Barbra Streisand writes in her new memoir that they were able to laugh about it after Summer fell from her stool during rehearsals
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Rachel-DeSantis_WebReady_01-73fc4f265b774af2b1bffa35f06385e3.jpg "Barbra Streisand Says Donna Summer Once Passed Out and Fell Off a Stool Rehearsing Their Hit Duet (1)")
Rachel DeSantis is a staffwriteron the music team at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2019, and her work has previously appeared in Entertainment Weekly and the New York Daily News.
Updated on December 1, 2023 04:50PM EST
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/barbra-streisand-donna-summer-tout-120123-15160b832a2544ada76c479d89b55759.jpg "Barbra Streisand Says Donna Summer Once Passed Out and Fell Off a Stool Rehearsing Their Hit Duet (2)")
Enough was enough for Donna Summer during one memorable rehearsal for her hit song with Barbra Streisand.
The late disco queen once passed out while holding a high note alongside Streisand, as recounted by the Funny Girl star in her new memoir My Name Is Barbra.
Streisand, 81, and Summer famously teamed up in 1979 for the chart-topping duet “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” off Streisand’s album Wet.
At one point, the power duo was rehearsing the song together while sitting on stools. When it came time to hit one of the song’s big high notes, they both went for it, Streisand writes.
With her eyes closed, the EGOT singer threw her head back and let it wail — but when Summer did the same, it had unexpected consequences.
“Donna was gone! She was lying on the floor,” Streisand writes. “She had fallen off her stool.”
Streisand says she quickly tended to her friend, but Summer, who died in 2012 at age 63, shooed off the help, insisting she was OK.
“She turned to me and explained, ‘I didn’t breathe right. I guess I just ran out of air and passed out. But Barbra, when I came to, I couldn’t believe it … you were still holding that note!’” the star writes. “And she started to laugh, and so did I. Thank God she wasn’t hurt.”
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/barbra-streisand-donna-summer-1-120123-fde14991641840149d067ddc5477a67a.jpg "Barbra Streisand Says Donna Summer Once Passed Out and Fell Off a Stool Rehearsing Their Hit Duet (3)")
In an interview with The New York Times, Streisand revealed that her book was originally meant to be submitted in two years, but ended up taking 10 to finish.
She also said she initially wanted the hefty tome to be two volumes.
“Who wants to hold a heavy book like that in their hands?” Streisand said, adding that she was “very late in delivering the book.”
My Name Is Barbra was released on Nov. 7 via Viking.
The book, which shares a name with her 1965 album and TV special from Streisand, covers everything from her Brooklyn upbringing and early days in New York City, to the making of her albums and projects likeYentlandThe Prince of Tides.
