Donna Summer - She Works Hard for the Money

"She Works Hard for the Money" is a 1983 song by American singer Donna Summer. It was the first single released from the album of the same name.

Summer performed the song live at the beginning of the 1984 Grammy Awards. Summer was nominated for but did not win in the category of Best Pop Vocal Performance Female. Summer's Grammy performance was released on the 1994 video cassette Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I.

Built on a rock-dance fusion, the song became a hit for Summer and one of the singer's signature songs, reaching no. 1 for a three-week stay atop the R&B chart (her first since 1979), number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and no. 3 on the dance chart.

The music video for the song, directed by Brian Grant, debuted on MTV and became the first video by an African American female artist to be placed in "heavy rotation" (a term used by MTV at the time to indicate a frequently-aired video). The video shows a woman, working as a waitress in a diner, who is burdened with many situations in her life such as work and raising two unruly children. It is also seen that she has abandoned her hopes of being a ballerina. Summer appears as an observer through a kitchen window, a woman who assists the fallen-down protagonist of the video, and, at the end, a leader of a troupe of women, in various work uniforms, who have taken to the streets to signify their independence and gain recognition for their "hard work". The protagonist is also seen dancing in the street with them.