"(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena", also known simply as "Maria Magdalena", is a song recorded by German singer Sandra for her debut studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

The Long Play ''The Long Play'' is the debut studio album by German singer Sandra, released on 11 November 1985 by Virgin Records. The album was a great commercial success and spawned Sandra's signature number-one single "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" as wel ...

'' (1985). The song, written by

Hubert Kemmler Hubert Kah is a German synthpop band, led by Hubert Kemmler (born 22 March 1961 in Reutlingen). Kemmler is a German musician, composer, songwriter and producer. Biography Kemmler's career began as a member of a trio named Hubert Kah, consis ...

, Markus Löhr,

Michael Cretu Michael Cretu ( ro, Mihai Crețu, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cret ...

and

Richard Palmer-James Richard William Palmer-James (born 11 June 1947) is an English guitarist, songwriter and lyricist. He may be best known as one of the founder members of Supertramp (playing guitar and songwriter); writing lyrics for several songs by the prog ...

, was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from ''The Long Play'' on July 15th. 1985, by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

, and was a major chart hit in Europe, reaching number one in multiple countries. It remains Sandra's signature song.

Background and release

The song was composed by

, Markus Löhr and

. Cretu also arranged and produced the song. The lyrics were written by

. The allusion to the

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

figure

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

was Kemmler's idea and came up when a name with seven syllables was needed for the chorus. Only the German version of the name would suffice, though, "Mary Magdalene" has five. Kemmler also provided co-lead vocals on this recording and a number of Sandra's subsequent songs. The song was first released in March 1985 as the lead single from Sandra's debut album ''The Long Play''. It was her third single as a solo artist, but the first solo single to be released internationally. Initially unsuccessful in its bid to gain radio play, the label targeted DJs in Greece and their tourist audiences next, and the song subsequently became a big hit in Greece, where it topped the singles chart. Returning tourists requested the song at home, and it eventually reached number one on the official German singles chart for four consecutive weeks between 13 September and 4 October 1985. The single then peaked at number one in Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Finland. It also reached number 1 on the

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

chart in Germany as well as the top 5 in Austria. In the pan-European charts, it was a top 10 and a top 20 hit on the airplay and sales charts, respectively. The song was also a popular radio hit song in Brazil, the Middle East, Northern Africa and Eastern Europe. The song was re-released in a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed version as a standalone single in 1993, but was not commercially successful, though it reached the top ten in Finland and the top twenty in Denmark. Music website

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

retrospectively rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars. In 1999, another remix of the song was released only in France as a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

in support of her

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

My Favourites ''My Favourites'' is the third greatest hits album by German singer Sandra, released on 4 June 1999 by Virgin Records. Background ''My Favourites'' is a double album consisting of some of Sandra's hits and non-single tracks newly remixed by lon ...

''. The track was remixed again for her

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 2007 ...

'' Reflections'' (2006), and the original version was later sampled in the song "Kings & Queens" on her tenth album '' Stay in Touch'' (2012).

Music videos

A simple performance

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was filmed in 1985, which presents Sandra accompanied by a bassist/backing vocalist, a percussionist and a keyboardist. It was directed by Mike Leckebusch. The music video was released on Sandra's VHS video compilations ''Ten on One (The Singles)'' and ''18 Greatest Hits'', released in 1987 and 1992, respectively, as well as the 2003

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

''The Complete History''. The industrial style video for the 1993 version was directed by Marcus Adams, and was also released on ''The Complete History''

Track listing and formats

*7-inch vinyl single :A. "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" – 3:58 :B. "Party Games" (Instrumental) – 3:25 *12-inch vinyl single :A. "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" – 7:13 :B. "Party Games" (instrumental) – 3:25 *CD

maxi-single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

(1993) #"Maria Magdalena" (Radio Edit) – 3:58 #"Maria Magdalena" (Clubmix) – 6:01 #"Maria Magdalena" (Original Version) – 3:58 *12-inch vinyl single (1993) :A. "Maria Magdalena" (Clubmix) – 6:01 :B. "Maria Magdalena" (Vega Sicilia Mix) – 5:36 *12-inch vinyl single (1999) :A. "Maria Magdalena" (Original Version) – 3:58 :B. "Maria Magdalena" (99 Remix) – 3:59

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Sampling

* In 1993 the same background music in the song "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" was used for the song "Vino noći", which was performed by the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n singer

Neno Belan Nenad "Neno" Belan (born 2 February 1962) is a Croatian rock musician known as the frontman of Đavoli, as well as for his solo work. Biography Early career Neno Belan started his career as a teenager in the band Losos, Kavijar i Marsovi Bizon ...

, the lead vocalist of the band Đavoli.

References

External links

"(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena"
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

The official Sandra YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:I'll Never Be Maria Magdalena 1985 singles 1985 songs 1993 singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Cultural depictions of Mary Magdalene Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Sandra (singer) songs Song recordings produced by Michael Cretu Songs written by Hubert Kemmler Songs written by Markus Löhr Songs written by Michael Cretu Songs written by Richard Palmer-James Virgin Records singles