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In “Love to Love You, Donna Summer,” an Icon Gets Her Due

donna summer documentary brooklyn sudano interview
Donna Summer Finally Gets Her Due in New DocHBO

Where would music be without Donna Summer?

The life and legacy of the ’70s icon—who became known as the Queen of Disco but was also an early pioneer of electronic dance music—is celebrated in a new HBO documentary, Love to Love You, Donna Summer, a moving feat co-directed by Summer’s daughter Brooklyn Sudano and documentarian Roger Ross Williams. Even after releasing hit upon hit at the height of her career—including standout songs like “Bad Girls,” “Last Dance,” and “Hot Stuff”—somehow the singer-songwriter has remained criminally underrated since her death at the age of 63 from lung cancer.

Maybe that’s because of the stigma that has tainted disco for decades—which seems unbelievable when you consider that the likes of Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, and Lady Gaga have adopted the genre to produce a new batch of mainstream hits. Or maybe it’s because, as in so many areas, society is hesitant to praise the Black women who have truly shaped our culture and its sound, until it’s too late. Whatever it is, Summer’s legion of fans have never stopped dancing—or singing, or shouting—along to the songs that shaped her career and an entire generation, and in the new documentary, they can learn more about the woman behind the music from those who knew her best.

Below, Bazaar.com spoke with Brooklyn Sudano about her mother’s legacy, her own directorial debut, and if she thinks Summer receives the credit she deserves as an artist.


Fans have been waiting for this documentary for a long time. Why was now the right time?

It was a long time in the making, and it was really one of those things where we just wanted to get it right. The pandemic didn’t help, in terms of the timing and getting things done as quickly as we might have been able to without it. For Roger and I, it was just really important to tell the story in the way that we thought was most impactful—and that took a little bit of time. I feel really proud of what we ended up with—it took some time!—but we got here. Also, for my family and I, we really needed to process [Summer’s death] for ourselves first. Because we allowed ourselves to do that, we were able to give a much more honest and transparent approach to the film. If we had done it earlier, we might not have been able to to do that fully.

donna summer brooklyn sudano
Brooklyn Sudano, Donna Summer’s daughter and co-director of Love to Love You, Donna SummerHearst Owned

This is a very personal story and it’s also your directorial debut, so there was so much that went into this. Where do you begin with a project like this?

For me it was really talking to my father. It was really important, obviously, to get his stamp of approval and have the family’s full support—which I did—and it ended up being completely impactful to the film that we were able to create. He told me just to go for it. It took a little bit of time to find the right team, but I’m so incredibly grateful for our producers and that they introduced me to Roger Ross Williams, who is my co-director and an incredible documentarian. When we first sat sat down together, we had the same exact vision of what we wanted the film to be. Having that strength of purpose and how we wanted to approach it really allowed us to make this film in the way that we were able to, because it is different. I don’t believe it’s your typical music doc, particularly what I think people might have expected for somebody like my mother. With my involvement, we really did lean in on the personal side. This is a perspective that will really show you who she fully was as a woman and an artist and a mother. You know, the whole spectrum.

donna summer documentary
Donna Summer and her eldest daughter, MimiHBO

You really get that from the film—that this isn’t just about Donna the musician or the singer or the star, but also the lover, the mother, the woman. There are so many different layers.

Mom was very private, and most people had no frame of reference of really what her true personality was. It was really important to let people know who she really was and, you know, and I think that as a daughter, I think sometimes she was a little bit conflicted. In the sphere of music and being a quote-unquote icon, you get put in this box without the real dynamics of the fullness of your complexity of who you are as a human.

I think specifically seeing your perspective as a daughter is so important too. As daughters, we think we know everything about our moms, and we really know nothing, and we realize that as we get older. As you were researching and talking to family and going through this process, what was something you learned about her that you didn’t know previously?

To be honest with you, I just really became aware of my appreciation for her strength and her ability to overcome. The years of 1975, ’76 to 1980, when I think about all the things that she did—the tours, the press, the music and albums she created—while also being a mother and the sacrifice that it took to be that, but also the sacrifices of not seeing my older sister Mimi and having to rely on family and all the struggles of that feeling—I just have a such a deep appreciation for that sacrifice and for her and her strength to be able to survive that. It’s really mind-blowing to me.

Was there any pressure to make a documentary that you know the fans wanted to see, but also trusting your creative gut in saying, “But this is the story we ultimately want to tell”?

We didn’t want it to feel like a Wikipedia page, and it could very easily feel like, “Oh, she did this, and then this happened and this happened.” For Roger and I, it was just much more important to give you a real journey. When we were pitching it very early on, one of the ideas was that we wanted it to feel immersive. We wanted you to feel like you were right alongside her as you were going through this experience in the film. Because her shows were very immersive—she always took you on a journey—and we wanted the film to also feel like that. We also used songs out of order. We tried to use the music as a means of the storytelling instead of just saying, well, you know, “Bad Girls” came out in 1979 and so on. What we offered may be different than what the fans expected, but hopefully it’s also more than what they expected.

donna summer brooklyn sudano
HBO

So many people talk about your mother’s influence through fashion and music. These last few years, we’ve seen this resurgence of a sound she really helped create. But it’s so much more than disco—it’s pop, it’s EDM, it’s all these different genres. Seeing people—whether it’s Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, or obviously Beyoncé—really bring that to the forefront again, do you think your mother has received her fair share of credit for being a trailblazer?

I think when I speak to those musicians, yes. I think they understand the influence. I’m not sure that maybe [the] culture as a whole has fully acknowledged it, but I’m hoping that’s part of what this film is able to do. I think for a lot of people they’re like, “Oh, I know this song, or I know that song,” but then when they see the film and they see all of these things piece together, they’ll then understand the full scope and the full impact. Separately it’s hard to sometimes fully understand the impact. But when you put it all together, then I think people really understand the fullness and the scope of what she was able to bring to both music and culture.

donna summer
Donna Summer and Giorgio MoroderHBO

What do you think she ultimately wanted her legacy to be—you know, for the music and beyond?

You know, my mom was a lover. She loved people, and I always say she was everybody’s stage mom. She was the ultimate encourager. So I really feel like her legacy is using your art for good, to love people, and to spread joy, to spread healing. My mother had an innate way to see people and see where they were at and acknowledge them. So, it really is that her music is that acknowledgment and love and healing and joy and how she just brought people together. It’s really just using your art for good.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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