When Donna Summer recorded “Love to Love You Baby,” was she actually having an orgasm humping the floor?
“Love to Love You Baby,” Summer’s 1975 American breakthrough, had moans of pleasure that would not be equalled until Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf.” Time magazine calculated that 22 different orgasms were audible in the 17-minute mix, produced by Giorgio Moroder, but Summer insisted that although she was writhing on the studio floor while she recorded her vocal, she was faking it. In addition, she clarified when I got her on the phone, she wasn’t prone on the studio floor. “I was on my back,” she said. “I couldn’t do the song with four guys staring at me, so I lay down on the floor; we put up curtains and shut the lights off.”
(Excerpted from the 2006 book Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John?: Music’s Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed, published by Three Rivers Press, written by Gavin Edwards.)