Cats Without Claws

Cats Without Claws is the twelfth studio album by American pop singer Donna Summer, released on September 11, 1984. Summer had achieved monumental fame during the disco era of the 1970s, and in 1980 was signed to Geffen Records. She had had some degree of success with them, though her previous album had been released on another label. It peaked at No. 40 on Billboard's album chart, failing to attain the success of its predecessor which peaked at No. 9.

Cats Without Claws
Studio album by Donna Summer
Released	September 11, 1984
Recorded	October 1983–June 1984
Studio	Lion Share, Los Angeles Rhema, Beverly Hills United Western, Hollywood
Genre	Pop synth-pop dance post-disco rock new wave gospel
Length	44:36
Label	Geffen
Producer	Michael Omartian
Donna Summer chronology
She Works Hard for the Money (1983) Cats Without Claws (1984) The Summer Collection: Greatest Hits (1985)
Singles from Cats Without Claws
"There Goes My Baby" Released: July 5, 1984 "Supernatural Love" Released: October 23, 1984 "Eyes" Released: May 14, 1985 (UK)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B[2]

Her previous studio album, She Works Hard for the Money (1983), gained more fame and success since the disco era, and as a result, its producer Michael Omartian was asked to produce the next studio album as well. Again the majority of tracks were written by Summer and Omartian, though a couple of other writers were credited including Summer's husband known as Bruce Sudano. As with the previous studio album, Cats Without Claws was pop and dance oriented but included soulful ballads. The album also contained a cover version of "There Goes My Baby", originally made popular by the Drifters, which became the first single. Although Summer requested "Oh Billy Please" as the first single, again Geffen and his executives rejected her request. A gospel song written by Reba Rambo and Dony McGuire entitled "Forgive Me" would win Summer a Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance.^[3][4]

Cats Without Claws produced three singles: "There Goes My Baby", "Supernatural Love" (also released as a 12" Single) and "Eyes". The song, “There Goes My Baby" reached No. 21 on the pop chart. This album also included 12" dance remixes included "Eyes" and "I'm Free". A 40th Anniversary re-issue was released April 18, 2025.

Commercial performance

Cats Without Claws peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200 chart and spent only 17 weeks on the chart. The album failed to attain the success of its predecessor, She Works Hard for the Money, which peaked at number 9. It reached a peak of number 69 on the UK Albums Chart, and was commercially unsuccessful.

The 40th Anniversary edition of the album was released April 18, 2025.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Supernatural Love"	Omartian Bruce Sudano Summer	3:33
2.	"It's Not the Way"		4:22
3.	"There Goes My Baby"	Benjamin Nelson Lover Patterson George Treadwell	4:05
4.	"Suzanna"		4:29
5.	"Cats Without Claws"		4:20

All tracks are written by Michael Omartian and Donna Summer, except where noted..

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"Oh Billy Please"		4:55
7.	"Eyes"		4:45
8.	"Maybe It's Over"	Summer	4:43
9.	"I'm Free"	Omartian Sudano Summer	4:29
10.	"Forgive Me"	Dony McGuire Reba Rambo	4:30
Total length:			44:36

2014 Demon Music Group bonus tracks^[5]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Face the Music"	Sudano Summer	4:14
12.	"Eyes" (Jellybean 7" Remix Edit[6])		3:46
13.	"Supernatural Love" (Extended Dance Remix)	Omartian Sudano Summer	6:12
14.	"Eyes" (Extended Mix)		6:58
15.	"I'm Free" (Extended Mix)	Omartian Sudano Summer	6:18

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the Cats Without Claws liner notes.^[7]

Musicians

• Donna Summer – lead vocals
• Michael Omartian – keyboards, additional drums, additional percussion
• Erich Bulling – Yamaha DX1 and Yamaha DX7 programming
• Paul Jackson Jr. – guitars
• Michael Landau – guitars
• Nathan East – bass guitar
• Mike Baird – drums
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion
• Gary Herbig – saxophone solos
• Dara Bernard – backing vocals
• Mary Ellen Bernard – backing vocals
• Cydney Davis – backing vocals
• Siedah Garrett – backing vocals
• Khaliq Glover – backing vocals
• Portia Griffin – backing vocals
• Susannah Melvoin – backing vocals
• Bruce Sudano – backing vocals
• Gene Van Buren – backing vocals
• Kin Vassy – backing vocals
• Terry Williams – backing vocals

Production and artwork

• Michael Omartian – producer, arrangements
• John Guess – engineer, mixing (1, 3, 5, 7–10)
• Jürgen Koppers – mixing (2, 4, 6)
• David Ahlert – second engineer
• Larry Ferguson – second engineer
• Tom Fouce – second engineer
• Ross Palone – second engineer
• Steve Hall – mastering at Future Disc (Hollywood, California)
• Ronnie Puccinelli – production coordinator
• Chris Whorf – art direction
• Jeffrey Fey – design
• Harry Langdon – photography
• Susan Munao Management Co. Inc. – management

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart performance for Cats Without Claws

Chart (1984)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[8]	91
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[9]	19
European Albums (Music & Media)[10]	22
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11]	39
Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)[12]	25
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[13]	33
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[14]	15
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[15]	12
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16]	10
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17]	13
UK Albums (OCC)[18]	69
US Billboard 200[19]	40

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1984	"There Goes My Baby"	US Billboard Hot 100	21
	"Supernatural Love"	US Billboard Hot 100	75