34-year-old Donna Summer released her 11th studio album on 13 June 1983.
Summer had signed with Geffen Records in 1980 (the first signing by the label), but quickly developed a contentious relationship with David Geffen, who deemed her first album for Geffen Records, I’m a Rainbow, to be uncommercial (it would not be released until 1996), and Geffen also forced her to use a different producer than Giorgio Moroder (who had produced most of Summer’s previous hits).
When Summer delivered She Works Hard for the Money, Geffen also thought it would not sell and was not going to release it until PolyGram records (which now owned Summer’s old label, Casablanca) notified Geffen that Summer still owed another album. Geffen gladly handed over the album.
The title track was inspired by bathroom attendant Onetta Johnson (pictured on the back cover), who Summer met at a party after the Grammy Awards ceremony in February 1983, and proved to be one of Summer’s biggest hits (peaking at #3 in the US).
She Works Hard for the Money was her best-selling album of the 1980s, peaking at #9 in the US and selling more than 500,000 copies. Summer received a Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance for “He’s a Rebel.”
The music video for “She Works Hard for the Money” (directed by Brian Grant) was one of the first videos for a black artist to appear on MTV, and the first for a black, female artist.