Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, dies aged 63‎ Donna Summer, whose booming voice and effervescent stage presence ignited the disco craze of the 1970s, kick-starting a glittering career that spanned four decades, has died. She was 63. The family of the magisterial singer, who was known as the "Queen of Disco," issued a short statement last night confirming that she had passed away following what is reported to have been a short but acute battle with cancer. "Early this morning, surrounded by family, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith," it read. Summer, who is best known for pulsating dance hits such as "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls," and "Last Dance," had attempted to keep the extent of her illness from fans, an acquaintance told the tabloid website TMZ, which broke news of her death. She was in Florida attempting to put the finishing touches to a final album - her 24th - when she passed away. As little as a fortnight ago, she had seemed cheerful and in robust health, the source added. The combative nature of Summer's response to her final illness was true to form, given the energetic performances which propelled her to stardom in the mid 1970s. Such early hits as "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love" are credited with ushering in the hedonistic disco era. "My heart goes out to her husband and her children," said her "dear friend" and contemporary, Dionne Warwick, today. Prayers will be said to keep them strong. While Summer's music provided the soundtrack to a dance movement defined by sex, drugs, and extravagant clothes, she was the very antithesis of a fast-living disco diva when she stepped off-stage. Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, and brought up as one of seven children of a devoutly Christian Boston family, she had learned to sing in the local church choir, and began performing professionally in the late 1960s after landing a part in a touring production of the musical Hair. She achieved fame after signing as a solo artist to the pioneering disco label Casablanca in 1975. They helped propel her first single, "Love to Love You Baby," to number two in the charts. A debut album of the same name sold more than a million copies. Disco gained an edgy reputation, and was embraced by the gay community. In the 1980s, her hit single "She Works Hard for the Money" meanwhile became an anthem for the women's rights movement. Yet Summer's fanbase often seemed at odds with the conservative values of her faith. She became a born-again Christian in the mid-1980s, and shortly afterwards was reported to have told fans that AIDS was a form of "divine punishment" against homosexuals. Later she denied making the comments, and described the ensuing controversy - which led to a boycott of her music - as a "terrible misunderstanding." While other disco stars faded, Summer's career endured into the modern era, and her best-known hits were consistently remixed. She won five Grammys and was this year a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It wasn't all plain sailing. In her autobiography, The Journey, Summer told how her original rise to fame had led to a personal crisis. After the breakdown of her first marriage, she found herself in an abusive relationship, started suffering health problems, and became uncomfortable with the "sex goddess" image Casablanca records created for her. She only achieved happiness after finding God and meeting her second husband, Bruce Sudano, to whom she had been married for more than three decades at the time of her death. He survives her along with their two children, and a daughter from her first marriage.