Songs That Changed Music: Donna Summer - I Feel Love

Donna Summer is famous for her disco and pop career, but before she hit the big time she was already an accomplished singer who sang in musicals, folk opera and in the studio as a session musician.

The Boston-born singer started out in a rock band before moving to central Europe to make a living. She was singing in the musical ‘Hair’ in Munich when she came to the attention of Moroder’s writing partner Pete Belotte.

Like most of Summer’s early disco hits, I Feel Love was written and produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte.

Co-writer Pete Bellotte in Independent on Sundaymagazine July 1, 2007: “This was the last track on the concept album I Remember Yesterday, on which Donna sang the first track in a 1940s style, going through various other genres until the final song was intended to represent the future. We used a Moog synthesizer to give the song this futuristic feel, and discovered a new way to layer level upon level of sound on to the track in perfect sync. We had no idea it was going to sound so special… Donna was one of those phenomenal one-take artists – she could just come in, sing the song and go. She was always spot on.”

This song expresses Summer’s sensuality and her ability to “Feel Love.” Being subtly sexual, her managers were concerned that radio stations wouldn’t play it due to Donna’s sexual moaning of “I Feel Love.”

With its entirely synthesized backing track, “I Feel Love” was enormously influential in the development of disco, electronica and techno music. However, Summer was initially unconvinced. “Giorgio brought me this popcorn track he had recorded,” she later recalled, “and I said, ‘What the hell is this, Giorgio?'”

When producer Brian Eno first listened to this song, he told David Bowie, “I’ve heard the sound of the future.”

Speaking to Mojo magazine September 2012 about this song, Giorgio Moroder recalled: “When we mixed it, by accident the engineer added a delay at the same tempo as the beat, which suddenly doubled the speed of the synth pulse. That became the key sound of the record and the signature on my own songs like ‘From Here to Eternity’ and on things like Sparks’ ‘The Number One Song in Heaven.'”

The song was inspired by the jazzy little tune performed by four fish-headed aliens in the Star WarsCantina scene. When Giorgio Moroder viewed the movie he was dissatisfied by the unfuturistic music the Cantina band played. That disappointment served as the initial spark for “I Feel Love.”

“I Feel Love” was a number one hit in Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, number three in Germany and Italy, number six on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and also topped the charts in many other countries.

In 2011, the Library of Congress added the song to the National Recording Registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important”. It has been covered by acts including Bronski Beat, Messiah and Sam Smith.

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[Producelikeapro]

What other songs do you think changed music? Let me know below!

[crispybug]

I Feel Love is 44 years old and still sounds like it comes from the future!

[dennisjacks]

Donna Summer wasn't just the first artist to have 3 double albums reached #1 on the Billboard Charts. She was the first black artist and the first female artist, to have 3 #1 albums back to back on the Billboard 200 albums charts. These were multi-platinum selling double albums.

[gregsaltis]

Vocals in a single take??? No comp'd together patchwork vocal. That is truly amazing.

[bteachable]

I remember hearing I Feel Love as a child and thinking, "this song sounds like nothing I've ever heard in my life. I don't know what it is, but I like it." The futuristic, almost Sci-Fi sound was completely enthralling to the point where you waited for the song to come back around on the radio rotation.
As great as she is, I still feel that Donna Summer does not get the recognition she deserves. We lost her way too soon.

[rabit]

I Feel Love must be heard in a club with a superb sound system. The voice, the percolating synth bass, the synth moving from one channel to the other and everything in between, it’s the closest you’ll get to heaven.

[AlexA]

That must be the most productive 2-3 hours in a studio ever! Love this series

[pjones]

Few singers of either gender were gifted with as much power, range, tone and stylistic maturity as Donna Summer. To those who only think of her as a "disco" singer you are so far off the map!

[vetagainsttrump]

My first crush.... She still makes those butterflies go....

[dannycarrington]

Thank you for giving some much deserved credit to the Queen. In addition to being a brilliant musician, Donna Summer was also a wonderful human being. I had the pleasure of meeting her twice! She was kind and humble.

[MrDonanthony]

Absolutely! I saw Donna Summer 8 times in concert.As big as her voice is on record, it was even bigger live. Donna had the most powerful voice I've ever heard; her voice reverberated through your body like a shockwave.

[thebeardedseeker]

Thank you for this. Donna is so underrated these days, but she really blazed the trail that so many are on to this day. And let's not forget, she won a Grammy in 1979 for best female ROCK vocal for her song Hot Stuff. She transcended genres in an era when most artists stayed in their own lane. I think hers was the celebrity death that affected me the most. RIP Donna, you were and still are a beautiful soul. 🌹

[michaelcrawford]

Donna Summer is one of those artists you had to be there to understand why she was incredible I feel blessed to have been a teenager then when she was dominating from 75-79.

Nostalgic video too, thank you

[joseaavellanet]

Someone should do a Donna Summer Movie!

[h.sch.]

DS isn't just the Queen of Disco, she is the Goddess of Disco! 🪐🪩

[Anonymous-wqrf]

Almost every black American singer, especially the ladies, were trained in their craft by 'Gospel Choirs'. No need for 'auto-tune' or 'swallowing the mic' to project their voice. Without a doubt, Donna Summer's voice and interpretation made this song popular!

[bmw]

Donna Summer rocketed to international super-stardom in the mid-1970s when her groundbreaking merger of R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, disco and avant-garde electronica catapulted underground dance music out of the clubs of Europe to the pinnacles of sales and radio charts around the world. Maintaining an unbroken string of hits throughout the 70s and 80s, most of which she wrote, Donna holds the record for most consecutive double albums to hit #1 on the Billboard charts (3) and first female to have four #1 singles in a 12 month period; 3 as a solo artist and one as a duo with Barbra Streisand. A five-time Grammy winner, Donna Summer was the first artist to win the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (1979, "Hot Stuff") as well as the first-ever recipient of the Grammy for Best Dance Recording (1997, "Carry On"). In 2004, she became one of the first inductees, as both an Artist Inductee and a Record Inductee (for 1977's "I Feel Love") into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City. Born Donna Gaines on New Year's Eve to a large family in Boston, she developed an early interest in music. From the age of eight, Summer sang in church choirs and city-wide choruses, and by her early twenties, was performing in musical theatre in Germany, winning parts in such highly-acclaimed shows as "Hair, " "Showboat, " "Godspell, " and "Porgy and Bess" as well as performing with the Viennese Folk Opera. She released her first single, a cover of the Jaynett's girl group classic, "Sally Go Round The Roses, " in 1971. While singing backup, she met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte who produced her first single, "Hostage, " which became a hit in the Netherlands, France and Belgium. In 1975, Moroder and Bellotte produced the international hit, "Love to Love You Baby, " which rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and triggered Summer's triumphant return to the United States as a key figure of the then-emerging disco genre. "Love To Love You Baby" paved the way for such international hits as "MacArthur Park, " "Bad Girls, " "Hot Stuff, " "Dim All The Lights, " "On The Radio, " and "Enough Is Enough, " as well as the Grammy and Academy award winning theme song "Last Dance, " from the film "Thank God It's Friday, " which remains a milestone in Donna's career. In 1980, Summer became the first artist to sign with David Geffen's new label, Geffen Records, leaving her disco days behind and moving into the next phase of her career ." In the years that followed, Summer collaborated with writers and producers such as Quincy Jones, Michael Omartian and England's dance-pop production compound Stock Aitken Waterman and produced a steady stream of hits from "State of Independence, " featuring Michael Jackson on backing vocals, to the abiding feminist anthem "She Works Hard For The Money, " one of the most-played songs of all-time, and the infectious "This Time I Know It's For Real." In 1994, she released "Endless Summer, " a greatest hits retrospective containing a new song, "Melody of Love, " which became Billboard's #1 Dance Record of the Year. She also released the critically acclaimed gem "Christmas Spirit, " a collection of Summer's original songs and holiday standards recorded with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Summer spent the '90s continuing to tour, performing to sold-out audiences worldwide. In 1997, when the new "Best Dance Recording" Category was created at the Grammy Awards, Donna Summer was the first winner with her fifth career Grammy award for "Carry On." In 1999, Sony/Epic Records released "VH1 Presents Donna Summer: Live & More - Encore!, " an album and DVD of Summer's critically acclaimed VH1 broadcast taped at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. The show premiered on VH1 as one of the network's highest rated shows to date and featured live performances of Summer's top hits. In addition to her five Grammy Awards, Summer has won six American Music Awards, three consecutive #1 platinum double albums (she's the only solo artist, male or female, ever to accomplish this), 11 gold albums, four #1 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart, 3 platinum singles, and 12 gold singles. Summer is also the first female artist to have a #1 single and #1 album on the Billboard charts simultaneously ("Live & More;" "MacArthur Park" 1978) a feat she also repeated six months later ("Bad Girls" & "Hot Stuff" in 1979). She has charted 33 Top Ten hits on the combined Billboard Disco/Dance/Dance Club/Play charts over a period of 37 years with 18 reaching the #1 spot solidifying her as the undisputed Queen of Dance. In addition to her recording and performing career, Summer is an accomplished visual artist whose work has been shown at exhibitions worldwide including Steven Spielberg's "Starbright Foundation Tour of Japan" and The Whitney Museum as well as a prestigious engagement at Sotheby's in New York. Since 1989, she has sold over 1.7 million dollars in original art - with her highest piece going for $150, 000. In 2003, Random House published her autobiography "Ordinary Girl, " co-authored with Marc Eliot. Also that year, Universal released "The Journey, " containing all of her original hits, as well as two new songs. In 2008, celebrating four decades of milestones, Summer adds another accomplishment to her list with the success of her new album "Crayons." The album debuted at #17 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart making it Summer's highest debuting album ever. It also debuted at #5 on the Billboard R&B chart - another personal best. "Crayons" is Summer's first album of all new studio material in 17 years and is her highest charting album since "She Works Hard For The Money" in 1983. To date, the album has spawned three #1 Dance hits "I'm A Fire, " "Stamp Your Feet" and "Fame (The Game)." It is estimated that Summer has sold more than 130 million records worldwide. Ranked #24 on Billboard Magazines 50th Anniversary issue's "Hot 100 Artists of All Time, " Donna Summer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on April 18, 2013

[deborahpaley]

Personally my fave album of hers was Once Upon a Time. Although I Feel Love warrants all the accolades it is truly phenomenal.

[wagnerribeiro]

An eternal classic! Before the pandemic, I used to work at a pub in Dublin where this song was played every night. It got a huge success with our customers. It was a good surprise knowing that even after all these years this song still has so much power of making people dance.
Excellent episode! Congrats to all staff who made it possible. Cheers!

[qwertyzxaszc]

To this day it sounds as fresh and amazing as ever.