Before Everybody, Madonna Ciccone struggled in NYC. She landed her big break with Sire Records through a series of lucky (or well-planned) romances. One was with the late Mark Kamins who DJ’d at Danceteria, the four-story center of the NY nightlife and music scene in 1982. This was the club’s second incarnation, at the first, I met (and hooked up with) artist Keith Haring who was a bus boy there –but not for long. One night, Madonna convinced Kamins to play Everybody and in his own words;
“It worked.”
Kamins knew people at Sire, and soon Madonna had signed a $15,000 two-single deal. Everybody really took off after Sire executives saw Madonna performing this song at Danceteria at Haoui Montaug‘s cabaret No Entiendes. (Btw, Haoui was my boyfriend at the time but I missed this show…) In this first-ever performance at Danceteria, you get to see Madge’s dance moves and supreme confidence. It might seem a bit amateurish, compared to today, but this was a slick show for the time. No singers or bands had real choreography in a nightclub. Watch. The rest is herstory.