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She Works Hard For The Money
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She Works Hard For The Money cover
Studio album by Donna Summer
Released 1983
Genre Pop, Dance, Soul, R&B
Length 42:06
Label Mercury
Producer Michael Omartian
Donna Summer chronology
Donna Summer
(1982)		She Works Hard For The Money
(1983)		Cats Without Claws
(1984)|


She Works Hard for the Money is an album by Donna Summer released in 1983. Summer had made her name as the biggest female star of the disco era during the 1970s. Having signed to Geffen Records in the early 1980s, she had gained some success during the post-disco era but had encountered problems in that Geffen had refused to release some of her material. The She Works Hard For The Money album was initially turned down by Geffen, so Polygram Records were approached. Polygram had taken over Casablanca Records, to which Summer was signed at the height of her fame the previous decade. She had left them after a dispute which by now was resolved, so they agreed to release the album on their Mercury label.

This project became Summer's most successful since the disco era. She Works Hard For The Money was more pop/dance oriented than her last couple of albums, but also contained some soulful ballads, including "Love Has a Mind of Its Own", a duet with gospel singer Matthew Ward. It also contained a reggae-styled song called "Unconditional Love" which featured vocals by young black British group Musical Youth. Lyrically, the album dealt with subjects such as social injustice ("Stop, Look and Listen"), Jesus Christ ("He's a Rebel") and missing children ("People, People"). Many fans saw the album as a "return to form" for Summer - she was once again presented as a strong, powerful woman very much in control. During the 1970s, Summer's management had worked hard to portray her as a powerful, sexual fantasy figure to the point where they had become too involved in her personal life (which led to a period of depression for Summer before becoming a born-again Christian and filing a lawsuit against her record label). Since the disco era, Summer had experimented with different genres including New Wave and rock, and some felt she had got a little "lost" in trying to find her musical place in the new decade. She Works Hard for the Money firmly established her place as a 1980s pop/dance diva.

Summer was credited with writing or co-writing every track on the album, mostly alongside Michael Omartian, who was also the album's producer. It became her first Top 10 album in the U.S. since 1979 and produced a massively successful hit single in the form of the title track. The sleeve of the single and album pictured Summer as a waitress who "works hard for the money" and the song was a tribute to "the working woman." It was accompanied by a high-profile music video which became the first by a black artist to be heavily promoted on MTV. The song shot to Number 3 on the Hot 100 American singles chart, making it her biggest hit there since "The Wanderer" three years previously. The song was also given a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Three more singles were released from the album - firstly the aforementioned "Unconditional Love" which gave Summer her fourteenth U.K. Top 20 hit (and also a Number 3 placing on the U.S. R&B chart), followed by the more moderate hits "Stop, Look and Listen" and the soulful duet "Love Has A Mind Of Its Own" with Matthew Ward.

The song "He's A Rebel" gained Summer the Grammy award for Best Inspirational Performance, her first win since 1979.

Track listing

  1. She Works Hard For The Money (Donna Summer, Michael Omartian) 5:19
  2. Stop, Look and Listen (Donna Summer, Michael Omartian, Greg Phillinganes) 5:52
  3. He's a Rebel (Donna Summer, Michael Omartian, Jay Graydon) 4:22
  4. Woman (Donna Summer, Bruce Sudano, Michael Omartian, Jay Graydon) 4:19
  5. Unconditional Love (Donna Summer, Michael Omartian) 4:42
  6. Love Has a Mind of Its Own (Donna Summer, Bruce Sudano, Michael Omartian) 4:16
  7. Tokyo (Donna Summer, Bruce Sudano, Michael Omartian) 4:19
  8. People, People (Donna Summer, Bruce Sudano, Michael Omartian) 4:06
  9. I Do Believe (I Fell In Love) (Donna Summer) 4:35

Personnel

Production

  • Produced and arranged by Michael Omartian
  • Recorded and mixed by John Guess
  • Recorded and mixed at Lion Share Studios, Los Angeles, CA.; Hollywood Sound Recorders, Hollywood, CA.; Rhema Studio, Beverly Hills, CA.
  • Assistant Engineers: Larry Ferguson, Ross Pallone
  • Mastered by Steve Hall at Future Disc Systems, Hollywood, CA.; Bernie Grundman A&M Mastering Studios, Hollywood, CA.
  • Production coordinator: Yvonne Garcia
A studio album is a collection of studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist.

It usually does not contain live recordings or remixes, and if it does, those tracks do not make up a majority of the album and are often called "bonus tracks".
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Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and artist, best known for a string of dance hits in the late 1970s that earned her the title "Queen Of Disco" and as one of the few disco-based artists to have longevity on the
..... Click the link for more information.
-1983-  1984 . 1985 . 1986  1987 . 1988 . 1989 . 1990 . 1991 . 1992 .
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A music genre is a term that describes the process of dividing popular music into categories. Some treat the terms genre and style as the same, and state that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language.
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.
This article has been tagged since October 2007.

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Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement.

Genres

Dance music works often bear the name of the corresponding dance, e.g.
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Soul Music is the sixteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1994. Like many of Pratchett's novels it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of the Disc, in this case Rock and Roll
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Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists.
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In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. In everyday usage, a record label is also a company that manages such brands and trademarks; coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution,
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Mercury Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. In the US, its name and logo were now only used on back catalogue, country releases, and re-issues until recently.
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In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering
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Michael Omartian (born November 26, 1945 in Evanston, Illinois) is a songwriter and a Grammy Award-winning American keyboardist and music producer. He has produced albums for several pop artists including Christopher Cross, Michael Bolton, Whitney Houston, the Jacksons, Rod
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Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and artist, best known for a string of dance hits in the late 1970s that earned her the title "Queen Of Disco" and as one of the few disco-based artists to have longevity on the
..... Click the link for more information.
I'm a Rainbow
(1981) Donna Summer
(1982) She Works Hard for the Money
(1983)

Donna Summer is the self-titled album released by the American singer in 1982.
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She Works Hard for the Money
(1983) Cats Without Claws
(1984)
(1985)|

Cats Without Claws is an album by Donna Summer released in 1984.
..... Click the link for more information.
Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and artist, best known for a string of dance hits in the late 1970s that earned her the title "Queen Of Disco" and as one of the few disco-based artists to have longevity on the
..... Click the link for more information.
-1983-  1984 . 1985 . 1986  1987 . 1988 . 1989 . 1990 . 1991 . 1992 .
..... Click the link for more information.
Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that was popularized in dance clubs (discothèques) in the mid-1970s. Disco songs usually have soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady four-on-the-floor beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern
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Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.

Company history

Beginnings


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PolyGram was the name from 1972 of the major label recording company started by Philips as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1998, it was sold to Seagram and made part of Universal Music Group.
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Casablanca Records is a record label which was started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, in 1973 after both of them left Buddah Records. The label released hits by Donna Summer, KISS, The Four Tops, Cher, Captain & Tennille, Angel, Fanny, The Sylvers, The Hudson
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Mercury Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. In the US, its name and logo were now only used on back catalogue, country releases, and re-issues until recently.
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.
This article has been tagged since October 2007.

..... Click the link for more information.
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement.

Genres

Dance music works often bear the name of the corresponding dance, e.g.
..... Click the link for more information.
B-side(s) People, People
Released 1984
Format 7" single, 12" single
Genre Pop, Soul, R&B
Label Mercury
Writer(s) Donna Summer, Bruce Sudano, Michael Omartian
Producer(s) Michael Omartian
Peak chart positions

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Gospel music is a musical genre characterized by dominant vocals (often with strong use of harmony) referencing lyrics of a religious nature, particularly Christian. Subgenres include contemporary gospel, urban contemporary gospel (sometimes referred to as "black gospel"), and
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Matthew Ward and similar names have been used by various people:
  • Matthew Ward, Singer
  • Matthew Ward, Writer
  • Edward Matthew Ward, Painter

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Reggae is a music genre developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.

The term 'reggae' is sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, although the word specifically indicates a particular music style that originated after the development of ska and
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B-side(s) Woman
Released 1983
Format 7" single, 12" single
Recorded 1983
Genre Reggae/pop
Label Mercury
Writer(s) Donna Summer, Michael Omartian
Producer(s) Michael Omartian
Certification Gold (US)
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Musical Youth formed in 1979 at Duddeston Manor School, Birmingham, England. This pop/reggae influenced group, featured two sets of brothers, Kelvin and Michael Grant, plus Junior and Patrick Waite.
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