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This is my presentation on Donna Summer who was my chosenn icon and muse for my given era.
In this video I have highlighted the key parts of what made her influencial to society and black american culture at the time.
Studio 54 also was a big significance during these times which highlighted drug use and the economy crash beacuse of it.

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QUEEN OF DISO DONNA SUMMER - chosen icon for 70’s era.

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This was taken from the video clips for my presentation

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video clips taken from this video for my presentation

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Studio 54 The Documentary - Official Trailer

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The decade of the 1970s was in many ways a continuation of the late 1960s with respect to social trends. The activists of the 1960s crusaded for social justice in the 1970s, gaining new freedoms for women, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, homosexuals, the elderly, and other ethnic and minority groups.

Of all the movements, women's liberation remained the most controversial and far-reaching. In the 1970s, women's groups tried to create a more open and nurturing society. To achieve this, they demanded and won access to male-dominated business and universities. Woman also made inroads into politics at the local, state, and national levels. They became doctors, lawyers, teachers, priests, scientists, writers, plumbers, dock workers, pilots, stockbrokers, and sports heroes. By breaking down employment barriers and expanding opportunities, women transformed the character of the American family.

Women's liberation and other social-justice movements became the focus of heated opposition. Conservatives were uncomfortable with the changing American society of the 1970s, especially those changes initiated by the youth counterculture of the 1960s. They believed these changes caused social problems such as a rise in the crime rate, a greater number of poor people, a less motivated work force, and a decline in moral values.

Trying to swing the social pendulum back from the far left, conservatives were joined by former liberal Democrats, a group that became known as neoconservatives. These "new" conservatives, while retaining their liberal views on certain matters, were disturbed by certain social reforms of the 1960s, which they believed went too far. These groups together called for a return to what they called cultural traditionalism.

Joining conservatives and neoconservatives in their fight against social change in America were various religious groups, which began to wield significant political power. With three recessions, double-digit inflation, and double-digit unemployment, the 1970s was a period of economic upheaval. Facing an uncertain future, many Americans were drawn to the stability of traditional values and fundamentalist Christian teachings.

Other Americans turned away from the problems of society, focusing on themselves instead. Seeking to fill their lives with meaning, they experimented with exercise, psychotherapy, health food, and alternative religions. In their search for spiritual fulfillment, many people began to follow the teachings of self-anointed prophets and spiritual gurus. Although some of these spiritual leaders were legitimate, others were unethical con men, using their followers' financial contributions to fund a lavish personal lifestyle. A few were dangerous madmen, leading their unsuspecting believers to their death.

Almost all aspects of American society in the 1970s were marked by a restlessness and a questioning of traditional authority. From public protest movements to personal fashion, people sought a means of self-expression. Breaking traditional fashion rules, women and men experimented with how they looked: They combined separates rather than wearing suits, drew influences from other cultures and time periods, wore pants or dresses, threw away ties and jackets, and walked around in athletic wear. Throughout the decade, people dressed however they wanted, and what they wanted most was comfort and a unique style.

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the 1970s lifestyles and social trends: overviewthe decade of the 1970s was in many ways a continuation of the late 1960s with respect to social trends. the activists of the 1960s crusaded for social justice in the 1970s

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The 1970s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview

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The 1970s Lifestyles and Social Trends: OverviewThe decade of the 1970s was in many ways a continuation of the late 1960s with respect to social trends. The activists of the 1960s crusaded for social justice in the 1970s, gaining new freedoms for women, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, homosexuals, the elderly, and other ethnic and minority groups.

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#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.

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Celebrating the Queen of Disco's everlasting '70s-era fashion legacy

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Political factors in 70's era.

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On October 20, 1973, President Richard Nixon dismissed Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of Attorney Gen. Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney Gen. William D. Ruckelshaus. Later that night, Sen. Alan Cranston reacts to what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."

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Nixon Officials Caught in Watergate Scandal

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On October 20, 1973, President Richard Nixon dismissed Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of Attorney Gen. Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney Gen. William D. Ruckelshaus. Later that night, Sen. Alan Cranston reacts to what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."

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Discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS

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Discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS or serophobia is the prejudice, fear, rejection, and stigmatization of people afflicted with HIV/AIDS ( PLHIV; people living with HIV/AIDS). Marginalized, at-risk groups such as members of the LGBTQ+ community, intravenous drug users, and sex workers are most vulnerable to facing HIV/AIDS discrimination.

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Culture Music Features

The biggest so-called disco records of 2020, from Dua Lipa to Kylie, have all been made by white pop stars. Stephanie Phillips speaks to Solange producer Kindness, Jamz Supernova and the Studio 54 label and asks why the genre continues to be whitewashed

Tuesday 10 November 2020 10:39

C

ast your eye over the pop charts in 2020 and disco's unmistakable influence reigns supreme: whether it's Dua Lipa's nostalgic take on club culture, Jessie Ware's ecstatic escapism, Róisín Murphy's eccentric outsider dance, or pop legend Kylie Minogue's to-the-point new album DISCO, out this month, all have fallen for the genre's sweeping strings, funk basslines or breathy vocals, the sound of Seventies nightclubs reborn. And the debate around who should be crowned the disco diva of 2020 marches on.

Considering many of us won't see inside a club anytime soon, perhaps it's no surprise that anthems that remind us of disco have taken over the pop sphere. But though these artists have all separately brought their own creatively reimagined takes on a well-loved music style, one striking question jumps out: where are the Black disco singers? Given the genre's roots in African-American and LGBT+ culture, what does it mean when those reaping the benefits of this fun-loving genre today are predominantly white? Could a Black female pop singer have the same amount of success with a disco sound?

Looking at the music charts today, you might be forgiven for thinking the genre had little to do with Black culture. Unfortunately, the whitewashing of disco began almost as soon as it left its heyday in the clubs of 1970s Philadelphia and New York, where records by acts like Donna Summer, Sylvester and Chic found an audience. Songs of the time were often politicised releases for marginalised minorities and gave African Americans a chance to voice their own social concerns.

After the "disco sucks" backlash in 1979, a rejection of the disco genre now thought to be rooted in homophobia and racism, mainstream retellings of disco changed. They lived on through the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, white, cheesy disco artists like the Bee Gees, flares and flashing dance floors. Tim Lawrence, author of Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979, explained: "There was a sense that the black roots of disco weren't well understood and disco was a sound and culture that was ridiculed."

Though the term disco technically fell out of favour, its ethos lived on in house music and the nu-disco revolution of the late-Nineties and early Noughties with acts like LCD Soundsystem and Daft Punk referencing disco deep cuts. After a renewed interest in the origins of club culture came following nu-disco, more DJs and artists became enticed by the true history of disco.

British producer Kindness, who worked with Jessie Ware on her latest album What's Your Pleasure?, says that the artists they worked with were respectful of disco's origins and wanted to celebrate it, rather than appropriate it. "When I speak to these artists," they said, "I think they are more considering the Black lineage of disco or the American lineage of disco, because that's where the real touchstones of the sound lie for them."

A wider acceptance of disco as a legitimate reference point for producers and artists has been beneficial for many looking to use dramatic orchestral samples for their tracks. But according to BBC Radio 1Xtra host Jamz Supernova, it seems that Black musicians aren't able to ride the cool wave in a similar fashion. "Young white DJs suddenly stumble across the likes of The Gap Band and by them playing it in their house and techno sets, people think it's cool," she explains, but by contrast, it's the same "music that many black DJs grew up with". As a result, she continues, "A Black DJ that plays disco would be seen as old and irrelevant. They would never get the same bookings playing the same music that a white DJ would get. Same goes for vocalists. If Ray BLK came out singing disco she would have instantly been relegated to Radio 2, but Dua Lipa does it and it's cool and edgy." As a result, Black women artists tend to be pushed towards soul or R&B by the music industry, rather than pop.

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The unwritten double standard that sees Black female artists struggle to enjoy the same level of success as their white counterparts is starting to become a well-known industry story. The belief that Black artists don't sell records combined with a need to capitalise on the energy of Black music has led to the frustrating trend of producers using Black female vocals in house and dance music uncredited. Whether it's Loleatta Holloway's powerhouse performance on Italian dance group Black Box's No 1 hit "Ride on Time" or Shingai Shoniwa's contribution to Dennis Ferrer's club hit "Hey Hey" in 2009, Black voices are often valued more than Black faces.

The UK has a long history, too, of using white female artists to market music popularised by Black communities. DJ and founder of listening hub Classic Album Sundays, Colleen "Cosmo" Murphy - who also remixed Róisín Murphy's single "Murphy's Law" this year - has noticed this trend for decades: "You look at some of the soul artists [in the UK], and I'm not taking anything away from them, artists like Amy Winehouse and Adele are fabulous and deserve success - but why hasn't there been a Black female artist who has been at that scale? Because there's certainly women who can sing like that."

Another reason that the disco sound may be scarce among current Black artists is that it is traditionally expensive to make, with live bands and analogue synthesisers. Bedroom soul and R&B could be said to lend itself more to intimate, understated sounds. But the potential for a Black pop star who could bring us all flocking to our kitchen discos is still strong, especially in a music landscape where artists are less dedicated to any one genre at time. There have currently been a few examples of Black pop stars bringing disco back: viral pop star Doja Cat saw success with 2020's disco-pop earworm "Say So", and former Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland's new album is reportedly heavily influenced by disco and dance culture. And in the UK, new dance music duo The Vision are set to release a debut album inspired by Seventies disco and soul, featuring collaborations with a number of artists including London singer Andreya Triana.

Studio 54 Music, a new record label launched by the Studio 54 nightclub, which was at the centre of the NYC disco scene in the 1970s, are currently working with new Black artists like funk singer RickExpress and the frontwoman of disco-house group Escort, Nicki B The Vagabond. Lead A&R at Studio 54 Music, Willy Soul, feels the main roadblock for Black artists lies in how the industry is structured as a whole. "Could a Black singer have the same popularity or support using disco, as say Dua Lipa? Of course, but it's just way more difficult," Soul says. "White people control a majority of the creative industries and statistically, companies and labels are lacking that representation of artists. It's honestly a pattern that will continue as long as white people are at the top of the industry food chain."

Whether Black artists label their work as disco or not it still may be rooted in the freeing escapism that made disco so addictive. When up-and-coming UK R&B artist Samii fused disco rhythms into her latest EP Figuring it Out, she didn't necessarily see herself as specifically drawing on the genre. Rather, her disco-leaning song was more inspired by her love for jazz, soul, R&B and her band: "I think because I listen to a variety of music, that's why I felt the need to write it the way I did. I don't think I did it in dedication to anything, it was just something that I felt would work."

Samii's untethered inspirations follow on the trend of artists who, freed by the streaming age's wide access to music and curious about what lies in their parents' record collection, prefer to play around with the idea of genre. For Kindness, the artist that encapsulates that sound is hiding in plain sight: "In the disco lineage I would say the most recent Solange record [2019's When I Get Home] for me captured the avant-garde nature of disco and the bridge between organic instruments and synthesised instruments and jazz, and is maybe the closest anyone will come to at this time to a feeling of lightness and escapism and social commentary."

Disco is part of Black musical history that gives space to those that need to work on societal anxieties in commune with others and express themselves on the dance floor. Though artists may not wear their influences on their record cover sleeves as openly as their white counterparts seem to, the essence and ethos of disco lives on very literally in just one undeniable thing: the groove. As Murphy says: "Sometimes disco is seen as a two-dimensional musical form that's only for escapism. I've always felt that was a limiting way to look at it because disco was a movement for a lot of people." Boiled down to its purest form, she says, it's simply "music for the dance floor".

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1/3 In search of the Black disco queens

In search of the Black disco queens

L-R: Doja Cat, Nile Rodgers, Kylie and Roisin Murphy

RCA/Getty/Darenote Ltd/Adrian Samson/Skint

In search of the Black disco queens

Dancers at a London club in 1977

Getty Images

In search of the Black disco queens

Doja Cat enjoyed success in 2020 with her disco-pop banger 'Say So'

Rex Features

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The biggest so-called disco records of 2020, from Dua Lipa to Kylie, have all been made by white pop stars. Stephanie Phillips speaks to Solange producer Kindness, Jamz Supernova and the Studio 54 label and asks why the genre continues to be whitewashed

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Donna in Studio54.

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What is HIV?

The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is a virus that attacks the immune system, specifically CD4 cells (or T cells).

The virus is transmitted through bodily fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluids, anal fluids, and breast milk. Historically, HIV has most often been spread through unprotected sex, the sharing of needles for drug use, and through birth.

Over time, HIV can destroy so many CD4 cells that the body can't fight infections and diseases, eventually leading to the most severe form of an HIV infection: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. A person with AIDS is very vulnerable to cancer and to life-threatening infections, such as pneumonia.

Though there is no cure for HIV or AIDS, a person with HIV who receives treatment early can live nearly as long as someone without the virus. And a study in 2019 in the medical journal, Lancet, showed that an anti-viral treatment effectively halted the spread of HIV.

Where Did AIDS Come From?

Scientists have traced the origin of HIV back to chimpanzees and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), an HIV-like virus that attacks the immune system of monkeys and apes.

In 1999, researchers identified a strain of chimpanzee SIV called SIVcpz, which was nearly identical to HIV. Chimps, the scientist later discovered, hunt and eat two smaller species of monkeys-red-capped mangabeys and greater spot-nosed monkeys-that carry and infect the chimps with two strains of SIV. These two strains likely combined to form SIVcpz, which can spread between chimpanzees and humans.

SIVcpz likely jumped to humans when hunters in Africa ate infected chimps, or the chimps' infected blood got into the cuts or wounds of hunters. Researchers believe the first transmission of SIV to HIV in humans that then led to the global pandemic occurred in 1920 in Kinshasa, the capital and largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The virus spread may have spread from Kinshasa along infrastructure routes (roads, railways, and rivers) via migrants and the sex trade.

In the 1960s, HIV spread from Africa to Haiti and the Caribbean when Haitian professionals in the colonial Democratic Republic of Congo returned home. The virus then moved from the Caribbean to New York City around 1970 and then to San Francisco later in the decade.

International travel from the United States helped the virus spread across the rest of the globe.
READ MORE: Pandemics That Changed History: A Timeline
The AIDS Epidemic Arises

Though HIV arrived in the United States around 1970, it didn't come to the public's attention until the early 1980s.

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report about five previously healthy homosexual men becoming infected with Pneumocystis pneumonia, which is caused by the normally harmless fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii. This type of pneumonia, the CDC noted, almost never affects people with uncompromised immune systems.

The following year, The New York Times published an alarming article about the new immune system disorder, which, by that time, had affected 335 people, killing 136 of them. Because the disease appeared to affect mostly homosexual men, officials initially called it gay-related immune deficiency, or GRID.

Though the CDC discovered all major routes of the disease's transmission-as well as that female partners of AIDS-positive men could be infected-in 1983, the public considered AIDS a gay disease. It was even called the "gay plague" for many years after.

In September of 1982, the CDC used the term AIDS to describe the disease for the first time. By the end of the year, AIDS cases were also reported in a number of European countries.
READ MORE: Pandemics that Changed History
The HIV Test Arrives

In 1984, researchers finally identified the cause of AIDS-the HIV virus-and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed the first commercial blood test for HIV in 1985.

Today, numerous tests can detect HIV, most of which work by detecting HIV antibodies. The tests can be done on blood, saliva, or urine, though the blood tests detect HIV sooner after exposure due to higher levels of antibodies.

In 1985, actor Rock Hudson became the first high-profile fatality from AIDS. In fear of HIV making it into blood banks, the FDA also enacted regulations that ban gay men from donating blood. The FDA would revise its rules in 2015 to allow gay men to give blood if they've been celibate for a year, though blood banks routinely test blood for HIV.

By the end of 1985, there were more than 20,000 reported cases of AIDS, with at least one case in every region of the world.

AZT is Developed

In 1987, the first antiretroviral medication for HIV, azidothymidine (AZT), became available.

Numerous other medications for HIV are now available, and are typically used together in what's known as antiretroviral therapy (ART) or highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART).

The regimes work by preventing the virus from multiplying, giving the immune system a chance to recover and fight off infections and HIV-related cancers. The therapy also helps reduce the risk of HIV transmission, including between an infected mother and her unborn child.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in 1988, declared December 1st to be World AIDS Day. By the end of the decade, there were at least 100,000 reported cases of AIDS in the United States and WHO estimated 400,000 AIDS cases worldwide.

HIV/AIDS in the 1990s and 2000s

In 1991, the red ribbon became an international symbol of AIDS awareness.

In that year, basketball player Magic Johnson announced he had HIV, helping to further bring awareness to the issue and dispel the stereotype of it being a gay disease. Soon after, Freddie Mercury -lead singer of the band Queen-announced he had AIDS and died a day later.

In 1994, the FDA approved the first oral (and non-blood) HIV test. Two years later, it approved the first home testing kit and the first urine test.

AIDS-related deaths and hospitalizations in developed countries began to decline sharply in 1995 thanks to new medications and the introduction of HAART. Still, by 1999, AIDS was the fourth biggest cause of death in the world and the leading cause of death in Africa.

HIV Treatment Progresses
WATCH: 30 Years of AIDs Research
In 2001, generic drug manufacturers began selling discounted copies of patented HIV drugs to developing countries, leading to several major pharmaceutical manufacturers slashing prices on their HIV drugs. The following year, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reported that AIDS was by far the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2009, President Barack Obama lifted a 1987 U.S. ban that prevented HIV-positive people from entering the country.

The FDA approved pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, for HIV-negative people in 2012. When taken daily, PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV from sex by more than 90 percent and from intravenous drug use by 70 percent, according to the CDC. A major study completed in 2019 showed that over 750 gay men on an anti-viral treatment did not transmit the virus to their partners. "Our findings provide conclusive evidence that the risk of HIV transmission through anal sex when HIV viral load is suppressed is effectively zero," the paper, published in Lancet, stated.

At the end of 2019, some 38 million people were living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and 940,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses that year, according to WHO. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected region, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the world's current HIV cases.

Sources:

Origin of HIV and AIDS: AVERT.
HIV Originated With Monkeys, Not Chimps, Study Finds: National Geographic.
HIV pandemic originated in Kinshasa in the 1920s, say scientists: The Guardian.
America's HIV outbreak started in this city, 10 years before anyone noticed: PBS.
HIV Testing: CDC.
About HIV/AIDS: CDC.
How HIV spread across the West: CNN.
Obama Lifts a Ban on Entry Into U.S. by H.I.V.-Positive People: The New York Times.
Global Health Observatory (GHO) data: World Health Organization.

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History of AIDS - Epidemic, Timeline & HIV | HISTORY

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HIV and AIDS began spreading among humans in the 1920s and became a public health crisis by the 1980s, before the first effective treatments emerged.

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DONNA SUMMER FEATURING IN STUIDO 54 FOR BLACK AFRICAN AMERICAN POP CULTURE ICON.

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Donna Summer - Love On And On -Studio 54 Mix

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(Image: REX/Shutterstock)

It was the high temple of excess and decadence in a time where music's No1 religion was D.I.S.C.O.

Studio 54 was the most chic and exclusive spot in New York. Even some A-list stars were not guaranteed entry.

It was where ultra-hip artist Andy Warhol could hold court.

Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Cher and Grace Jones used to head there to let their hair down.

There were wild scenes in the basement, owners' money hidden from the taxman and a series of amazing, wacky episodes. On one New Year's Eve four tons of glitter was sprinkled on to the dance floor.

At a party for Dolly Parton the club was transformed into a bizarre disco farmyard.

One of Studio 54's most celebrated moments - at the height of its glory 40 years ago - was witnessed by resident DJ Nicky Siano, who will be at Brixton Disco Festival in South London next month.

Sir Mick's then wife Bianca Jagger was celebrating her birthday and suddenly her name was up in flashing lights.

Nicky said: "The next thing I saw was her coming out on a white stallion. Photographers were around her like flies on honey. She just sat there on the horse."

"Studio 54 was as wild as they say, probably more so. Everything today is about a three and Studio was a 15."

Nicky was a regular in the club's raunchy basement which was even more exclusive.

He said: "A lot of nights I saw Liza Minnelli making out in one of the sections down there.

"It was wild. Everybody was doing stuff and having fun all the time down there."

But in February 1980, after only three years, Studio 54 closed its disco doors when its owners were prosecuted for tax evasion.

The star-studded farewell party saw Diana Ross serenade the soon-to-be jailed Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager from the disco booth, in front of guests including Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone.

Nicky said: "It was crazy. Everyone in New York City wanted to go there. People would stand outside for hours, 40 deep outside, and they would never get in." Stars who fell foul of the strict door policy were actors Warren Beatty and Henry Winkler and musician Nile Rodgers, who founded Chic, one of disco's biggest acts.

Rodgers and bass player Bernard Edwards made the most of being barred by writing a song about the club.

They penned the Chic classic Le Freak but had to change their lyric: "aahh f*** off" to "aahh freak out."

Rodgers still plays to sellout crowds with Chic and has collaborated with some of the biggest names in music, including Bowie, Ross, Madonna, Jagger and Daft Punk.

Disco is still big today, even though it is 40 years since Studio 54 and the film Saturday Night Fever, which helped turn the music and a strutting John Travolta into a global phenomenon.

Disco influenced house music, techno and hip-hop and the performances of stars such as Madonna and Lady Gaga. But Nicky's love affair with the infectious dance music pre-dates Studio 54. He had his own club, the Gallery, in the early 70s which attracted the coolest New Yorkers, including Grace Jones and Calvin Klein.

He said: "Everyone wanted to go to my place. It felt really intimate but 600 people were there. It was about hearing this new music that was unbelievable. Oh my God, the drum break, the horns, it was all so new. It wasn't about meeting someone.

"People got dressed up. There were a lot of fashion designers.

"My friend Gregory brought a whole wedding party, including the bride and the groom. They walked in in full tuxes and gowns, got on the dance floor and two hours later walked out in their underwear carrying their shoes, their dresses and their suits."

Nicky admitted drugs were readily available. He said: "We had one guy who sold everything. Every drug you wanted. Not heroin or cocaine - back then it was LSD, uppers, downers, quaaludes, pot... he had it all. It was one stop shopping."

Unlike Studio 54, there was no VIP area at the Gallery. One occasion Jagger and Bowie were nearly refused entry because they did not have invitations.

Nicky said: "We didn't care who you were. It was a serious dance palace, that's what we were here to do."

Despite its fun side, disco is rooted in R&B and funk and can be serious music.

Nicky sees it as a reaction to the turbulent times in America in the late 60s and 70s when soaring inflation, unemployment, fear of nuclear annihilation and the Vietnam war led to civil unrest, including gay and race riots.

Nicky said: "Most of the songs were talking about healing the problems. Why don't we take a moment, take a breath and see if we can find out if we love each other and talk to each other?

"There were tons of songs - Love Epidemic, Little Bit Of Love, Get On The Case - all about the same thing."

Disco also offered fans the chance to dress up for a good night out which is still the case. The 40 Years Of Disco tour, featuring Tavares, Sister Sledge, Boney M, Odyssey and George McCrae, is coming to Leeds followed by London, Birmingham and Liverpool from Thursday.

Tavares, a group of five brothers had a host of hits including Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel, Don't Take Away The Music and More Than A Woman.

Perry Lee "Tiny" Tavares said: "It was a wild time, we were all younger men in those days. With a lot more hair, a lot less fat, a lot more muscle, higher shoes."

Nicky will be joined at the day-and-night Brixton Disco Festival on April 28 by DJ Joey Negro and singer Jocelyn Brown, famed for her 1984 smash Somebody Else's Guy, as well as other live acts.

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Studio 54 DJ reveals stars' nights of sex, drugs and boogie at legendary club

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It was the high temple of excess and decadence in a time where music's No1 religion was D.I.S.C.O. Studio 54 was the most chic and ­exclusive spot in New York. Even some A-list stars were not guaranteed entry. It was where ultra-hip artist Andy Warhol could hold court.

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Freddie Mercury tribute concert: Who performed in tribute to Freddie after his death?

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Roger Daltrey also performed Pinball Wizard as well as I Want it All with the band, while George Michael sang Somebody to Love and 39 with the group. Altogether, the concert was a huge success, including major acts while also raising awareness for AIDS.

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How Studio 54, Roy Cohn and cocaine could have rocked the Carter administration

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In 1979, the White House Chief of Staff and Press Secretary faced what could have been a serious problem

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The death of Donna Summer on Thursday (May 17) at age 63 after a long battle with cancer has many reflecting on the impact the disco legend had on music.

While many may not realize it, Summer is the foremother of, well, just about every pop song on the radio today. Her iconic 1977 anthem "I Feel Love," which peaked at #6 on the Billboard singles chart (one of 14 top 10 hits), was the first mainstream song to be produced using an entirely synthesized backing track. Until then, most disco recordings had been backed by acoustic orchestras, and the reception to the song revolutionized music.

"One day in Berlin, [Brian] Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future,' " David Bowie famously wrote in the liner notes to Sound and Vision. "He puts on 'I Feel Love,' by Donna Summer. ... He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.' Which was more or less right."

Indeed, imagine the music of Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Katy Perry and countless others minus their ubiquitous glittering synths. You can't. Without what was at the time a risky and bold move, modern dance music might not exist as it does today.

Summer's impact on music is so vast it's nearly incalculable, but in memory of the disco diva, we're looking back on some of the ways her music has survived through the years, has been brought to life by other artists and how many of music's biggest names counted themselves as fans of the Queen of Disco.

" The refrain from Summer's 17-minute 1975 breakthrough "Love to Love You Baby" is sampled on Beyoncé's hit "Naughty Girl" from her debut solo album Dangerously in Love.
For photos of Donna Summer through the years, click here.
" For the elaborate opening sequence of Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour, a 2-ton, $4 million disco ball was lowered onto the stage at the end of the runway and then opened to reveal the star, who started into her own synth-heavy "Future Lovers" before the song dissolved seamlessly into Summer's "I Feel Love."

" Summer's "Starting Over Again" was transformed into a #1 country hit for Dolly Parton in 1980, and even reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, a rare feat for a country track at the time. Fifteen years later, another country superstar, Reba McEntire, named her 1995 album after the song, and her version was a hit country single the following year. In the set's liner notes, McEntire dedicated the song to both Summer and Parton, saying she admired both immensely.

" Summer's classics were go-to songs for films looking to capture the late-'70s/early-'80s era and are featured in, among many others, "Frost/Nixon," "Charlie Wilson's War" and "Splash."

" "Hot Stuff" and "MacArthur Park" are go-to songs for reality singing contestants looking to prove their range - Summer was a mezzo-soprano with a powerhouse delivery - while keeping things upbeat. Both songs have been performed on "The X Factor" and "American Idol."

" "She Works Hard for the Money" was covered by Kris Allen during an episode of "American Idol," and his performance was so well-received that the season-eight winner recorded the track for the American Idol Season 8 CD.

" Summer herself appeared as Aunt Oona from Altoona on two episodes of the hit sitcom "Family Matters."

" Bruce Springsteen was a big Summer fan and wrote two songs for her. The first one, "Cover Me," he ultimately recorded for his own Born to Run, but Summer recorded the second, "Protection," and Springsteen and the E Street Band supplied the track.

" Keri Hilson portrayed Summer in her music video for her 2010 hit "Pretty Girl Rock."

" Summer is easily one of the most sampled artists in the history of music. "I Feel Love" has been sampled by some of the biggest artists in dance, from Madonna and Britney Spears to David Guetta and Moby, and covered by artists as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kylie Minogue and Blondie.
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Donna Summer's Legacy: A Pop-Culture Guide

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The death of Donna Summer on Thursday (May 17) at age 63 after a long battle with cancer has many reflecting on the impact the disco legend had on music. While many may not realize it, Summer is the foremother of, well, just about every pop song on the radio today.