"(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 (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' The Long Play'' (1985). The song, written by Hubert Kemmler, Markus Löhr,

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

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 founding members of Supertramp (playing guitar and songwriter); writing lyrics for several songs by the pro ...

, was released as the

lead single A lead single (or first 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. A similar term, "debut ...

from ''The Long Play'' on 15 July 1985 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

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

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

Background and release

The song was composed by Hubert Kemmler, Markus Löhr and

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

. The allusion to the

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

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 cr ...

was a Kemmler's idea and came up when a name with seven syllables was needed for the chorus. But only the German version of the name would be fit, because in English "Mary Magdalene" has six syllables. Kemmler also provided co-lead vocals on this recording and on a number of Sandra's subsequent songs. The song was first released in July 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 Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and their tourist audiences next, and the song subsequently became a big hit there, where it topped the singles chart. Returning tourists requested the song at home, and it eventually reached no. 1 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 no. 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.

Remixes and Samples

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 Croatian 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. The song was re-released in a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, 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, poem, or photograph ca ...

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

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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, 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 mu ...

in support of Sandra's

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

'' My Favourites''. The track was interpolated 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 200 ...

'' 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 that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was filmed in 1985, which presents Sandra accompanied by a bassist/backing vocalist, a drummer and a keyboardist. It was directed by Mike Leckebusch. The music video was released on Sandra's

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

video compilations ''Ten on One (The Singles)'' and ''18 Greatest Hits'', released respectively in 1987 and 1992, 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 ki ...

''The Complete History''. The

industrial style Industrial style or industrial chic refers to an aesthetic trend in interior design that takes cues from old factories and industrial spaces that in recent years have been converted to lofts and other living spaces. Components of industrial st ...

video for the 1993 version was directed by

Marcus Adams Marcus Adams may refer to: * Marcus Adams (director), British film director * Marcus Adams (photographer) (1875–1959), British society photographer * Marcus Adams (Canadian football) (born 1979), Canadian football defensive tackle * 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, maxi-single, or maxi CD (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. Maxi singles are often mistaken for extended plays (EPs), especial ...

(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

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. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

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 Music videos directed by Marcus Adams 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