It’s been a terrible month so far for the music business with the passing of artists who were a part of an era; Donna Summer and Robin Gibb in the past week. I don’t have much to add to the fulsome tributes we have seen in the media, except that I think both, despite the acclaim and hits and lasting careers, were perhaps under-appreciated. Donna may have seemed something of a puppet in the hands of her producer, Giorgio Moroder, but the work they did together transformed music in a way that might barely seem plausible, when you consider that they took electronic pop to places even German electronic band Kraftwerk hadn’t thought of. As for Robin Gibb, I was a fan of The Bee Gees, their songs were phenomenal but they didn’t get the credit for this, perhaps because much of their 60s work was quite idiosyncratic and didn’t attract cover versions to the extent that Lennon & McCartney’s did. But here is one cover version – sounding like a prayer. Which seems appropriate now. Enjoy and play loud, a soul singer supreme with one of the Gibb’s brothers finest songs.
Last word on music greats passing
