Happy 35th anniversary, Madonna!
Dance and Sing get up and do your thing…
That’s the line that started it all for both Madonna and her fans, a line from her first single, Everybody.
Everybody was released by Sire Records 35 years ago, on October 6th 1982, and it’s amazing to think what a long ride we had with such a prolific artist.
Written by Madonna and produced by DJ Mark Kamins, Everybody was one of the four songs on the demo that the soon to be Queen of Pop carried around everywhere when she was looking for a record company signing.
The song was later re-worked for her You Can Dance album (1987) and an early version was featured on Steven Bray’s Pre-Madonna album (1996).
Live on stage, Madonna first performed Everybody on The Virgin Tour in 1985, while the Dance and sing, get up and do your thing line made the opening sequence of her Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990. The song returned in its full version as the closing number of The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993, with an intro from Sly & The Family Stone’s Everybody is a Star.
Stuart Price created the fantastic version we heard on Madonna’s Confessions On A Dance Floor promo appearance at Coachella in 2005. To mark its 30th anniversary, Madonna made a special performance of her first single during the MDNA Tour show in San Jose on October 6, 2012. In 2015 Everybody was part of the first version of the classic hits medley on Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour together with Dress You Up, Into the Groove and Lucky Star.
Here’s a look at the classic vinyl cover of the original 12″ single, a montage designed by Lou Beach, that strangely enough doesn’t feature an image of the artist that later became one of the world’s most famous trendsetters: Madonna!
