It’s been 25 years since we first heard the soulful demand, “Everybody dance now,” but throw “Gonna Make You Sweat” on today and it will still inspire crowds to do just that.
The winter of 1990 was a high point for Freedom Williams, and the rest of C+C Music Factory. They’d just released what would turn out to be one of the biggest singles of the decade, and were riding high, appearing on seemingly every radio station’s playlist, and on every music video show.
Their ride took a sharp turn, however, when it was revealed Zelma Davis, who was in the video for “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” was not the woman singing the chorus.
Williams, having been there from day one, sat down with Myspace to talk about all things “Gonna Make You Sweat,” including the highlights, and the lowlights, and how he dealt with both. Williams also discussed his latest work, and hitting the road for the I Love The '90s tour. Hop to the next page to read the full interview.
This year is the 25th anniversary of “Gonna Make You Sweat.” When did you realize the song was going to be something way bigger than you might have initially imagined?
When I saw myself on the jumbotron in Times Square.
We’d made several records before this … I was kind of in the mix, but when I saw the jumbotron, and I saw Michael Jordan was doing the “jump to the rhythm, jump jump,” highlight reel, and they were taking all of his dunks, I was like, you know what, this might just be a little bit different than what we did before.
Before you saw that, were you just having a regular day?
Yeah. I was walking down the block. I saw the video, and I just stood there, and I was like OK, this is not normal. [laughs]
It became the new normal for a little while.
Yeah, it did. It became the new normal for a minute, but you’re so busy doing it, you don’t really think about doing it too much.
It’s like flying an airplane. There are so many things you have to do to keep the plane afloat. If you’ve done it 20 times, you’re kind of automatic, but if it’s your first flight, your first solo flight, your first flight where you’re in control, you’re kinda like OK, alright, this is really cool that I’m going over this mountain, but I don’t want to hit it, so let me really focus.
That’s kind of how music is, you’re focused on being the best. That’s why a lot of artists act out. You get on the road, and you trash the hotel, and you act a little crazy because there’s so much pressure to focus, and to maintain.
When did you feel that kind of pressure during your initial run?
I almost had a nervous breakdown in Puerto Rico one time; trying to go to the gym, trying to go to rehearsal, trying to go to this, trying to do that, because you have to maintain, you have to keep up with it all.
It’s not really normal for you to be completely enamored with your own success, and when there are people screaming at you all day, girls are coming at you … It will cause you to really think – I didn’t cure cancer, I didn’t cure polio, I didn’t do the first open heart surgery.
You’ve gotta kinda start telling yourself that there’s something that you’re not.
Do you still have any memorabilia from that era?
You know I’ve moved so many times … I used to have the glasses from “Gonna Make You Sweat,” which I bought on 42nd street for $5.
Obviously I have a lot of the trophies, the AMAs, and stuff. I have a lot of the magazine articles. I kept the AMA invitations. I have the Grammy invitations. Your name is in the Grammy manual, I have that.
We didn’t win a Grammy the year we were up, but they gave everyone a medallion.
There have been a number of controversies surrounding C+C Music Factory, and specifically, “Gonna Make You Sweat.” Tell us about how Zelma Davis, and not Martha Walsh, ended up in the video for the song.
That type of vocal imaging has been going on for years.
You remember the movie The Five Heartbeats, they touched on it.
Ben E. King was in The Drifters, and George Treadwell fired Ben E. King and replaced him with another singer. (Charlie Thomas then lip-synched the songs King had recorded with the group)
When we did the Soul Train Awards, everyone lip syncs on the Soul Train Awards, except Mr. James Brown. I did it, Rakim did it, Heavy D did it. They would always have your vocals playing over the music.
It’s funny because I’m doing a book now called Lip Sync that kind of touches on that phenomenon. It’s trying to educate the public as to what’s actually going on with vocals.
Obviously you want to see the original vocalist, but it doesn’t always happen that way. When Audrey Hepburn did My Fair Lady, a lady named Marni Nixon actually did all the vocals. She did all the singing vocals on My Fair Lady, she did all the singing vocals on The King and I, she did all the singing vocals on West Side Story.
20th Century Fox actually threatened her, at the time, not to tell anyone. Eventually she became tired of doing it, and became her own Broadway sensation.
So that type of thing is not uncommon. Sometimes you do it because you have to do it.
Martha Walsh wasn’t really prepared to go on the road. You remember, when “Gonna Make You Sweat” came out, I was 24, 25. I had to go and do 50 free shows to do one paid show, and do all of these in-stores for Columbia Records. You couldn’t really ask an industry veteran like Martha Walsh to do that, so I brought Zelma into the group.
Zelma was a friend of mine from uptown. I was introduced to her by my choreographer. She sang on “Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll),” and “Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…” and she would’ve probably sung “Gonna Make You Sweat,” but she wasn’t in the group at the time.
I was just surprised that Martha wanted to sue us, because she did it knowing that she had done it before (she sang the vocals on Black Box’s Dreamland album), so that was what was really interesting about it.
Moving to the present, you’re currently on the “I Love The ‘90s” tour, and you’re also recording new music. What can you tell us about what’s in the works?
I got a couple of records out. I got a record called “Killin’ ‘Em.” I got a record called “Sweat 25,” the 25th anniversary of “Gonna Make You Sweat.” I have another record out that’s called “Light It Up.” Terminator X is doing a remix on the Gonna Make You Sweat album.
We’re always making records, so we’re definitely gonna put some new tracks out. I test ‘em out in the audience.
You can’t introduce every song live, because of the way a song may be structured. It’s really the melody, because since the audience doesn’t know the words, they have to know a melody, so you gotta give ‘em melody.
There’s been a fight regarding the C+C Music Factory name, and that fight has become very public on social media. Is this a relationship that’s going to be able to be mended over time?
Probably not. I’m not a big fan of the old guy I was in the group with, Robert Clivilles. I think he’s a … I won’t use the expletive. I’m not a big fan of his. We didn’t get along before, we’re never gonna get along, probably.
We were able to make records. I hold the trademark, and I’m pretty much the face of C+C, and he doesn’t tour, so that’s what it is.
Things are always a bit uncomfortable when everything gets aired out in public.
It might get a little worse before it gets better.
Sometimes, when people like to air their dirty laundry in the public, then you have to get some more laundry and hang it out to dry. So it will probably get worse before it gets better, but we’ll see what happens.
Want more blasts from the past? Check out our #ThrowbackThursday page.
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