''Workin' Overtime'' is the eighteenth studio album by American singer

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

, released on June 6, 1989, by

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. Her first Motown album with new material since '' To Love Again'' (1981) after a short stint with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

, Ross reunited with frequent collaborator

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

, chief producer of her most successful album to date '' Diana'' (1980), to make this album which was an attempt to gear her to a much younger audience bringing in

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...

productions and

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

. Upon its release, ''Workin' Overtime'' received negative reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

and failed commercially despite the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

reaching number three on the ''Billboard''

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. The album reached the top thirty in Sweden and the United Kingdom and peaked at number 116 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, earning the distinction of becoming the lowest-charting studio album of Ross' entire solo career. Additional singles "This House" and "Bottom Line" were issued, as well as a

Shep Pettibone Robert "Shep" Pettibone (born 10 July 1959) is an American record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. Career Shep Pettibone surfaced after his work with Arthur Baker on Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazz ...

remix of "Paradise", but all failed to revive the album's sales. The album was supported by a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

, the ''Workin' Overtime World Tour''.

Background

Following the release of her album ''

Red Hot Rhythm & Blues ''Red Hot Rhythm and Blues'' is the seventeenth studio album by American R&B singer Diana Ross, released on May 8, 1987, by RCA Records and EMI Records. It was Ross' last of six albums released by the label during the decade. It was produced b ...

'' (1987), Ross gave birth to her son Ross and became pregnant with

Evan Evan is a Welsh language, Welsh masculine given name, derived from ''Iefan'', a Welsh form of the name John (name), John. Similar names that share this origin include Euan, Ivan (name), Ivan, Ian, and Juan. "John" itself is derived from the ancie ...

, which caused her to go on a hiatus from work. "I stayed off work for about a year... I was having my babies, and during that time I spent a lot of time watching BET on television, the kids doing the

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

and so on... and, you know, I’m a risk taker," Ross said. Nathan, David
''The Soulful Divas: Personal Portraits of Over a Dozen Divine Divas, from Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin & Diana Ross to Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston & Janet Jackson''
Billboard Books, , Google Book Search, 1999. ''Workin' Overtime'' marked Ross' first Motown album with new material since '' To Love Again'' (1981), after Ross left the label for a then record breaking $20 million deal with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. Upon Diana's return to the label, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. had sold the label to

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

and had positioned Jheryl Busby to the head of Motown. Ross was at first reluctant to return to her old label but Gordy promised her a lot in her return: Not only would Ross return to Motown as a recording act, but she would be the label's part-owner.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor Ron Wynn wrote that "this album was the first product of that new contract, and the results weren't very encouraging. There were no moderate or even small hits, and the album quickly dropped off both the R&B and pop charts within a couple of weeks of its release. Ross sounded completely lost, and the production, arrangements, and compositions sounded weak and thin next to the dominant New Jack and hip-hop works." Despite this review the album did spend 19 weeks on the Billboard R&B albums chart.

Track listing

All songs produced by

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. ;Performers *

– vocals, executive producer *Christopher Max – backing vocals, synth programming *Curtis King – backing vocals *Dennis Collins – backing vocals *

Fonzi Thornton Alfonso "Fonzi" Thornton is an American vocalist, songwriter, producer and vocal contractor. In a career spanning 40 years, Thornton has sung backing vocals for top artists across many genres of music. His vocal credits can be found on the re ...

– backing vocals *Lazet Michaels – backing vocals *Peggy Taft – backing vocals *

– producer * Andres Levin – synth programming *Greg Smith – synth programming, mixing *Richard Hilton – synth programming, engineer ;Design *

Herb Ritts Herbert Ritts Jr. (August 13, 1952 – December 26, 2002) was an American fashion photographer and director known for his photographs of celebrities, models, and other cultural figures throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His work concentrated on b ...

– photography *Sue Reilly – art direction, design ;Production *Budd Tunick – coordinator *Rene Bell – coordinator *Tom Durack – engineer, mixing *Keith Freedman – engineer, mixing *

Patrick Dillett Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

– engineer *David Michael Dill – engineer *Paul Wertheimer – engineer *Ed Brooks – engineer *Karen Bohanon – engineer *Katherine Miller – engineer *Paul Angelli – engineer *

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

– mastering *Frank Cardello – mixing

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1989 albums Diana Ross albums Motown albums New jack swing albums Albums produced by Nile Rodgers