Bruce Sudano

Bruce Sudano with Donna Summer to his left and composer Giorgio Moroder, whose wife, Francisca Gutierrez, is on the far left.

Bruce Charles Sudano (born September 26, 1948) is an American songwriter and musician. In the 1970s, he co-founded the bands Alive 'N Kickin' and Brooklyn Dreams, which each scored top-ten singles. He went on to write hit songs for artists such as Michael and Jermaine Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and his wife, the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer.

Sudano released his debut solo album, Fugitive Kind, in 1981. It wasn't until 2004 that he restarted his solo career with his second album, Rainy Day Soul, which scored three top-ten hits and earned him the New Music Weekly 2004 Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year award. He has subsequently released seven more albums.

Sudano is the founder of the indie record label Purple Heart Recording Company. At the age of four, he began learning his first instrument, the accordion. He later taught himself to play piano and guitar.

Alive N Kickin' appeared on the television series American Bandstand and toured the United States, which included opening for Chicago and Frank Zappa.

In March 1978, Brooklyn Dreams appeared in the movie American Hot Wax, performing as the Planotones, a fictional group. Sudano recorded his own version of the song for his first solo record, Fugitive Kind, in 1981, after being signed to Millenium/RCA.

In 2004, Sudano released his second solo record, Rainy Day Soul, through Purple Heart, which scored three top-ten adult contemporary hits and earned him the New Music Weekly 2004 Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year award. Footage from younger daughter Amanda's wedding to her Johnnyswim bandmate Abner Ramirez was included in the song's music video. In April 2018, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical opened on Broadway, with Sudano serving as an executive producer and story consultant.

In 2019, Sudano performed at the 30a Songwriters Festival in Florida and at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and he supported the Zombies' lead singer Colin Blunstone on a UK tour, before heading into a two-year COVID lockdown. He spent that time writing and recording three EPs: Spirals, Vol. 1: Not a Straight Line to Be Found (2020), Spirals, Vol. 2: Time & the Space in Between (2020), and Ode to a Nightingale (2021).

In January 2023, Sudano released "Make the World Go Away", the first single from his album Talkin' Ugly Truth, Tellin' Pretty Lies, which came out in 2024. He has released a series of demo recordings as singles in 2025, including "Watching Darkness Fall" and "Damn Lonely on the Road".

Personal life Three years after their first meeting, Sudano and Donna Summer were married, on July 16, 1980. Sudano became the stepfather to Summer's daughter, Natalia Pia Melanie "Mimi" Sommer (born 1973), from her previous marriage, to Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer.

Sudano and Summer had two daughters together. The couple's first child, Brooklyn, named after the New York City borough Sudano is from, was born in 1981. The family settled on a 56-acre ranch in Thousand Oaks, California. In 1991, they moved to Connecticut and remained there for four years. Following Summer's death, Sudano relocated to Los Angeles, and in 2020, he married the Italian art gallerist Francesca Repetto Kaufmann.

Discography

Solo Fugitive Kind (1981) Rainy Day Soul (2004) Life and the Romantic (2009) With Angels on a Carousel (2014) The Burbank Sessions (2015) 21st Century World (2017) Spirals, Vol. 1: Not a Straight Line to Be Found (EP, 2020) Spirals, Vol. 2: Time & the Space in Between (EP, 2020) Ode to a Nightingale (EP, 2021) Talkin' Ugly Truth, Tellin' Pretty Lies (2024) Sketch Book (2026)

with Alive N Kickin' Alive N Kickin (1970)

with Brooklyn Dreams Brooklyn Dreams (1977) Sleepless Nights (1978) Joy Ride (1979) Won't Let Go (1980)