Tonight could be Boston's hottest Summer evening
Before "Bad Girls" and "She Works Hard for the Money," before she was dubbed a disco diva and won numerous Grammys, Donna Summer was just another girl growing up in Mission Hill.
She remembers class at Jeremiah E. Burke High School. She remembers singing at her Washington Street church. She remembers her first recording session on Newbury Street.
"It's home," she said during a telephone interview from the road. "This is where I'm from; I consider Boston my main home."
Tonight she's coming back.
Despite the hectic schedule that comes with the release of a new CD - "Crayons," her first original album in nearly two decades, debuted May 20 - Summer is headlining a benefit concert for Action for Boston Community Development, an antipoverty organization, at
"I think about Boston constantly. It's a part of me," Summer said. "I feel like any time I can be in the position to give back, it is a great moment."
Robert Elias, ABCD's director of government and industrial relations, heard Summer in concert a couple of years ago and made a mental note: Bring her back to Boston. The organization's summer concerts have featured artists such as Alicia Keys and the Gipsy Kings. "If she's anything like she was two years ago," he began, then paused. "It was a fantastic concert."
Elias knew about the Boston-Summer connection, but the tie runs even deeper. Way back when, Summer was one of the residents the organization helped.
"I thought it would be a nice connection," Elias said. "She is not only local, but was involved in one of our programs when she was young."
As Elias tells it, when Summer was 17 years old, she worked during the summer through ABCD's job program. Summer does not remember the program quite as well as the people there remember her. Actually, she does not remember it at all. But, she said, because Boston "is a part of my history, I want to be a part of theirs."
Luanne Witkowski, who lives on Parker Hill Avenue, just down the street from Summer's old home, does not fault the songstress for the memory lapse.
"Can anybody remember the '80s and '70s?" she asked. "Please."
She is simply impressed that Summer would come back to help her hometown. "Those that make it big and still care about the ones that didn't and come back are extra special," Witkowski said. "I love it when people come back to their roots."
Summer is a special point of pride for many Parker Hill residents, she said. ("We love that bad girl!") In fact, if a passerby has a few free moments, Witkowski can point them in the direction of the singer's old home - a white, wooden three-decker with purple trim.
The owner, Harrison Lee, 38, hangs pictures of Summer in honor of the diva. He's happy to tell visitors about the building's history - and about the soaring songs that, according to a former resident, would float from the porch as Summer practiced there so many years ago. Lee is planning a party in honor of Summer's 60th birthday, Dec. 31.
"It's nice to have that connection," Lee said. "That's part of the reason I got the house."
On Tuesday, a young woman passed by the landmark on her way home. This time, Marina Pinsky, 21, was seeing it as something more than a house down the street.
"Donna Summer lived here? "I didn't even know she was from Boston."
Not far from the house, Frances Young, 50, was waiting for a friend. She had heard that Summer was from the area, but she didn't know whether it was true. "Wow, I haven't seen her in so long," she said. "I think that's great she didn't forget where she came from."
Ryan Kost can be reached at rkost@globe.com. 