7 people that i love-they are my life."

Joining her on her current tour will be her two youngest daughters, who might perform if, as Summer says, "I can whip them into shape." The girls have formed a group and hope to embark on a music career next year, after the youngest graduates from high school. It is in talking about her daughters and the business that Donna reveals her own clearly ambivalent feelings. Asked about their potential for success, she says, "There are a million talented and more talented people in the world. It`s not just about talent, it`s about a lot of things. "She wonders if "they have the guts to fight it through and live through the hard parts. Success is about the ability to sustain yourself, or to be sustained through the hard parts. That, I think, makes a professional."

Though she won Grammys in 1985 and 1986 for her gospel recordings and had a number-seven hit in 1989 with "This Time I Know It`s for Real," Donna says she knows about her hard parts. "Four or five years ago, right before the anthology came out, it just started to seem like everything was so difficult in the business," she says. "I thought, you know, I just gotta get out of the thing." For her, the fun was gone. "I told myself I would get out when it wasn`t fun anymore." The anthology required her to review more than 8,000 pictures, and one day, lying in her entry hall looking up at slides against the skylight, she saw images of herself onstage and having fun. In that moment, she says, her zeal for performing returned.

Though she does acknowledge the difficulty many people have had in the past perceiving her as anything but the queen of disco, she says, "I think that`s going to change." Her new disc, Live & More-Encore! contains live versions of many of her old hits recorded during the taping of VH1 special, plus two new studio tracks.

Explaining why she may have been pigeonholed, she explains, "It`s harder for black people to cross over into different genres because people expect them to do a certain thing. That`s changing now. But in the past, it`s been a difficult struggle for a lot of artists." Summer`s voice sounds richer as before and more textured than ever before. Asked about her own sense of how she sounds, Donna says, "I have definitely matured. I don`t need to wail all over the place. It`s just not my tendency at this point." The music sounds joyful and fun, and it will probably be beyond anyone`s power of self-control to keep their feet still while listening. it makes you want to move.

Moving is what the music of Donna Summer is all about. "People are always gonna dance," she says. As the queen of disco, she may well be the mother, or now possibly the grandmother, of dance, house and techno. She feels her 20-year-old hit "I Feel Love" still sounds contemporary. To her, that kind of music fills a basic need in our society. "In every culture, dance is such an important part of the way people interact with each other," she says. Her new CD may serve to introduce her music to a generation of club kids, most of whom were still in diapers when Donna Summer was last a superstar. Regardless of what the kids think, hearing "MacArthur Park," "On the Radio" and "Last Dance" is sure to stir the hearts and libidos of many an aging disco bunny.

On of her new songs, "Ordinary Girl," comes from an autobiographical musical Donna created with Michael O`Martian and Al Kasha.

Alfred Uhry of Driving Miss Daisy fame will soon begin work on the script fpr the staging. A full-scale production number may be included in Donna`s toure if it fits within the framework of the show. rehearsal for Ordinary Girl, which Summer will star in, won`t begin until after the conclusion of the current tour and the recording os a new studio album as part of a new recording deal with Sony`s Epic label.

"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" pairs Summer with Australian songstress Tina Arena, who sounds very good, though you will miss Barbra Streisand. Donna now assumes the senior diva role originally performed by Streisand. Recalling that collaboration, she says, "It was exciting for me. When i was in high school, `People` came out, and that was my favorite song. I used to listen to that song over and over."

The first single released from the new album, "I will Go With You," was first a hit when recorded in italian by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. Summer wrote new English lyrics and transformed the ballad into a dance recording. The song retains much of the original lushness but is now unmistakably a Donna Summer song. The second studio track, "Love Is the Healer," blends a wide array of sounds and styles. The message, however, comes purely from her heart. About commercial appeal, Donna sighs, "When it`s not, it`s not," she says. "I don`t read reviews."

About to embark on her tour, Donna Summer seems ageless. Her energy and enthusiasm are imparted to anyone who listens to her. Clearly excited, she points out, "This is what i do." It has been two years since her time out, which she, without bitterness, characterizes as playing"sheds". This time she will be performing in moderately sized venues from New York to California. On the 36 stops along the way, Summer hopes to entertain her old fans and engage a legion of new ones. g