Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Donna Summer!

December is a rather auspicious month in music history:

• The Doors‘ John Densmore celebrated his 79th birthday on December 1
• Ozzy Osbourne celebrated his 75th birthday on December 3
• Montell Jordan celebrated his 55th birthday on December 3
• Jay-Z celebrated his 54th birthday on December 4
• The 90th anniversary of Little Richard‘s birth was on December 5
• R.E.M co-founder and lead guitarist Peter Buck celebrated his 67th birthday on December 6
• The 80th anniversary of The Doors‘ Jim Morrison was on December 8
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner celebrated his 49th birthday on December 8
• The 57th anniversary of the fearlessly uncompromising Sinead O’Connor‘s birth was also on December 8 
• Yasiin Bey, one of the greatest living emcees celebrated his 50th — yes, 50th y’all! on December 11. 
• The incomparable, elegant and legendary Ms. Dionne Warwick celebrated her 83rd on December 12
• The Time’s Morris Day celebrated his 66th birthday on December 16
• ZZ Top frontman, guitarist and co-founder Billy Gibbons celebrated his 74th birthday on December 16
• R.E.M co-founder, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Mills celebrated his 65th — yes, 65th! — birthday on December 17
• The Rolling Stones‘ legendary guitarist Keith Richards celebrated his 80th — yes, 80th! — birthday on December 18
• DMX was born 53 years ago on December 18
• The 82nd anniversary of Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White birth was on December 19
• The Black Crowes‘ and Chris Robinson Brotherhood (CRB)‘s Chris Robinson celebrated his 57th birthday on December 20 
• The 83rd anniversary of the legendary Frank Zappa‘s brith was on December 21 
• The 74th anniversary of the birth of Bee Gee‘s Maurice Gibb was on December 22
• Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder celebrated his 59th birthday on December 23
• The 78th anniversary of the birth of Motörhead founder, frontman — and overall badass — Lemmy Kilmister was on December 24
• Eurythmics frontperson Annie Lennox celebrated her 69th birthday on December 25 
• Metallica‘s co-founder and drummer Lars Ulrich celebrated his 60th — yes, 60th — birthday on December 26
• Roebuck “Pops” Staples, the legendary patriarch and founder of The Staple Singers, which featured his son Pervis and his daughters Mavis, Yvonne and Cleotha, was born 109 years ago on December 28
• The legendary and incomparable Patti Smith celebrated her 77h birthday on December 30
• The 95th anniversary of the birth of legendary bluesman Bo Diddley was on December 30
• The 81 anniversary of the birth of The Monkees‘ Micheal Nesmith was on December 30
• The Monkees’ Davy Jones was born 78 years ago on December 30
• And lastly, Electric Light Orchestra’s and The Traveling Wilburys‘ Jeff Lynne celebrated his 76th birthday on December 30

Donna Summer, the queen of disco was born 75 years ago today. I have some very fond memories of Donna Summer and her work: When I was small, my mom used to play Donna Summer records all the time. So I know the big hits forward and backwards. But I understand why my mom loved her work so much; those songs are simply fantastic songs that have brought a lot of joy to people.

Happy birthday, Donna! Happy birthday wherever you are!