Madonna was born on August 16, 1958. She is the most successful musician of all time in terms of the number of records sold and has an unbeatable string of chart hits in her career spanning over 40 years.
If you ask diehard Madge fans about her first single, you’ll come across “Everybody” from 1982. It reached number 3 on the US Dance Charts. Her big break came with the hit “Holiday” a year later, in 1983.
However, things could have turned out very differently.
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Madonna had actually recorded another song to release as her debut single, but it was ultimately scrapped and used as the B-side to another single years later.
The song is “Ain’t No Big Deal,” which Madonna finally uploaded to her official YouTube channel just a few months ago, more than 40 years after it was first recorded.
Two individual offers
“Ain’t No Big Deal” was written by Madonna and Steve Bray.
Bray was Madonna’s boyfriend from Michigan who moved with her to New York. The two briefly had a band called The Breakfast Club. In 1981, they recorded several demos together, some of which ended up on Madonna’s first album.
When Madonna first signed with Sire, it wasn’t for an album, but for two singles. The label liked “Ain’t No Big Deal” and “Everybody.” So the original plan was to release “Ain’t No Big Deal” with “Everybody” as the B-side.
However, there was debate over who would produce the track. Alternate versions were produced by Bray, Mark Kamins and John “Jellybean” Benitez.
For unknown reasons, while Sire was planning to form Madonna, Bray decided to sell the rights to the song to July Fourth Music. The result was a female disco band called Barracuda, who recorded the song as their only single.
After Bray sold the rights and Sire presumably got wind that someone else was planning to release the song, Madonna’s version was scrapped. Sire opted for “Everybody” instead.
The two songs are both typical of Madonna’s early sound, with bouncy ’80s synths aimed at the dance floor. We’re sure most fans would agree that “Everybody” was ultimately the better single. However, it wasn’t until “Holiday” and “Lucky Star” in 1983 that she really hit her stride, followed by the gigantic success of “Like A Virgin” in 1984.
Revived as B-side
Madonna still liked “Ain’t No Big Deal,” however. Another version, produced by Reggie Lucas, was used as the B-side to “Papa Don’t Preach” in 1986.
Warners also included the song on an early 1984 multi-artist compilation entitled. Revenge of the Killer B’s, Volume 2. “Ain’t No Big Deal” also appears on an unauthorized compilation of Madonna demos called Pre-Madonnapublished in 1997.
In June 2024, it was finally added to streaming platforms as the B-side of “Papa Don’t Preach”, and Madonna subsequently added it to YouTube.
Remembering a mentor
Last year, Madonna mourned the death of Seymour Stein, the influential gay man who co-founded Sire Records and to whom she credited her recording contract.
“He was one of the most influential men in my life!” she recalled on Instagram. “He changed and shaped my world. I have to explain that.”
“I stalked a DJ named Mark Kamin for a year at a club called Danceteria! In the early ’80s. Finally, he agreed to play my demo of a song called ‘Everybody’ one Saturday night. The club was packed. An A&R guy from Sire Records was there – Michael Rosenblatt. He heard the music and asked me if he could take me to meet his boss, Seymour Stein.”
“I couldn’t get the words ‘Hell yes!’ out of my mouth fast enough! Unfortunately, Seymour was in the hospital with a heart condition! I didn’t care. Let’s go!”
“When I met him, he was lying in a hospital bed wearing boxer shorts and an undershirt! He had a cannula in his nose and a saline solution in his arm! He was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.”
“I had my huge boombox with me and was ready to play him my tape! He smiled and laughed when he saw me and asked me if I was related to the Virgin Mary!! Hahahhahahaa. I knew we would get along well. I played him the song a few times. He signed me to his record company that day!”
“That moment changed my life forever. And it was the beginning of my journey as a musician. Seymour not only heard me, he saw me and my potential! I will be eternally grateful to him for that!”
Madonna has been teasing her fans in recent years with images of herself writing a screenplay. The planned biopic will likely depict her rise to fame. So who knows? Maybe “Ain’t No Big Deal” will be in the mix.
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