“State Of Independence” by Donna Summer

"State of Independence" was Jon Anderson and Vangelis's song first, and their own single went nowhere, but Donna Summer took it on a year later for her self-titled 1982 album and turned it into a top-20 UK hit and a number one in the Netherlands. A 1996 remix took it back into the UK top 20 fourteen years on.

Her version is a big room. Louis Johnson plays bass, Leon Ndugu Chancler drums and Paulinho da Costa percussion, David Paich and Greg Phillinganes work the synthesizers, Don Dorsey the Synclavier, and Ernie Watts takes a tenor sax solo. Then there's the choir, a who's who that runs from Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and James Ingram to Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, Dyan Cannon, Peggy Lipton and Dara Bernard, with Bill Champlin, Steve George, Richard Page and Ingram on backing vocals.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.