"Fever" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fifth studio album Erotica, released on March 22 1993, by Maverick Records. It is a cover version of the song by Little Willie John and is the signature song of Peggy Lee.

Song information

"Fever" was released in the United Kingdom in 1993 on 12", CD single and as a limited edition 7" picture disc featuring a still from the "Bad Girl" video. In the United States it was never officially released as a single and instead was the B-side to the single "Bad Girl", although the maxi-single of "Bad Girl" predominantly featured "Fever" remixes. In fact "Fever", as played on radio stations and shown on music channels, was not the original but a remixed version instead, a version called Edit 1 and is only commercially available on the German Rain CD single and 7" single, although it is known as Edit 2 on the latter format.

"Fever" became her highest debuting single from the Erotica album in the UK, entering at its peak position of #6, coming just four weeks after the release of the number 10 hit 'Bad Girl'. The heavy single release schedule was to aid sales of the parent album and keep Madonna songs on the radio airplay schedules . In the U.S. it became her fifteenth song to hit number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

"Fever" was the first cover version of a song that Madonna released as a single in Europe. Originally recorded by Little Willie John in 1956, the best-known version of the song in North America is Peggy Lee's 1958 Top 10 hit version, although the song returned to the U.S. Top 10 in 1965 by rock group The McCoys. Madonna's version was not released as a single in the U.S. Madonna performed "Fever" live on her 1993 The Girlie Show Tour and a traditional piano-jazz version at Arsenio Hall's 1000th Show at the Hollywood Bowl. Madonna also performed "Fever" live on Saturday Night Live in January 1993.

In September 2008, "Fever" was used in television promos for the fifth season of Desperate Housewives.

Music video

200px|left|thumb|Madonna in silver paint in the "Fever" music videoThe music video (directed by Stéphane Sednaoui) was shot on April 10-11, 1993 at in Miami, Florida and world premiered on May 11, 1993 on MTV. The music video, set to the tune of the "Edit One" remix, alternately featured Madonna with red hair and silver bodypaint in a variety of costumes dancing in front of funky, kaleidoscopic backgrounds.

The video was not ready for the UK release until 1999 when it was seen in the DVD compilation and instead a montage video was released including excerpts from the videos of "Cherish", "Justify My Love", "La Isla Bonita", "Like a Virgin" and "Express Yourself". The original video for "Fever" is available on the DVD compilation The Video Collection 93:99.

• Director: Stéphane Sednaoui

• Producer: Line Postmyr

• Director of Photography: Darius Khondji

• Editor: Olivier Gajan

• Production Company: Propaganda Films

Why Madonna recorded Fever

Madonna was in the studio putting down tracks for her Erotica album. She'd just recorded a song called "Goodbye To Innocence" and was going through the final stages of production on it when she suddenly started singing the lyrics to "Fever" over the top of it. Madonna liked the way it sounded so much that she recorded it. "Goodbye To Innocence" was never released on a Madonna album, although it did appear on Just Say Roe, a charity record, and a dub mix of it titled "Up Down Suite" was a bonus track to the "Rain" maxi-single. Also, the vocals were extensively used in the "Back To The Dub 1" remix of Fever.

Tracklisting and formats

• UK Cassette Single / UK 7" Single / UK 7" Picture Disc

• "Fever" (Album Edit)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Radio Edit)

• UK CD Single

• Fever (Album Edit)

• Fever (Hot Sweat 12")

• Fever (Extended 12")

• Fever (Shep's Remedy Dub)

• Fever (Murk Boys Miami Mix)

• Fever (Murk Boys Deep South Mix)

• UK 12" Single

• "Fever" (Hot Sweat 12")

• "Fever" (Extended 12")

• "Fever" (Shep's Remedy Dub)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Miami Mix)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Deep South Mix)

• "Fever" (Oscar G's Dope Dub)

• Fever - Special DJ Limited Edition Remix Package

Disc 1 Side A

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Miami Mix)

• "Fever" (Oscar G's Dope Dub)

Disc 1 Side B

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Deep South Mix)

• "Fever" (Back To The Dub 2)

• "Fever" (12" Instrumental)

Disc 2 Side A

• "Fever" (Extended 12")

• "Fever" (T's Extended Dub A)

• "Fever" (T's Extended Dub B)

Disc 2 Side B

• "Fever" (Hot Sweat 12")

• "Fever" (Shep's Remedy Dub)

• "Fever" (Peggy's Nightclub Mix) (Percapella)

• "Fever" (Bugged Out Bonzai Dub)

• Fever - CD Reference

• "Fever" (Edit 1)

• "Fever" (Edit 2)

• Fever - CD Reference

• "Fever" (Album Instrumental)

• "Fever" (Instrumental Edit)

• "Fever" (Instrumental Tag Piece 1)

• "Fever" (Instrumental Tag Piece 2)

• "Fever" (T's Extended Dub A)

• "Fever" (T's Extended Dub B)

• "Fever" (T's Extended Dub C)

• "Fever" (Back To The Dub 1)

• "Fever" (Back To The Dub 2)

• "Fever" (Back To The Dub 3)

• "Fever" (Bass Dub and Tag Piece)

• "Fever" (Boston Infernal Dub)

• "Fever" (Boston Landscape Dub)

• "Fever" (Bugged Out Bonzai Dub)

• "Fever" (Drum Dub 1)

• Fever - CD Reference

• "Fever" (Remix Edit 1)

• "Fever" (Remix Edit 2)

• "Fever" (Remix Edit 3)

• "Fever" (Hot Sweat Mix)

• "Fever" (Hot Sweat Extended Mix)

• "Fever" (Hot Sweat 12" Remix)

• "Fever" (Dance Floor Mix)

• "Fever" (Bugged Out Mix)

• "Fever" (Peggy's Niteclub Mix)

• "Fever" (Oscar G's Dope Mix)

• "Fever" (Video Version)

• "Fever" (Shep's Remedy Dub)

• "Fever" (Shep's Alternate Dub)

• Fever - CD Reference

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Deep South Bonus Beats)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Deep South Extended Remix)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Deep South Radio Edit)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Deep South Mix)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Holiday Remix)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Miami Mix)

• Rain - Japanese EP

• "Rain" (Radio Remix)

• "Waiting" (Remix)

• "Up Down Suite"

• "Rain" (Album Version)

• "Bad Girl" (Extended Mix)

• "Fever" (Extended 12")

• "Fever" (Shep's Remedy Dub)

• "Fever" (Murk Boys Miami Dub)

• "Fever" (Oscar G's Dope Mix)

• "Rain" (Video Edit)

Official Mixes

NOTE - Occasionally these mixes (particularly those by Daniel Abraham) are incorrectly credited as having back-up vocal contributions from the group En Vogue. The additional back-up vocals were actually provided by Donna DeLory and Niki Haris, Madonna's long-time back-up singers on both her tours and albums. Though their additional vocals were not used in the album version of Fever, they were in fact used rather extensively in the many remixes of the song (in fact it is the one song of Madonna's to have the most officially released remixes, due to the many different versions).
Mixes by Shep Pettibone and/or Tony Shimkin

• Album Version / Recall 7" Mix

• Album Edit / Radio Edit

• 12" Instrumental / Album Instrumental

• T's Extended Dub A / Tony's 12" Dub 1 / Dub 1

• T's Extended Dub B / Tony's 12" Dub 2 / Dub 2

• Peggy's Nightclub Mix / Percapella

• Peggy's Fashion Smooth Mix

• Hot Sweat 12"

• Hot Sweat Mix

• Instrumental Plus Extra Piece

• Shep's Remedy Dub / Shep's Dub

• Bugged Out Bonzai Dub / Bugged Out

• Bugged Out

• Bass Dub and Tag Piece

• Boston Infernal Dub

• Drum Dub

Mixes by Daniel Abraham for White Falcon Productions

• Edit 1 / Video Version / Dancefloor Mix

• Edit 1 with 12" Intro

• Edit 2

• Edit 2 with 12" Intro

• Instrumental Mix

Mixes by Oscar Gaetan and Ralph Falcon for Murk Productions

• Murk Boys Miami Mix

• Murk Boys Miami Edit / ET/VL Bonus Mix

• Murk Boys Deep South Mix

• Murk Boys Radio Edit A / Remix/Radio Edit

• Murk Boys Radio Edit B

• Back to the Dub 1

• Back to the Dub 2

• Oscar G's Dope Mix / Oscar G's Dope Dub

Live Performances

Madonna performed "Fever" on the "The Girlie Show World Tour".

Madonna performed a jazz version of the song on the Arsenio Hall Show 1000th Show Special at the Hollywood Bowl in 1993.

Charts

Chart proccession and succession