On August 17 1960, Sean Justin Penn was born.
In the film, Truth Or Dare Madonna is asked, “Who has been the love of your life for your whole life?” Madonna replies without hesitation, “Sean. Sean.”
Monthly Archives: August 2021
Today in Madonna History: August 16, 2021
On August 16 2021, Madonna re-signed with Warner Bros. Records, the label controlling the bulk of her catalogue of music. This follows a thirteen-year period that essentially saw Madonna releasing her new music independently with distribution through Interscope Records, via her 360 deal with Live Nation. She retained the rights to the masters of the three albums released since her departure from Warner, and the new deal sees licensing rights for these albums revert to Warner in 2025.
Also announced are plans for Warner Rhino to reissue Madonna’s albums as deluxe editions – something fans have long requested and is frankly long overdue considering her stature and influence on popular music over the past 39 years, not to mention the wealth of unavailable and unreleased material in the vault.
Congrats to Madonna and Guy Oseary for recognizing the value and support that Warner has consistently brought to Madonna’s recording career; having all of her recorded works on the same label is as much a score for fans as it is for both Madonna and Warner Bros.
Today in Madonna History: August 16, 2015
On August 16 2015, singer/songwriter Joe Henry shared a touching birthday tribute to his sister-in-law, Madonna:
This is the young woman I met shortly after our family’s move to Michigan in 1975 – as I entered my sophomore year of high school and, she, her senior one. Together, we were in the Thespian Society; and in that winter’s first production, we were cast as mother and son – the wife and child of Ralph Waldo Emerson – in a play about Thoreau.
She was whip-smart and short on patience; and to tell the truth, she scared me more than a little, but along with her sister Paula, her presence upon my landscape nudged open a door through which I would pass and find my life utterly and forever changed…that unusual and sprawling family becoming, years later, my own.
No one is more surprised than I by the way our lives have expanded; by the way that our journeys have diverged and become entangled. Like anyone, I can sometimes forget to see the flesh and blood/heart and mind behind the parade float that is her public persona. But then I will find myself across the kitchen table from her, sharing a martini, and be additionally shocked to recognize anew the compact, terse-yet-compassionate human at the switches.
I have told this tale before, but it bears repeating: when Elvis Presley died on this date in 1977, this upstart professed in real-time that she felt his spirit had passed out of his body and through her own in exodus.
I laughed at her then for such outrageous self-possession, at the arrogance that I assumed must allow her to declare such publicly.
Today, when there is laughter, it is the laugh of recognition I hear – and it begins somewhere high above me, where things that once seemed implausible play with wild abandon and in broad daylight.
Happy Birthday, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone.
Today in Madonna History: August 15, 1992
On August 15 1992, This Used To Be My Playground spent the first of three weeks at #1 on the RPM Canadian Top 100 Singles chart. In RPM’s year-end tally of the biggest hits of 1992 in Canada, the hit placed at #8.
This Used To Be My Playground was written by Madonna, Shep Pettibone & Tony Shimkin (although he was not originally credited) and produced by Madonna & Pettibone.
In an interview with the fan site MadonnaTribe, Shimkin recalled a last-minute dash to complete the recording of the song’s orchestral parts:
“When we recorded it with Al Schmidt at Ocean Way studio in L.A., we had a 30-piece orchestra and Jeremy Lubbock did the string arrangements, (but) we never included the demo that had the solo string part in it when we had him chart everything out for the orchestra,” revealed Shimkin. “On the day we were recording, we thought we were done and realized we forgot the solo. I quickly sang the part to the copyist, who then charted it out for the violin players, and they got it recorded with one minute to spare on the clock. When you have a thirty piece orchestra, it can be super expensive to roll into a second hour of their time!”
Today in Madonna History: August 14, 2012
On August 14 2012, Madonna appeared on the cover of Russian Hello magazine.
Today in Madonna History: August 13, 1952
On August 13 1952, one of Madonna’s closest friends, Herb Ritts, was born in Los Angeles, California.
Ritts specialized in black and white photography and music videos, including Madonna’s Cherish music video and the photoshoot for Madonna’s True Blue, Like A Prayer and Immaculate Collection albums (among others — the list just goes on and on).
Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, Herb was at Madonna’s side taking the most beautiful photos of her possible. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for capturing Madonna during this time in her life and career.
Today in Madonna History: August 12, 1996
On August 12 1996, Madonna appeared on the cover of French magazine Tele K7.
Today In Madonna History 