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"She Works Hard for the Money" is a song by American singer Donna Summer from her eleventh studio album of the same name (1983). The song was written by Michael Omartian and Summer, and produced by the former. It was released as the lead single in 1983 from the album by Mercury Records. It became a hit for Summer and is one of her signature songs, reaching number one for a three-week stay atop the Billboard R&B singles chart (her first since 1979), number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and number three on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart. The single ended up as Billboards fifteenth-best performing song of 1983. Summer performed the song live as the opening of the 1984 Grammy Awards.

Background and composition[]

Co-written with Omartian, the song tells a story of a hard-working blue-collar woman. It was based on Summer's inspiration she had on the night of February 23–24, 1983, after the 25th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony when she attended an after-party at the West Hollywood restaurant Chasen's. Summer encountered a restroom attendant named Onetta Johnson who was exhausted from working long hours. Summer herself described the scene in December 1986 on the television program You Write the Songs:

I was at Chasen's at a party for Julio Iglesias and I went to the ladies' room with my manager [Susan Muneo] and there was a little woman... First of all we walk in the room and we heard a TV set going, and I thought to myself "what kind of restaurant is this, that they would have a television in the ladies' room? This must be pretty posh." And so we peeked around the corner, and there was a little lady sitting there with her head tilted to the side and she was just gone—she was asleep. And the TV was just blasting loud. And I looked at her and my heart just filled up with compassion for this lady, and I thought to myself, "God, she works hard for the money, cooped up in this stinky little room all night." Then I thought about it, and I said, "She works hard for the money... She works hard for the money... Susan! She works hard for the money! This is it! This is it! I know this is it!"

Summer quickly wrote down the title and presented it the next day at the house of her producer Omartian; he helped her flesh out the words and music, to become the final song written for the album. Johnson agreed to be photographed for the album's rear cover, standing in a diner with Summer, the two wearing matching waitress outfits. The first verse of the song starts "Onetta there in the corner stand".

According to MusicNotes.com, the song is performed in the key of G♯ minor in common time with a tempo of 136 beats per minute. Summer's vocals span from G♯3 to D♯5

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