"Everybody Everybody" is a song by the Italian house music group Black Box, from their debut studio album, Dreamland (1990). The song was written by Daniele Davoli, Mirko Limoni, and Valerio Semplici, while produced by Groove Groove Melody. It was released by RCA Records as the third single from the album. The house, pop and Eurodisco song consists of an organ, drums, horns, and strings. "Everybody Everybody" contains a sampleofLarry Blackmon's vocals and a drum loop from Bobby Byrd's 1987 remixofJames Brown's song "Hot Pants" (1971).
The song contains uncredited vocals by American singer Martha Wash, who was replaced by French model Katrin Quinol as the credited vocalist who made several appearances with Black Box, which led Wash to file a lawsuit against the group.
"Everybody Everybody" received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the production and vocals. The song peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 10 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. An accompanying music video was released in 1990, which depicts Katrin Quinol lip synching the song in a unitard.
In 1989, Martha Wash was approached by Black Box, then known as Groove Groove Melody, to record demos for other musicians in exchange for a flat fee payment.[1] Wash recorded vocals for the songs in a five-day period, which were kept in six of nine songs from the group's debut studio album Dreamland (1990). However, she was not credited on the album's liner notes as French fashion model Katrin Quinol was brought in to phonetically learn the songs on Dreamland for seven months despite not knowing the English language, and made several appearances as part of the group. Black Box's record label RCA Records continuously stated that Quinol was the lead vocalist of each song,[2][3] in response to publications such as Billboard and The New York Times insisting that another singer appeared on the album.[4]
On 21 November 1990, several consumer class action lawsuits were issued in the Los Angeles Federal District Court relating to Milli Vanilli and Black Box. RCA Records initially believed that the vocals in Black Box's music belonged to Quinol, who was seen in the group's promotional material.[5] Wash sued the Black Box members in September 1990 for false advertising[3][4][6] and uncredited vocals,[7] but was settled out-of-court in December 1990.[8] She eventually signed an eight-year contract with the record label to record eight individual albums,[9] in addition to a financed national tour.[8] RCA Records additionally recognised Wash as the "principal voice" on Dreamland and insisted that Black Box's producers were the cause of her "discrimination".[10]
Billboard writer Bill Coleman described "Everybody Everybody" as "thoroughly contagious" and stated that the vocals and lyrics are "uplifting".[13]John LelandofNewsday stated that the song is the "dance-party anthem of the season".[3] Writing for The Network Forty, Yvette Ziraldo opined that the production is "infectious",[20] while Chris Heath of Smash Hits declared it as "almost brilliant".[21] Ernest Hardy of Cashbox complimented the song's "raw vocal" alongside the production's "relentless groove", but noted the similar sound with Black Box's previous singles "Ride on Time" and "I Don't Know Anybody Else".[22]NME writer Roger Morton praised the song as a successor to "Ride on Time" with its "burnished gold vocal[s]", but recognized that they were lip-synched.[23]
In 2009, Blender staff placed "Everybody Everybody" at number 335 on their 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born list and described it as "criminally buoyant" for "drunk wedding guests" to dance to.[12]Pitchfork writer David Raposa ranked the song on their list of Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s at number 171 in 2010, stating that the Cameo sample distinguished it from other "pop-house bandwagoners".[17]BuzzFeed staff listed it at number 14 on their 101 Greatest Dance Songs Of the '90s in 2017 list.[24]Billboard placed "Everybody Everybody" at number 457 in their ranking of their Top Songs of the '90s.[25] In 2022, Rolling Stone staff ranked the song at number 194 on their 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time list.[26]
In June 1990, "Everybody Everybody" appeared in dance clubs, with its popularity resulting in airplayonurban contemporary and contemporary hit radio stations.[2] In the United States, the song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated 20 October 1990, where it remained for 19 weeks.[27] It also topped the Dance Club Songs chart issued 21 July 1990, and charted for 10 weeks.[28] On the 3 June 1990, issue of the UK Singles Chart, "Everybody Everybody" peaked at number 16 and charted for six weeks.[29] The song bowed at number 35 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart,[30] and reached number 11 on the New Zealand Singles Chart.[31]
An accompanying music video for "Everybody Everybody" was released, which depicts Quinol squatting while wearing a unitard and lip synching the song's vocals. In late 1990, Wash saw the music video and called her manager after realising that she was uncredited on the song.[1] She described Quinol's appearance as being "[six]-feet tall, very skinny [with] cobalt-blue eyes" and suggested that such models were utilised in various music videos as "props".[2] Writing for the St. Petersburg Times, Jean Carey considered the video to be "lame" and wrote that it "encourage[d] the rumors" about "the group's mystery vocalist".[32]
Dominican-American group Proyecto Uno covered the song under the title "Todo El Mundo", with Remezcla writer Cheky acknowledging that it connected with "Black-American culture" and made the merenhouse genre prevalent.[33]
^Everybody Everybody (back cover). Black Box. Canada: RCA Records. 1990. 2628-1-RD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Everybody Everybody (back cover). Black Box. United Kingdom: Deconstruction Records. 1990. PT 43716.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Everybody Everybody (back cover). Black Box. Australia: BMG Ariola. 1990. CS 3715.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Everybody Everybody (back cover). Black Box. Germany: Polydor Records. 1990. 867 603-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Everybody Everybody (back cover). Black Box. Germany: Polydor Records. 1990. 877 305-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Everybody Everybody (back cover). Black Box. Germany: Deconstruction Records. 1990. PB 43715.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Everybody Everybody (back cover). Black Box. Germany: Polydor Records. 1990. 877 423-1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
