Dr. Ulrich Adelt delivers a lecture titled “Hot Stuff: Disco, Donna Summer, and National Identity” Tuesday.
A fascinating PowerPoint presentation called, “Hot Stuff: Disco, Donna Summer, and National Identity” was put on by the Multicultural Affairs Speaker Series on Feb. 12. University of Wyoming Assistant Professor, Dr. Ulrich Adelt led the event.
Dr. Adelt spoke of his German upbringing and how it inspired him recently to research German pop music, including disco and Krautrock, particularly the Afro-German talent, Donna Summer. The audience was comprised of a variety of faculty members, students and disco enthusiasts who began discreetly tapping their feet to the rhythm of the music videos Dr. Adelt showed.
The crowd was particularly captivated when Dr. Adelt played Berry White’s “Love’s Theme,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I will Survive,” and Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).” Dr. Adelt spoke of the power disco had for Latino, African-American and homosexual communities in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.
The main focus of the PowerPoint performance was, of course, Donna Summer. Summer was born in Boston, MA and started her career in a previously all-male band named Crow. In 1968, she moved to Munich, Germany to showcase her singing in many musicals, including Hair and Godspell. In 1973, Summer was a poverty-stricken single mother when she answered an advertisement requesting a ‘black, female singer,’ in her determination to become a star. This is how she met Giorgio Moroder, an influential record producer and songwriter, who has worked with Freddie Mercury, Daft Punk and many other significant artists.’
Unlike many soulful disco performers of the time, Donna Summer possessed a more detached, hypnotic quality to her seemingly effortless performances. She oozed sexuality in her music, which drew in a community of gay fans, who were attracted to her liberating persona. She was regarded as a cross-cultural symbol, between her African American heritage and her distinct German-electronic sound.
Her hits, “Love to Love You Baby,” “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff” helped crown her the “Queen of Disco” as well as being considered a “Sex Goddess” to many of her fans. Unfortunately, to portray the provocative characters her manager, fans and media wanted her to be, she was forced to reign in her goofy personality in the public eye.
Even after earning three number one double albums, which had never been accomplished before, she felt her record label through music videos; album covers and performances still sexually exploited her.
Later on in life, Summer became a born-again Christian and died in 2012, leaving behind her great musical and cross-cultural legacy.
After his engaging PowerPoint presentation, Dr. Adelt answered audience questions and showed Donna Summer’s video for “Hot Stuff” which left the audience once again bobbing their heads and tapping their feet to the music of the Queen of Disco.
