C&C MUSIC FACTORY
GONNA MAKE YOU SWEAT
(EVERYBODY DANCE NOW)
«Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)» is a hit song by C+C Music Factory. It was released in late 1990 as the debut and lead single from their first album, Gonna Make You Sweat (1990). The song is sung by singer Martha Wash and rapper Freedom Williams. It charted internationally and achieved great success in the United States, Austria, Germany, and Sweden, where it reached number one on the charts.
Track information
- Released November 18, 1990
- Label Columbia
- Songwriter(s) Robert ClivillésFredrick B. Williams
- Producer(s)
Robert Clivillés Rodney AscueDavid Cole
Background and writing
Robert Clivillés wrote and produced an instrumental track that was to become «Gonna Make You Sweat». He offered the track to vocal trio Trilogy, but when they declined to record it, Clivillés decided to use the track for his and David Cole’s C+C Music Factory. The rap verse was performed by Freedom Williams and the female vocals by Martha Wash.
The music video showed Zelma Davis lip-syncing to the actual Wash’s vocal parts. After discovering that the group was using model-turned-singer Zelma Davis in the music video, Wash unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with the producers of the C+C Music Factory for sleeve credits and royalties. Additionally, the song used an edited compilation of vocal parts that Wash recorded in June 1990 for an unrelated demonstration tape. On December 11, 1991, Wash filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court against C+C Music Factory’s Robert Clivilles and David Cole, charging the producers and their record company, Sony Music Entertainment, with fraud, deceptive packaging, and commercial appropriation. The case was eventually settled in 1994, and as a result of the settlement, Sony made an unprecedented request to MTV to add a disclaimer that credited Wash for vocals and Zelma Davis (who lip-synced Wash’s vocals in the official music video) for «visualization» to the «Gonna Make You Sweat» music video.
Chart performance
The song held the top spot on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for five weeks in December 1990, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1991 (February 9 and February 16.) It also topped the Canadian RPM Dance/Urban chart. In Europe, it peaked at number-one in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The single made it to the Top 10 also in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece (number two), Iceland, Norway, Spain (number two), Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it hit number two. In the UK, «Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)» peaked at number three in its sixth week at the UK Singles Chart, on January 13, 1991, a full month before its American pop success. It even found success in the urban contemporary music world as it crossed over to the R&B charts where it reached number-one for a week. Additionally, it was a Top 20 hit in Ireland, a Top 30 hit in Italy and a Top 50 hit in France. In Oceania, the single peaked at number two and three in New Zealand and Australia. It earned a platinum record in the US, after 1 million singles were sold there.
Did you know?
Martha Wash sang on this, providing the powerful line, «Everybody Dance Now!» She was a member of The Weather Girls («It’s Raining Men») and provided vocals for the group Black Box. She was overweight and not very photogenic, so she was replaced in the video by a slender singer/model named Zelma Davis, who lip-synched her lines. Wash’s name didn’t make the initial album credits either. After some legal wrangling, she was given proper credit for her contribution. In the credits in the video for the song, this line was included: «Additional vocals by Martha Wash, visualized by Zelma Davis.»
This wasn’t the first time Martha was whitewashed – she sang on three #1 Dance hits for the act Black Box, and was replaced in those videos by a model. Wash sued both the Black Box and C+C producers, reaching a settlement that included a record deal as a solo artist.
C+C Music Factory were the US production and remix duo David Cole and Robert Clivilles. This was their first single under the C+C name, but they already had made hits with the Cover Girls and Seduction. David Cole died of meningitis in 1995.
According to Robert Clivilles, Martha Wash was asked to join the group but refused because she wanted to focus on being an R&B singer. He says she was replaced by Zelma Davis in the video because Davis was the main female voice in the group (if not this song), appearing on eight songs on the album.
The second choice for the «Everybody Dance Now» hook line was Jocelyn Brown, who can be heard singing «I’ve got the power» on the «The Power,» a 1990 hit for Snap!
In The Office episode «Cafe Disco» (2009), Michael Scott plays this through an air vent to entice the employees upstairs to visit his new dance-club cafe. It shows up again throughout the episode, including Andy and Kelly’s dance-off. It was also featured in the 2013 episode «Suit Warehouse.
