DESCRIPTION:
After her influential and hugely successful rock disco LP "Bad Girls", Donna began to suffer from exhaustion. Looking back its not hard to see why. She was delivering album after album since her first hit "Love To Love You Baby" in 1976. The constant touring and pressure to create began to wear away and she began questioning everything about her life, her management, and most importantly herself. An emotional breakdown led her to a renewed fervor for spirituality so she became a born again Christian. She first sued Casablanca, Neil Bogart and her management team in 1980 for "undue influence, mismanagement and fraud". Bogart released her from her contract, and she was immediately signed to Geffen Records and set about changing her image, going further into the rock rhythms she explored on "Bad Girls". Her first LP "The Wanderer" (1980) was a new wavish rock album that resulted in a #3 hit in the title song and contained songs that were intensely personal. Her next effort saw the familiar Moroder-Belotte-Summer line up continue to explore the pop rock side of dance music on "I'm A Rainbow" (1981) that showcased her versatility. Two singles were leased to movie soundtracks, "Romeo" for "Flashdance" and "Highway Runner" on "Fast Times At Ridgemont High". The album was shelved by David Geffen, who didn't think it was commercial enough. He connected her with Quincy Jones, and it took six months to finalize the LP. She was recording during her pregnancy which added some stress. The LP contained a more funky pop soul approach along with a rock oriented single, courtesy of Bruce Springsteen called "Protection". The story is a little twisted. Geffen approached Jon Landau, Bruce's manager if he had a song for Donna. Bruce wrote and recorded a demo for her and handed it over to his manager. Landau heard the song called "Cover Me" and advised Bruce to keep it for himself. Springsteen then wrote "Protection" recorded that demo and registered it with the Copyright Office. While not released as a single in the US or Canada, it remains an underground favorite of her fans. Springsteen gave her the song and did not formally record it for himself. Rumor has it that they recorded a duet that is still in the vaults. Donna was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Female Rock Vocal Performance alongside Linda Ronstadt, Pat Benatar, Bonnie Raitt, and Kim Carnes.