Later career

Summer briefly regained her hit luster again in 1989 with Another Place and Time, an album-length collaboration with England's top dance-pop production team Stock Aitken Waterman. This Time I Know It's For Real became Donna's fourteenth Top 10 Billboard Pop hit in US and returned to her to Gold-single status. It was also a huge success at Adult Contemporary radio, holding at #2 for four weeks. Another track, I Don't Wanna Get Hurt, was a Top Ten UK hit. The follow-up US single, Love's About To Change My Heart, became a moderate Dance chart hit but stalled at #85 on the Pop chart. The album sold respectably worldwide, but peaked at #53 and topped off at a disappointing 300,000 copies in the States.

In 1991, she released Mistaken Identity, which was an attempt at incorporating New Jack Swing and Urban Contemporary R&B into her music. The album tanked, selling around 50,000 copies and failing to even appear on the Billboard Album Chart (but did make it to #97 on the Top R&B Albums chart). Summer scored a modest urban chart hit with When Love Cries (#18 R&B), and an underground club hit with Work That Magic. In 1992, Summer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The year also saw her collaborate with Giorgio Moroder for the first time in over a decade with the song Carry On. First featured on his Forever Dancing album, the following year the track would be featured on the double album The Donna Summer Anthology. This compilation also featured two exclusive remixes from the unreleased I'm a Rainbow album recorded back in 1981. It would be a while before her next release as she decided to take some time out to spend with her family.

A gospel-influenced Christmas album entitled Christmas Spirit in 1994 became Summer's first full-length album in over three years, and a new compilation entitled Endless Summer (both released by PolyGram) also contained a couple of new tracks, including Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved), which became a huge hit on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

In 1995, a re-release of I Feel Love (with newly recorded vocals) as a dance remix, became a hit again in the UK, reaching #8 there. The following year she would score another Top 20 there with a new remix of State of Independence. In 1996, Summer's album I'm a Rainbow was finally released by Polygram's Mercury Records.

In 1998, Summer was the first artist to receive a Grammy award for Best Dance Recording for her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, Carry On, after the song was remixed and released as a single. In 1999, Summer starred in a televised live concert on the VH1 network entitled Donna Summer - Live and More Encore. The special earned the network their highest ratings of the year, second only to their annual Divas concert. Performing a string of her classics and new singles, she also sang Dim All the Lights as a tribute to Rod Stewart. Summer acknowledges that she wrote the song for Stewart but recorded it herself. She also performed an updated version of No More Tears with Australian pop diva Tina Arena. A live CD of the special (on the Epic label) and DVD of the special were released, returning the singer back to the U.S. albums chart. Summer scored two number-one dance hits that year with I Will Go With You and Love Is the Healer (both found as new studio tracks on the live album). During that year, Summer recorded the theme song for Pok?mon: The Movie 2000, entitled The Power Of One. Around this time, Summer also recorded the song Dreamcatcher for the Naturally Native Original Soundtrack.

In 2003, Donna Summer released a greatest-hits compilation called The Journey, which rocketed into the UK Top 10 in the following year thanks to her appearance on an ITV1 show. Discomania found Summer co-presenting & singing a number of her hits: a Hot Stuff/Bad Girls medley, MacArthur Park, Last Dance, & a duet with Westlife on No More Tears (Enough is Enough) - which appeared on the Discomania soundtrack album.