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The Queen Of Disco is coming to Atlanta

Donna Summer, who built her name as a sexy songstress in the 1970s, can still draw a crowd 35 years after her hit 'Love to Love You Baby' shot her to fame. Now the disco diva is on a short summer tour, coming to Chastain Park Amphitheatre Sunday to sing her hits.

We caught up with Summer, now 61, from her home in Nashville.

Q: You were known as a sex symbol in your time and then later had a spiritual journey that changed your image. How do you balance the two?

A: It's not easy all the time. When you've gone as far left as I think I went - though by today's standards, I dont even think I went left - but for then, it was pretty out there. ... I didnt intend to go out there that way. It just sort of happened. Then you look around yourself and say, 'What am I doing? How did I get from there to there? What took my eyes off the prize? Somehow life distracts you and lures you and you are vulnerable to that. You don't realize just how vulnerable until you are placed in that situation.

Q: What do you make of today's stars like Lady Gaga, who wear extraordinarily revealing or edgy costumes?

A: It's borderline pornography sometimes. In my day it would have been pornographic. I was censored because I had a slit up the side of my dress and they made me pin it. They wouldn't let me and my girls go on TV. Yet ballerinas [wear far less]. I think it is the context of the sexuality. Ballet isn't looked at as sexual. It's looked at as an art form. But my music was so sensuous that they coupled it with the visual thighs and any form of undulation would have made it over the top. [Regarding] Lady Gaga, I really like her. I don't like everything she does and I think she's outside a little too far, but I love the idea of the costumes, because I always did a lot of costumes in my shows. I think that she doesn't even view her body as a body so much as she views it as a piece of the art she's making. In that context, I get it. I like that about her and her courage.

Q: Would you consider making a gospel album?

A: No gospel album. What I try to do is to consolidate music in and of itself and not to really worry so much about what genre I'm singing in, but sing what I want to sing. A lot of people have a problem with that, but I don't. To me, music is music. Period. R&B or pop or classical, it's all music.

Q: What are you most proud of in your career?

A: I'm not so proud of awards, [because] awards are stagnant, but life is motion. I always kept that stuff away from my kids, because I didnt want them to compete with me. They've never seen it. I don't have enough wall space to put that up. I can't imagine what that would mentally do to someone.

What I'm most proud of is that I'm still here and that there are groups of people that still like my music and still want to hear it and are still interested enough to listen and hear something new that I'm bringing out. I can't take pride in that so much as I feel blessed by God to still be here and make a living out of what I love.

Q: What else do you want your fans to know?

A: I'm moving forward, I'm happy and I'm ready to rock.

Concert preview

Donna Summer

8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 22. $48-$58. Chastain Park Amphitheater, 4469 Stella Dr. N.W., Atlanta. 866-448-7849, www.livenation.com