Songfacts®:

• This energetic dance banger has vocals by Martha Wash, who belted out that "Everybody Dance Now!" line. She was a member of The Weather Girls ("It's Raining Men") and provided vocals for the group Black Box. Wash 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 the 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, including the follow-up hit "Here We Go."
• 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."
  
  It was also used in these TV shows:
  
  Fresh Off The Boat ("The Flush" - 2017)
  Bob's Burgers ("A River Runs Through Bob" - 2013)
  Parks And Recreation ("Ron And Tammys" - 2011)
  The Mentalist ("Rose-Colored Glasses" - 2010)
  30 Rock ("Retreat To Move Forward" - 2009)
  Roswell ("I Married An Alien" - 2002)
  The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air ("Banks Shot" - 1991, "The Big Four-Oh" - 1991)
  
  And in these movies:
  
  Annie (2014)
  Evan Almighty (2007)
  Chicken Little (2005)
  Jarhead (2005)
  Robots (2005)
  Old School (2003)
  The Replacements (2000)
  Superstar (1999)
  Space Jam (1996)
• This was used in several episodes of The Simpsons, starting with "Bart Gets Famous" (1994).