Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” won the inaugural Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
The song appeared as the lead single from Summer’s 1979 album Bad Girls. Written by Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey, it pushed beyond her established disco sound by combining a dance-oriented rhythm with prominent rock guitar. Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, formerly of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, played the featured guitar solo.
At the 22nd Grammy Awards in 1980, “Hot Stuff” won the newly introduced female rock vocal category. Summer became its first recipient and the first Black artist to win a Grammy in a rock category. The award is sometimes described using the later title “Best Female Rock Vocal Performance”; the category was originally styled “Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female.”
The victory did not mean Summer had abandoned disco. “Hot Stuff” remained a dance hit as well as a rock crossover, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and helping make Bad Girls one of her most successful albums. Her earlier “Last Dance” won a Grammy in the female R&B vocal category.