‘ALL SYSTEMS GO’ FOR A RECHARGED SUMMER

The past few years have been a bonanza for black female singers, from Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson to Tina Turner, Anita Baker and Patti LaBelle. Contrast this with the outlook a decade ago, when Donna Summer was the only black female singer to consistently top the charts.

The irony: In this heyday for black female vocalists, Summer has been off the market. The singer’s new album, “All Systems Go,” is her first in three years.

Summer, who headlines the Universal Amphitheatre this weekend, said she doesn’t mind not having the field to herself anymore.

“I’m inspired by Whitney Houston, Anita Baker and all these kids coming up. I’m not threatened by them,” said Summer, seated in a back booth at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills.

“I look at them and think, ‘Oh, this kid’s got a good lick here.’ I don’t necessarily feel that it’s a competitive thing, even though people would like to sometimes make you feel that way.

“The thing that I find funny,” she said, “is that when there’s more than one black female artist, people make a big deal about it. Yet when there are tons of white females around, nobody makes an issue of it. Why can’t there be a Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, Janet Jackson and Donna Summer? What’s the big deal?”

Summer hit her peak in the disco boom of the late ‘70s, when she reached No. 1 with three consecutive album releases. Things have slowed in the ‘80s for her, but her albums still managed to go gold--until 1984’s “Cats Without Claws” didn’t even sell the 500,000 copies necessary for that award.

“It just sort of fell by the wayside,” Summer said. “I don’t in any way feel cast out or thrust out by the industry because even in the years I wasn’t recording I was still working, doing live shows.”

Summer said she has no expectations of again becoming the hottest act in pop--as she was in 1979--but she said that she would like to sell more records than she has so far in the ‘80s.

“I think an artist like me is geared to a million and up. To me, 500,000 records is OK, it’s not great--a million is good, more than a million is better. Because I’ve sold millions of records, it’s very difficult to bring my level of what I think is successful down.”

It’s hard to imagine now how hot--and prolific--Summer was in her heyday. From 1975 to 1979 she released eight albums--including four two-record sets. All eight went gold or platinum (1 million sales), as did 10 singles from those albums.

Ultimately, that pace took its toll. “It was like going at 100 for six or seven years,” Summer said. “I was pretty burned out. I had come to the end of my rope, definitely.”

Summer, who came to the interview straight from the doctor’s office, where she received a shot for a cold, said her current promotional tour reminds her of the old days.

“I have just had three grueling weeks and this is just the beginning,” she said. “I remember when every week was like this. It seemed like it never stopped. It’s hard to explain to anybody that’s searching for that kind of fame, but it’s a lot of work. You do it, but you don’t really enjoy it.

“I use this analogy: When you plant a garden, every certain number of years you have to let it alone, to let the soil replenish itself. We all need some downtime. Unfortunately, the music industry isn’t geared to health, it’s geared to tonnage.”

The biggest change in Summer’s life in the past decade is her embracing of “born-again” Christianity. It’s unusual for a pop music star--especially one with a sexy, provocative image--to publicly announce his or her religious beliefs. The fear is that the news will alienate or confuse some fans--which may have happened in Summer’s case.

She didn’t bring up religion, but she was willing to discuss it when asked whether her religious beliefs and her career are often in conflict.

“ Constantly in conflict,” Summer responded. “Yes, it is very difficult. There are moral conflicts, no question about it.”

Summer noted that Richard Perry--who produced her current single, “Dinner With Gershwin”-- played several songs for her that she wouldn’t record because of the lyrics.

“Sometimes I look at things that are on TV and just gasp. When I first started, ‘Love to Love You Baby’ was hot. My backup singers wore dresses that had little slits just past the knee, and they had a fit on TV. They made them pin the dresses. And that’s just 10 years ago. If things keep going at this rate, 10 years from now are people gonna be dancing naked on TV?”

Summer said she performs most of her old hits in concert, including the provocative “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff.” But she refuses to sing “Love to Love You Baby,” which, with its orgasmic moaning, was one of the first explicitly sexual pop hits. “Just because of what the song represented at the time and the conflict around it, I choose not to sing it.”

Summer has included a few religious songs on her albums but hasn’t yet recorded an all-inspirational album, as such artists as Amy Grant and Sandi Patti have done with great success in recent years. But she has begun writing and collecting songs for one.

“I probably won’t get to it until some time next year, but I really would like to do it. And when people hear me sing those songs, they’re going to hear a different me, because it’s just the closest thing to (me).”