Stax Bassist 'Duck' Dunn, Played on Immortal Soul Hits
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~R&R! DONNA SUMMER ative.' But because I was black, they couldn't understand me [Cant. from 15J well, and peo- having that level of creativity." ple believed the story I was act- Neil Bogart's son Evan, ing," Summer said in 1979. a producer and songwriter, Neil Bogart, the shame- worked with his "Aunt Donna" less, marketing-savvy head of on her final album, Crayons, disco label Casablanca Rec- which came out in 2008. "You ords, heard "Love to Love You can count on one or two hands Baby" and instructed More- the voices as big as hers," he der to expand the song from says. And Bogart hears her in- three minutes to 17. "You're fluence in electronic acts from crazy," Moroder supposedly re- Chromeo to Daft Punk: "David torted, but he complied - and Guetta specifically told me he the song was a breakthrough wouldn't be doing what he's smash. Summer had found the doing without 'I Feel Love.' song "very difficult" to record, Disco never died - it turned and she later said, "There were into dance music." times when I hated the ... sex- Like most friends, Bogart goddess image." was unaware Summer had lung When her subsequent rec- cancer; not even her agent at ords with Moroder and co- When Eno heard "I Feel Love," he told William Morris knew. "I saw producer Pete Bellotte didn't her a year ago, and she looked match "Love to Love You Baby," Bowie, "Iheard the sound of the future." great," Bogart says. One of the Casablanca worried that she few people who knew was Mi- would become a one-hit won- so out of it." In her memoir, Bruce Springsteen wrote chael Omartian, who co-wrote der. The retro-sounding title Summer wrote about an abort- "Cover Me" for Summer to sing, and produced "She Works Hard track from her 1977 album I Re- ed suicide attempt in a hotel and after deciding to keep it for for the Money." He'd been di- member Yesterday was a dud, room in 1976, after which she his Born in the U.S.A. album, agnosed with lymphoma, and until DJs began playing the B became a born-again Chris- he wrote her another one, "Pro- they both began treatment at side, "I Feel Love," on which tian. "She always tried to con- tection," which Summer re- Cedars-Sinai hospital in L.A. in Moroder and Bellotte layered vince us to be born-again," says corded with Quincy Jones in 2011. "She was adamant about synthesizers, drum machines Harold Faltermeyer, who co- 1982. (Springsteen played gui- keeping it private," Omartian and other otherworldly elec- wrote "Hot Stuff." "We weren't tar and sang backing vocals.) says. In the last two months tronic effects. When Brian Eno allowed to use the 'f-word' in A year later, she released "She of Summer's life, Omartian heard the record, he told David the studio. She was a tough, Works Hard for the Money," an talked often with her husband Bowie, "I have heard the sound strong woman." uplifting song about the strug- of 31 years, songwriter Bruce of the future." He was right: "I In 1979, Summer recorded gles of working women; it was Sudano, with whom she had Feel Love" is one ofthe build- "Hot Stuff" with a rock solo anMTVhit. two daughters. "He said, 'We're ing blocks of modern dance from Steely Dan guitarist Jeff Summer came to dislike fighting, Mike, we're fighting.' music, and its influence has "Skunk" Baxter. She won a the term "disco singer," which Those were his words. 'We're never waned. Grammyfor Best Female Rock she felt minimized her range. planning on winning.''' As Summer's fame grew, she Vocal Performance, becoming "When I was younger, I would Summer was sure that one struggled with depression. She the first winner of the then-new wear wild costumes and paint day her music would be un- began balancing anti-depres- award. Albums like the double my face," she said in 2010. ''I'd derstood as more than disco. sants with Valium, and "went LP Bad Girls were packed with been in Europe for years, and "When people go back, they're through years of walking into multipart suites that showed I was doing a lot of strange gonna be like, 'Whoa,''' she rooms ... unable to remember off Summer's songwriting things. If I'd been white, it said. "'Where was her mind anyone's name because I was chops and ambition. would have been seen as 'ere- at? She was out there!'" ~ TRIBUTE Stax Bassist 'Duck' Dunn, Played on Immortal Soul Hits OOKER T. AND THE Born in Memphis, bottom with Duck," "The two greatest bass play- MGs bassist Donald Dunn bought his says Jones. "He's the ers that ever lived are Paul B "Duck" .Dunn - whose first bass at age 16. .~~.-onl.:y..'b"ass player of McCartney and Duck Dunn - low-end grooves on classics "I tried the guitar," his kind." he's on that level." . ( including Wilson Pickett's "In he once recalled. "It Dunn went on to Like many session players the Midnight Hour," Sam and was just too com- work with a wide of his era, Dunn was never Dave's "Hold On, I'm Com- plicated, man!" Be- '.,; \\\ range of stars in- properly compensated for ing" and Otis Redding's "(Sit- fore long, he joined Dun•n: /.'. ., cluding Bob Dylan, the smash Stax singles he tin' on) The Dock of the Bay" organist Booker T. Eric Clapton, Jerry played on. "We were cheat- helped define the sound of Jones' legendary Stax Records Lee Lewis, Neil Young, Rod ed a little bit," he later said. Sixties soul- died in his sleep house band, playing on count- Stewart and Torri Petty. "He "But with the music and what on May 13th while on tour in less hits. "He was so physical- played simply, but melodical- I learned ... it doesn't matter. I Japan. He was 70. ly strong - we had such a solid ly and brilliantly," says Petty. have no regrets." AUSTIN SCAGGS 18 I ROLLING STONE I rollingstone.com JUNE 7, 2012.