The Donna Summer Special
December 20, 2017 8:16 AM   Subscribe

On January 27, 1980, ABC aired The Donna Summer Special. Here is the video. Come for Donna, stay for the soulful lounge rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water by Robert Guillaume.
posted by OmieWise (7 comments total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
For some reason, I had in my mind a soulful lounge version by Robert Goulet, and went to the link a bit ironically. Then I saw Robert Guillaume, and was kind of gut-punched, recalling what a performer we recently lost.


(No offense to Robert Goulet.)
posted by darkstar at 8:56 AM on December 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


I was hoping to read that this was originally broadcast in the middle of winter and it was.
I am now hoping that there'll be an Ariel Winter Special made and aired next June.
posted by Webbster at 10:37 AM on December 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


Thank you for that blast from the past! I'd forgotten about some of her tunes. We had all her albums and played them constantly.
posted by corvikate at 11:28 AM on December 20, 2017


Thanks for this, OmieWise! Courtesy of YouTube, I recently happened upon the recording of a young Donna Gaines (before she married Helmuth Sommer) performing Wassermann (i.e. the German version of 'Aquarius' from Hair).

As an aside, the liner notes of the 2004 CD re-issue of Can's album Tago Mago mention in passing that Damo Suzuki had appeared in Hair, although it doesn't explicitly say that, like Donna, he was part of the '68 Munich production of the show, but since reading that I've been curious as to whether Donna & Damo might've ever shared a stage...
posted by misteraitch at 12:45 PM on December 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


I saw Robert Guillaume star in the Phantom of the Opera in LA back in the 90's, I think it was...he was pretty damned talented.
posted by Chuffy at 10:59 PM on December 20, 2017


I just started weeping, missing Guillaume all over again. Thank you, OmieWise.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:13 PM on December 20, 2017


Was this made before or after she turned her back on her base?
Screw her, ain't got no time for christian homophobia
posted by james33 at 7:15 AM on December 21, 2017


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