sweden, and he is the world expert on Laura Branigan. He’s also a remarkable researcher. He can show you Branigan’s hand-written application for a Social Security number, filled out on Sept. 29, 1970, when she was 18—not 13." Justice for Laura Branigan. Swedish fan reveals the truth about Laura Take your time and read and feel ashame how you treated me. Haha loosers! It is ok if wikipedia wants to warn and ban me like wiki once did. I am only making this comment to show you who the Laura expert is. It is not wiki contributors, it is an old man from Sweden! Don't write any personal message to me though I am not interested and I will not even answer anyone. By from Sweden

I think she had a big coke problem

was she gay

r81, she had a husband who died of colon cancer in 1996. Wiki has them married in 1978. He was diagnosed in 1994 and she left the music industry to devote time to him. Was his full time nurse.

[quote]“Hold Me” was a good album but had one of the worst album covers of all time.

Most of Laura's album covers were hideous. Atlantic must have HATED her to use this photo for the Self Control cover.

For some reason, I always thought she was playing the piano on that cover at r83.

Here's Laura's 1981 single. I wish we knew more about her 1970s attempts to make it as a singer.

It seems it was her own representatives that spread the unfair "AIDS Circuit" smears to the press.

It's strange that she had a televised concert special in Europe before she had a hit anywhere.

[quote] Laura Branigan seems to have made a career of releasing a song, then being bested by another performer singing the same song.

In 1990 Laura covers the disco classic "Turn The Beat Around".

Her song is not promoted; a few years later it becomes a smash hit when Gloria Estefan releases her version.

Me too R84!

I don’t mind r83’s cover at all. No cheesy posing or glamor shot photo.

I have a friend (female) who claimed Laura and her husband hit on her for a threesome.

Laura was gorgeous. But she had deep set eyes and an odd bone structure that need to be lit well.

They never gave her the star treatment of other artists, and Laura sounds like she was VERY down to earth and probably didn't give a fuck.

Back up to Leonard Cohen.

Shattered Glass: November 15 1987 Live Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, in the presence of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Her stage presence makes Whitney Houston's look like Madonna.

I loved "Shattered Glass".

Here's a ranking of her 20 best songs. I don't really disagree with #1. Should have been a hit...

Rolling Stone didn't care for her voice at all.

R97, who gives a fuck?!

I do seem to remember Rolling Stone calling her, "Gloria, the musical weightlifter" or something like that.

[quote] Why Did Laura Branigan’s Career Go Down The Shitter?

She was feeling flushed.

When did Rolling Stone go straight down the shitter?

Rolling Stone trashed Madonna and Mariah when they first came out as well. They said Madonna couldn't sing and Mariah oversang.

OK so maybe they weren’t wrong all the time.

R102 on that point they were dead right.

I like this French version of Solitaire (1981):

Jesus, was her entire catalog covering European artists?

I loved her voice - mostly because it was unique and didn't sound like the same old stupid whiny female voice over and over.

I can't post the Pornhub link for some reason, but there is a vintage porn called Jobsite from 1984 that used Self Control (around the 1 hour 10 minute mark). They also used Madonna's Lucky Star and Human League's Don't You Want Me. Did porn just used people's music and hope no one would find out? I can't imagine their labels signing off on it.

Yet, her voice was actually quite whiny and nasal.

Are you sure it's not a fan re-edit, r109?

r108, rather.

Her voice was powerful and different. I'd rather hear her than Sheena Easton's whiny shit, or Mariah's droning, or some generic 80s/90s vanilla crap like Stacy Q or Alannah Myles or other generic whore face.

Her pussy stunk.

[Quote] LET'S NOT mince words, eh? Laura Branigan is a damn lousy excuse for a singing star and Ellen Foley is only a pretty good excuse for a singing star.

What a bitch.

It's always funny when old gays uplift their invariably female fave by calling one or more of their rivals a whore.

R107 are you referring to Olivia Newton-John?

R115 you seem kind of retarded and silly

R112 - Eat shit. I ❤️ Sheena Easton

You seem oddly obsessed with this thread, R115. So many posts here - strange old queen.

I had a Laura Brannigan who recorded music once. And then she DIED.

She should have had Jim Steinman produce her records. He did wonders for Meatloaf!

The Donna Murphy stan really tells a lot of tales. They're born in 1963. They're also black and born in 1982. They call DLers here "anicient white fags" and "paedophiles." They're also white and born in 1998. Shirley MacLaine grasped their thigh for a full minute. They fucked Van Jones off the coast of the Atlantic (as well as Cheyenne Jackson). Creative.

R83 yes, hideous, absolutely fuck’n hideous. AR really did try to stab her in the back every time they released a new album cover. Shame on them, old fuck’n white dudes.

Few people knew then nor even now that Laura Branigan's "Gloria' was a cover from Umberto Tozzi's original Italian.

Had the 45 of Umberto Tozzi's version for years,(bought one day while shopping in Manhattan's Little Italy when it still had lots of Italian owned shops, but think may have tossed it by now.

[Quote] You seem oddly obsessed with this thread. So many posts here - strange old queen.

You sound bothered.

Didn't her younger brother die from AIDS?

There is only one brother, and he was still living as of 2016.....

R110, I didn't think of that. The movie was came out in 1984 and all three songs were from '83-'84 so I just assumed it was in the original release.

Raf - Self Control (1983):

Only version of a song named "Solitaire" one likes......

R130 that was terrible

Jane Olivor's placement was so odd, almost like she didn't want to be intelligible.

Know Neil Sedaka wrote the tune, but who told him he could sing it?

Who are some other famous, gay songwriting duos beyond Sedaka/Greenfield?

R133 / R130 - we don't care about that song, sweetheart

Branigan sings Branigan. (Makes a change...)

I think Branigan brought in enough money for Atlantic to keep her on their roster for as long as they could, but she certainly wasn't a priority of theirs. It's cliche to say a particular song should have been a hit that wasn't, especially since there are so many factors that go into making songs hits, but Laura had really terrific records that were released then let fall through the cracks. "All Night With Me", "Spanish Eddie", "Hold Me", "Moonlight On Water", Shattered Glass"--all superb pop records that would have gone much further with the an interested & dedicated promo campaign behind them. Atlantic consistently released utter hack jobs for her remixes rather than spring for the DJs due jour to tweek quality mixes that sounded good in clubs or played next to other tracks. Her take on "Turn The Beat Around" was decent but sounded awful in their cluttered mixes, and her equally decent take on ""Dim All The Lights" strangely had no mixes.

Atlantic seemed to think it was still 1968.

Who were her main producers? Diane Warren seemed to help her out a lot by supplying English lyrics to foreign songs.

Laura Branigan and Celine Dion both recorded the song Unison in 1990. They came out at the exact same time. I wonder who recorded it first.

Obviously, r98 gives a fuck. 😂 so bitter is she.

[quote] I'd rather hear her than Sheena Easton's whiny shit,

Damn straight.

Cinesnatch is mentally ill. I am not a Donna Murphy stan. I was born in 1983. I dislike Laura Branigan's attempts to sing (nasal and pinched and running up to the more difficult phrases like a drunk girl on Karaoke Friday. All. those. clipped. power. notes. and terrible riffs and runs - all signs of a pure amatuer) Meryl Streep can't sing at all. She thinks she can. She is a buffoon and a disgrace to keep subjecting the public to her gross ego flailing. She is a happy birthday singer. Her singing should be limited to a cake in her own home.

Cinesnatch has some beef with black men who know about music. I am a musician, and a singer. I have won 2 Grammys and Shirley Maclaine did grab my leg. Get it you fucking ancient white racist FAG? Stop trolling me or I'll have your unpopular 70 year old flat white ass blocked forever.

The elder guys LIVE on such bad disco memories. Because they were attractive enough to get some dick then? In the 70s and 80s. That still won't make Laura Branigan a good singer. Glo Oh oor or orr oRH Hee Ye AH! Glorya! I think! I got! Yur Numba!

Cinesnatch, I can start quoting your boring pedantic racist posts too. Back off old man. Y'all more present than welcome.

I would rather listen to either of them then ever have to suffer through anything Vadge has done at any stage in her career. Imagine what the last 35 years of popular music could have been if she had not been a part of them.

Laura had unfortunate eyebrows.

So does Brooke Shields

" " had to start his own thread rather than simply voting in the poll:

"Am I the only one who thinks this is her best song? I know a lot of people who say Gloria and/or Solitaire are better. I couldn’t disagree more. "

It seemed that she (or her record company) could never figure out whether she was meant to be a Top 40, MTV pop star or an adult contemporary artist. Self Control" was edgy and accompanied by a slick, controversial video. But most of her later singles and videos were pretty lame (like this video for "Shattered Glass" -- did anyone think this would get MTV airplay?).

It is a pretty bad video. At least it didn't show her in the studio recording the song. Those kinds of videos were the worst.

She was a very heavy drinker.

Iirc wasnt she allegedly heavily into coke ? Wich is really what caused her anuerysm ?

R102 and yet they put Madonna on the cover over 20 times, when then any woman in history

And Mariah got the cover 3 times

And Laura? 0 covers

Carol Burnett is 87

An 87 year old with a 13 year old on her hands.

IMAGINATION. From the Greatest movie of all time that won all the Oscars.

I remember my local radio station playing IMAGINATION from the FLASHDANCE soundtrack all the time--but it never was released as a single, for some reason.

They also played her "Der Kommisar" take off, DEEP IN THE DARK, also not released as a single.

So, for a brief time, she was popular enough to get album tracks on Top 40 radio.

Was the soundtrack on a label other than Atlantic?

Let's not forget that her ex manager said that Gloria would be beyond thrilled Trump plays Gloria at his rallies. That says it all.

Sorry-it was her drummer.

The Flashdance soundtrack was on Casablanca.

Didn't people mistakenly think "Gloria" was by Donna Summer when the song was first released?

I don't know if Gloria was one of the songs that was originally offered to Donna but she turned it down. She turned down a number of songs in the 80s that went on to be huge hits for other artists, we could have a whole other thread about it. She made some terrible career decisions in the 80s.

Turned it down? Wasn't "Gloria" somebody else's hit when Branigan covered it?

[Quote] Bette did it by making Disney movies.

There's truth in this. Bette Midler got greedy and ditched the gay cause. How? When Disney was planning a film on Lotte Lenya they wanted to drop her lesbianism. Bette was going to star as Lenya and agreed to go along with Disney's censorship.

A greedy Jew? Nonsense, R163.

The R159 story linked to this1983 magazine article where she comes out as a proud Reagan voter and Republican.

At least she was friendly and tolerant toward her gay fans.

"Tolerant". Fuck you, Stepnfetchit!

No, R166, I am just happy she was not a bigot or anti-gay. Someone else tried to smear her with that earlier in the thread.

"Gloria" was about a fucked-out whore.

LOL at Laura Branigan diagnosing the Clash as a fad.

You do realize, R167, that being a proud Republican, especially in the 80's MAKES HER ANTI GAY.

Fuck Laura Brannigan. Homophobic cunt. I hope she dies...oh...wait...

Because her career was a huge, stinking, steaming TURD, and the shitter is where huge, stinking, steaming TURDS go.

Bette Midler never ditched the gays and Laura Brannigan never made anti-gay statements. Some of you really wallow in bitterness and dredge up imaginary bile to if your tap starts to run dry.

Echoing the poster upthread, I really enjoyed the Mobituaries podcast dedicated to her. Mo Rocca does his subjects justice. Laura Branigan spent her last years caring for her husband dying of colon cancer and then moved in with her mother to take care of her when she developed Alzheimer’s. The family never told their mom that Branigan had died, just that she was off touring or recording. Give it a listen.

R173 is right. It was Donna Summer who made the anti-gay comments.

Mo Rocca did an episode on Branigan for his Mobituaries podcast if anyone's interested.

r174 Donna always said she never said anything homophobic, and there are no records from the time that she did. What she DIDN'T do was address the rumors as soon as they started, instead she waited a number of years before she even acknowledged them and that was a huge mistake. I have no idea who her management was at the time, but they were the worst management in the world. That's the job of a manager.

Why does Gloria Gaynor never get shit for saying "Live the sinner, hate the sin, baby"? (I personally saw her say this on a talk show so, no, not a rumor.) People make things up like above or spread the Donna Summer rumor. . .but Gaynor frequently came out with that line when asked about gay fans and her "I am What I Am" remake. But she gets to perform at Pride? GTFO. I've hated that bitch since I was a teen because I knew exactly what she meant by that.

This has been mentioned before, but allegedly the Donna Summer anti-gay rumors were started by David Geffen. Donna was on Geffen's label at the time and they didn't get along.

She really should've stayed on the Casablanca label and continued to work with Moroder. It was a dumb decision to leave all of that.

R178, see R174

R177, take comfort in knowing that Gloria Gaynor has probably spent the last 40 years bitter as hell for not having Donna Summer's career and being a 2 hit wonder, though most people only remember one.

Donna denied she ever made the comments but when you read the Advocate interview from 1989 she doesn't really deny that she said something either. And she never openly embraced her gay fans. The only time she showed some genuine remorse was when she gave a press conference in 1991 denying the allegations and she was crying (this was when she was suing a magazine for stating what she said was fact). But it's not a stretch to believe she made those comments or something similar because when she had been accused of making them, she was still a relatively new Born Again Christian so she was probably extra intense. And she always towed the line when it came to her gay audience post-1980.

Although Donna still made some good music post-Born Again she just wasn't as interesting as an artist. I agree with r178, she should have continued with Casablanca but apparently she had issues with them too. David Geffen had no idea what to do with her but he shouldn't have separated from Moroder.

I can't listen to her recording of "How Can I Help You To Say Goodbye?". Maybe the saddest song I have ever heard and she does a magnificent job. You can hear her struggling to get through it.

[Quote] Laura Branigan spent her last years caring for her husband dying of colon cancer and then moved in with her mother to take care of her when she developed Alzheimer’s.

I wonder if money was tight and Mrs. Republican would have liked Affordable Health Care...

Donna's manager was... her husband. He previous manager was married to her record label head. Donna wasn't very bright.

And she didn't "ease up" on shit. She turned down the opportunity to have her cover of "Love on and on" as the theme to the disco movie "54", that would have been promoted worldwide by Miramax, after she saw a cut of the movie.