Donna is the first single by British art rock

Art rock

Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...

/pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 band 10cc

10cc

10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...

. Released in 1972, it peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.
The song was written by Kevin Godley

Kevin Godley

Kevin Godley is a British musician and music video director.He was born in a family of Jewish descent, and went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham....

 and Lol Creme

Lol Crème

Lol Creme is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings, plays guitar and keyboards.-Biography:...

.

"Donna", a parody of doo wop songs (see also Donna

Donna (song)

"Donna" is a song written and sung by Ritchie Valens featuring the 50s progression. The song was released in 1958 on Del-Fi Records. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following year, becoming Valens' highest-charting single. The song was covered by another Del-Fi artist and western...

 by Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

), was originally written as a potential B-side to the song "Waterfall". The song features sharp contrasts between falsetto

Falsetto

Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

 in the chorus (Creme) and deep monotone vocals (Godley) in the verse.

Band member Eric Stewart has said: "We knew it had something. We only knew of one person who was mad enough to release it, and that was Jonathan King

Jonathan King

Jonathan King is an English singer, songwriter, impresario and record producer. He is also the author of three novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner , and Beware the Monkey Man , and an autobiography, 65 My Life So Far .King first came to prominence as an...

." The song was subsequently released on King's UK Records

UK Records

UK Records was launched in 1972 by Jonathan King to distribute his own releases and some other artists. The abbreviation UK stands for "United King". The label was distributed at first by Decca Records and, after 1976, by PolyGram...

 label. The band had considered releasing it under the name of Doctor Father

Doctor Father

Doctor Father was the band name used by British musicians Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – later of 10cc – for the release of a single, "Umbopo", in August 1970....

Part Two, resurrecting a band name they had used for their 1970 song "Umbopo". Band manager Harvey Lisburg said there was "a vague sort of plan at that time to keep on bringing out records under different names until they got a hit".