Editing Donna Summer (section)

==Early life and career==
Donna Adrian Gaines was born in [[Boston]] on [[New Year's Eve|December 31]], 1948, to Andrew and Mary Gaines. She was the third of seven children.<ref name="telegraph2">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/9273393/Donna-Summer.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/9273393/Donna-Summer.html |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Donna Summer |work= The Telegraph |date=May 17, 2012 |access-date= August 20, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> She was raised in the Boston neighborhood of [[Mission Hill, Boston|Mission Hill]]. Her father was a butcher, and her mother was a schoolteacher.<ref name= "biography1"/>

Summer's performance debut occurred at church when she was ten years old, replacing a vocalist who failed to appear.<ref name= "biography1"/> She attended Boston's Jeremiah E. Burke High School where she performed in school musicals and was considered popular.<ref name= "biography1"/> In 1967, just weeks before graduation, Summer left for New York City, where she joined the [[blues rock]] band Crow. After a record label passed on signing the group since it was only interested in the band's lead singer, the group agreed to dissolve.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=James |date=February 17, 2022 |title=Before she left Boston, Donna Summer found her voice |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/17/arts/before-she-left-boston-donna-summer-found-her-voice/ |access-date=July 7, 2022}}</ref>

Summer stayed in New York and auditioned for a role in the [[counterculture]] musical, ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]''. She landed the part of Sheila and agreed to take the role in the [[Munich]] production of the show, moving there in August 1968 after getting her parents' reluctant approval.<ref name="biography1"/> It turned out to be the best decision she could have made. The show was so successful, that it didn't just rocket-start her career but also many of her castmates'. The cast included: [[Helga Charlotte Tolle]], [[Reiner Schöne]], Ron Williams, Gudrun "Su" Kramer, Elke Koska, [[Jürgen Marcus|Jürgen Markus]], [[Jutta Weinhold]], Peter Kent, who all starred alongside Summer in the musical [[Hair (musical)|Hair]]. She eventually became fluent in German, singing various songs in that language, and participated in the musicals ''{{lang|de|Ich bin ich}}'' (the German version of ''[[The Me Nobody Knows]]''), ''[[Godspell]]'', and ''[[Show Boat]]''. Within three years, she moved to [[Vienna]], [[Austria]], and joined the [[Vienna Volksoper]].

In 1968, Summer released (as Donna Gaines) on Polydor her first single, a German version of the title "[[Aquarius (song)|Aquarius]]" from the musical {{lang|de|[[Haare (musical)|Haare]]}} (''Hair''). In 1969, she issued her second single "If You Walkin' Alone" on [[Philips Records]],<ref name="donna-tribute1"/> followed in 1971 by a third single, a remake of [[the Jaynetts]]' 1963 hit, "[[Sally Go 'Round the Roses]]", from a one-off European deal with [[Decca Records]].<ref name="donna-tribute1">{{cite web|url= http://www.donna-tribute.com/disc/disc70.htm|title=The 60–70s| website= donna-tribute.com |access-date=May 17, 2012}}</ref> She provided backing vocals for producer-keyboardist Veit Marvos on his Ariola Records release ''Nice to See You'', credited as "Gayn Pierre". Several subsequent singles included Donna performing with the group, and the name "Gayn Pierre" was used while performing in ''Godspell'' with first husband Helmuth Sommer during 1972.<ref name="donna-tribute1"/>