Summer’s ‘Bad Girls’ an accidental hit

Donna Summer's biggest hit came straight off the street.

"The Queen of Disco" was working on a demo one night at a Los Angeles studio when "she had an idea about street ladies who walk the night," recalled Joe Esposito, a Las Vegas musician, not Elvis Presley's sidekick in the Memphis Mafia.

"We were fooling around, singing 'Who's That Lady?' by the Isley Brothers when she started singing 'Bad Girls,' " Esposito said.

The disco world was hooked on "Bad Girls" in the summer of 1979. It was Summer's fourth No. 1 in 52 weeks.

"We wrote it in 15 to 20 minutes," Esposito said. "She was the type who would go in a studio and all you had to do is press record. Lyrics flowed out of her."

Esposito was inundated with calls after Summer's death Thursday from cancer. She was 63.

Esposito, a Las Vegas musician since 1994, plays in the group Cool Change, which is performing at the Hawaiian Marketplace on the Strip.

"Bad Girls" was a happy accident, he said.

Producer Giorgio Moroda "needed one more song for her album, and the engineer mentioned 'Bad Girls.' It was literally done as an afterthought."

Esposito last saw Summer in October, when she was in town to perform with David Foster's all-star lineup at Mandalay Bay.

They had dinner in her hotel room with her husband, Bruce Sudano, Esposito's ex-bandmate in their Brooklyn days.

"I could tell something was wrong," Esposito said.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Get-well wishes to disco icon Monti Rock III, who has been hospitalized in a Las Vegas care center for several weeks. The former New York City celebrity hair dresser- turned-musician had a cameo in the 1977 blockbuster film "Saturday Night Fever." He was the club DJ in the famous dance scene with John Travolta in his white polyester suit and Fran Drescher (who was making her film debut). A Las Vegas resident for more than a decade, Rock has been an entertainment columnist for Gaming Today in recent years. His 70th birthday is May 29. ...

Corinne Sidney, mentioned here Thursday in the item that revisited the Frank Sinatra/John F. Kennedy blowup, said she misspoke when she stated Mia Farrow was at Sinatra's home the day the White House called off JFK's 1962 visit. Farrow and Sinatra did not meet until two years later.

SIGHTINGS

Kendall and Kylie Jenner, the youngest sisters in the Kardashian family, attended "Love" (The Mirage) on Monday after dining at Stack.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Virgin Atlantic announced that on a select number of flights, passengers will be able to use their cellphones to make calls. I think I would honestly rather they filled the plane with killer bees than allow this." - Jimmy Kimmel

Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.