"Everybody Everybody" is a song by the Italian

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

group

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

, 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 RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

as the third

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album. The house,

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

Eurodisco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop music, pop and rock music, rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco ...

song consists of an

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, drums,

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

. "Everybody Everybody" contains a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

Larry Blackmon Larry Ernest Blackmon (born May 29, 1956) is an American vocalist and musician, known as the lead singer, founder and frontman of the funk and R&B band Cameo. Musical career Starting the band "East Coast", Blackmon formed the "New York Ci ...

's vocals and a drum loop from

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader, and talent dedicated. He played a part in the development of soul and funk m ...

's 1987

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

's song "

Hot Pants Hotpants or hot pants are extremely short shorts. The term was first used by ''Women's Wear Daily'' in 1970 to describe shorts made in luxury fabrics such as velvet and satin for fashionable wear, rather than their more practical equivalents t ...

" (1971). The song contains uncredited vocals by American singer

Martha Wash Martha Elaine Wash (born December 28, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the The Weather Girls, Two Tons O' Fun, along with Izora Armstead, as they sang b ...

, 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 Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, 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 The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, formerly the Official New Zealand Music Chart (), is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The M ...

, and at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. An accompanying music video was released in 1990, which depicts Katrin Quinol

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

hing the song in a unitard.

Background and controversy

In 1989,

was approached by Black Box, then known as Groove Groove Melody, to record

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

for other musicians in exchange for a

flat fee A flat fee, also referred to as a flat rate or a linear rate refers to a pricing structure that charges a single fixed fee for a service, regardless of usage. Less commonly, the term may refer to a rate that does not vary with usage or time of u ...

payment. 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 Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

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

continuously stated that Quinol was the

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

of each song, in response to publications such as ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' insisting that another singer appeared on the album. On 21 November 1990, several consumer

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuits were issued in the Los Angeles

Federal District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

relating to

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli ( ) was a German duo R&B music act from Munich. The act was created in 1988 by Frank Farian, founder of Boney M., and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus as the lip-syncing performers, with the two actual main studio sing ...

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. Wash sued the Black Box members in September 1990 for

false advertising False advertising is the act of publishing, transmitting, distributing or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally, or recklessly, to promote the sale of property, goods or servi ...

and uncredited vocals, but was settled out-of-court in December 1990. She eventually signed an eight-year contract with the record label to record eight individual albums, in addition to a financed national tour. RCA Records additionally recognised Wash as the "principal voice" on ''Dreamland'' and insisted that Black Box's producers were the cause of her "discrimination".

Composition and critical reception

"Everybody Everybody" is a

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

, and

song, which contains a "house-inspired rhythmic base", a

syncopated In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...

drum loop from

's 1987

's song "

" (1971), and a

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located in ...

-styled

. It uses

and

to create a "

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

-era influence", which ''Billboard'' staff compared to the atmosphere of

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

. According to the song's

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

that was published on Musicnotes.com, it is set in the

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

of common time, with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 118 beats per minute, while composed in the key of

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp ...

. Wash's voice on the track ranges from the low note of A₃ to the high note of F₅, while the song is constructed in

verse–chorus form Verse–chorus form is a musical form going back to the 1840s, in such songs as "Oh! Susanna", " The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", and many others. It became passé in the early 1900s, with advent of the AABA (with verse) form in the T ...

. A

of Cameo lead singer

's vocals is periodically used throughout the song, where an "ow" is heard in the lyrics. Wash performs a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

-influenced belt, as Marisa Fox of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' described her vocals as "grand-

diva Diva (, ) is the Latin word for a goddess. Diva is a name from Roman mythology, and is associated with the nouns divus, diva, which means god, goddess, and the adjective divinius, which means divine or heavenly. It has often been used to refer t ...

"-styled over the song's "roaring sound". ''Billboard'' writer Bill Coleman described "Everybody Everybody" as "thoroughly contagious" and stated that the vocals and lyrics are "uplifting". John Leland of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' stated that the song is the "dance-party anthem of the season". Writing for ''The Network Forty'', Yvette Ziraldo opined that the production is "infectious", while Chris Heath of ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' declared it as "almost brilliant". Ernest Hardy of '' Cashbox'' complimented the song's "raw vocal" alongside the production's "relentless

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

", but noted the similar sound with Black Box's previous singles " Ride on Time" and "

I Don't Know Anybody Else "I Don't Know Anybody Else" is a song by Italian music group Black Box. It was the second single from their debut album, '' Dreamland'' (1990), and was originally released in the United States in December 1989 by RCA. The single was released wor ...

". ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' writer Roger Morton praised the song as a successor to "Ride on Time" with its "burnished gold vocal , but recognized that they were lip-synched.

Commercial performance and music video

In June 1990, "Everybody Everybody" appeared in dance clubs, with its popularity resulting in

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

and

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

stations. 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. It also topped the

Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart issued 21 July 1990, and charted for 10 weeks. On the 3 June 1990, issue of the UK Singles Chart, "Everybody Everybody" peaked at number 16 and charted for six weeks. The song bowed at number 35 on the Australian

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, and reached number 11 on the

. An accompanying music video for "Everybody Everybody" was released, which depicts Quinol squatting while wearing a unitard and

hing 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. She described Quinol's appearance as being " ixfeet tall, very skinny

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is i ...

cobalt-blue eyes" and suggested that such models were utilised in various music videos as "props". Writing for the ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute f ...

'', Jean Carey considered the video to be "lame" and wrote that it "encourage the rumors" about "the group's mystery vocalist".

Legacy

In 2009, ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

'' staff ranked "Everybody Everybody" 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. In 2010, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' writer David Raposa ranked the song on their list of "Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s" at number 171, stating that the Cameo sample distinguished it from other "pop-house bandwagoners". In 2017,

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

staff ranked it number 14 on their "101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s" list. ''Billboard'' magazine ranked "Everybody Everybody" number 457 in their "Top Songs of the '90s". In 2022, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' staff ranked the song number 194 on their "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" list. In March 2025, ''Billboard'' staff ranked it number 41 in their list of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time", writing, "Still, it's Wash's burn-the-house-down performance that elevates the otherwise kitschy to something iconic."

In popular culture

Dominican-American group

Proyecto Uno Proyecto Uno (from Spanish into English: Project One) is a Dominican-American Hip hop/ Merengue house group which helped popularize a style of music that blends merengue with techno, dancehall, hip-hop/ rap and reggae music. The band was found ...

covered the song under the title "Todo El Mundo", with

Remezcla Remezcla is an American media company focusing on the Latin American cultural sphere. It serves the millennial market. History The brand was founded by Claire Frisbie, Andrew Herrera and Nuria Net in 2006, had no outside funding; it first re ...

writer Cheky acknowledging that it connected with "Black-American culture" and made the

merenhouse Merenhouse, Merenrap or Electronic merengue, Mambo/Mambo de Calle is a style of Dominican Merengue music derived by blending it with dancehall, hip hop and house, particularly latin house. The mix of Latin, house and dancehall music started in ...

genre prevalent. A cutaway segment on the episode of American animated series ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'' titled "

Play It Again, Brian "Play It Again, Brian" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of ''Family Guy''. The episode originally was broadcast on Fox on March 2, 2008. The episode follows Peter and Lois, who are going through a rough time in their marriage. Brian invi ...

" included "Everybody Everybody", which was performed by the character

Cleveland Brown Cleveland Orenthal Brown Sr. is a fictional character from the animated television series ''Family Guy'', and its spin-off series ''The Cleveland Show''. He is a neighbor and friend of the Griffin family and is best known for his mild-mannered d ...

. The segment was included on top-10 listicles by ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' and ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

'' staff for highlights involving Brown. The song was played on the final episode of the FX series '' The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story'', where ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' writer Tricia Romano compared the lyrics of Wash's vocals, "Sad and free", to

O. J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024), also known by his nickname "the Juice", was an American professional American football, football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) ...

's acquittal in the

O. J. Simpson murder case ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a Criminal procedure, criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which former National Football League, NFL player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitt ...

. "Everybody Everybody" was included on the third season of American

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

series ''

Master of None ''Master of None'' is an American comedy drama television series, which was released for streaming on November 6, 2015, on Netflix. The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, with the first two seasons starring Ansari in the lead rol ...

'', as the characters Alicia and Denise danced to the song while doing laundry.

Track listing

Canadian

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

UK 12-inch single Australian

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single (music), single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was introduced in 1980 in music, 1 ...

(Love Unlimited Edit) West German

maxi single A maxi single, maxi-single, or maxi CD (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. Maxi singles are often mistaken for extended plays (EPs), especial ...

1 West German maxi single 2 West German

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

West German 12-inch single (House Special)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Everybody Everybody (Song) 1989 songs 1990 singles Black Box (band) songs Martha Wash songs RCA Records singles