Today in Madonna History: November 16, 1994

November 16, 2016 By Jay in 1994, November Tags: Allison Anders, Four Rooms 1 Comment

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On November 16 1994, Madonna began filming Four Rooms in Los Angeles.

Madonna played one of the witches, Elspeth, in the first segment of the film called, The Missing Ingredient, directed by Alison Anders. Other actresses playing witches in the coven included: Valeria Golino (Athena), Alicia Witt (Kiva), Sammi Davis (Jezebel), Lili Taylor (Raven), Ione Skye (Eva) and Amanda de Cadenet (Diana).

This beautiful illustration of Elspeth is by Sarah Hedlund Design. Check out Sarah’s Facebook and webpage to see more of her amazing work! We have published Sarah’s version of Elspeth with her permission.

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Today in Madonna History: November 15, 2005

November 15, 2016 By sonicboy19 in 2005, November Tags: Confessions on a Dance Floor, Everybody, Get Together, Hung Up, I Love New York, Koko, Let It Will Be, Live Videos, Promo Tour 1 Comment

On November 15 2005, Madonna performed an intimate club show for roughly 1,500 contest winners and guests at KOKO in London’s Camden Town district. The event was held to celebrate the release of her album, Confessions On A Dance Floor.

While roughly 200 fans queued overnight to secure a spot near the stage for the gig, fans around the world were able to enjoy a live stream of the performance online.

VIP guests in attendance included Sir Bob Geldof and his late daughter Peaches, Stella McCartney, Guy Ritchie and Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant.

Madonna’s very first promotional concert in London was held at the same venue – then named Camden Palace – in October of 1983.

Setlist

Hung Up
Get Together
I Love New York
Let It Will Be
Everybody

Today in Madonna History: November 14, 2004

November 14, 2016 By sonicboy19 in 2004, November Tags: Die Another Day, Joni Mitchell, Michel Colombier, Mirwais, Prince, Remix Videos, Serge Gainsbourg 1 Comment

On November 14 2004, Michael Colombier – the composer/arranger who produced the beautiful string arrangements for Madonna’s songs Die Another Day, Don’t Tell Me & Easy Ride, and composed the soundtrack for Swept Away (perhaps the film’s most memorable attribute) – passed away at age 65.

Colombier was one of the most prolific and versatile French musicians of his generation. Besides his career as a film composer scoring over 100 feature, cable and television films since the early 1960’s – Colombier was a prolific songwriter and arranger who worked with artists such as Joni Mitchell, Prince, Serge Gainsbourg, The Beach Boys, Herbie Hancock, Air, Barbra Streisand & Earth Wind And Fire.

As a film composer, Michel Colombier scored many French and American films, including The Golden Child, Ruthless People, New Jack City, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and The Money Pit. His background in jazz was evident in the majority of his film scores, and his ability to compose original score music that merged seamlessly with pop songs made him the perfect composer for 1980’s films with song-heavy soundtracks, including White Nights, Against All Odds and Purple Rain (which won a Grammy Award as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Score).

Today in Madonna History: November 13, 1984

November 13, 2016 By Jay in 1984, November Tags: Like A Virgin (Single), Mary Lambert 3 Comments

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On November 13 1984, Madonna’s Like A Virgin video premiered on MTV.

Mary Lambert, the director of the video had this to say:

“For Like A Virgin I said ‘Lets do it in Venice!’ The idea of Madonna singing in a gondola was the most outrageous thing I could think of. And Madonna dug it, because she has the whole thing with the Catholic Church and her Italian heritage. It turned into a huge party.”

Madonna had this to say about shooting with the lion:

“The lion didn’t do anything he was supposed to do, and I ended up leaning against this pillar with his head in my crotch… I thought he was going to take a bite out of me so I lifted the veil I was wearing and had a stare-down with him and he opened his mouth and let out this huge roar. I got so frightened my heart fell in my shoe. When he finally walked away, the director yelled ‘Cut’ and I had to take a long breather. But I could really relate to the lion. I feel like in a past life I was a lion or a cat or something.”

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Today in Madonna History: November 12, 1994

November 12, 2016 By sonicboy19 in 1994, November Tags: Bedtime Stories, Charts, Love Tried To Welcome Me, Remix Videos 3 Comments

On November 12 1994, Madonna’s Bedtime Stories was the week’s highest debut on the Billboard 200 album chart, peaking at #3 with sales of 145,000 units.

While the figure represented a 15% drop in first-week sales from her previous long player, Erotica, the album proved to be a commercial grower in America – where the runaway success of its second single, Take A Bow, would push its overall U.S. sales tally well beyond that of its predecessor.

Illustrating urban/r&b’s U.S. chart domination at the time, Bedtime Stories was held back from the top spot by the Murder Was The Case soundtrack (performed by Snoop Doggy Dogg) and Boyz II Men’s II.

Today in Madonna History: November 11, 1987

November 11, 2016 By Jay in 1987, November Tags: At Close Range, James Foley, Who's That Girl (Film) 1 Comment

On November 11 1987, Who’s That Girl, starring Madonna, was released on home video by Warner Bros.

Here’s what Madonna had to say about the performance of the film in North America:

“I think the movie did badly in America because I upstaged it with my tour. People were confused about the connection between the record, the tour and the movie because they all had the same title. I also think there are people who don’t want me to do well in both fields. I had to really fight to get any respect from the music business and now I guess there are some people who feel that I ought to be grateful for that respect and stick to music.”

Here’s what James Foley (Director of Who’s That Girl) had to say about his decision to make the film:

“I was young, I was twenty-eight. So, being given the opportunity to work on a Warner Bros. film with a huge star was attractive to me for all the wrong reasons. Everyone has a bit of Hollywood lust in them. Warner Bros. approached me because they knew I knew Madonna and she had asked for me, and was convinced to do it. At Close Range was a dark film, and going towards comedy was totally the wrong direction. But I didn’t care.”

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