When a Ladies’ Room Attendant Inspired Donna Summer’s ‘She Works Hard for the Money’

‘100 Greatest Soul Songs’ Book Excerpt

Frank Mastropolo

Mercury

“She Works Hard for the Money” is the title track of Donna Summer’s 1983 album. Released as the lead single, it was a №1 R&B hit that year. Summer wrote the song with producer Michael Omartian.

Its inspiration came after the February 1983 Grammy Awards ceremony when Summer attended a party at Chasen’s restaurant in West Hollywood. Summer and manager Susan Muneo encountered an exhausted restroom attendant named Onetta Johnson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8EkGUm9q_A

“I was at Chasen’s at a party for Julio Iglesias,” Summer explained on You Write the Songs. “I went to the ladies’ room with my manager. 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.’

“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!’”

Mercury

The next day Summer brought the idea to Omartian and the two completed the lyrics and music. Johnson, who is name-checked in the song, was photographed with Summer for the album’s rear cover. The two are standing in a diner wearing matching waitress outfits.

Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Greatest Soul Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.