Today in Madonna History: May 31, 1985

madonna-first-four-videos-1 madonna-first-four-videos-2 madonna-first-four-videos-3

On May 31 1985, Madonna The Videos was certified platinum for shipment of 50,000 units in the USA.

The photos above show the Australian release of Madonna The Videos on VHS.

 

Today in Madonna History: May 30, 2009

m-may31-polo-1 m-may31-polo-2m-may31-polo-4m-may31-polo-6

On May 30 2009, Madonna attended the second annual Vueve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic polo match on Governor’s Island in New York.

She was joined by designer Marc Jacobs, photographer Steven Klein and her children Rocco and David.

The event raised money for Prince Harry’s organization supporting orphans with AIDS in the African nation of Lesotho.

Today in Madonna History: May 29, 1995

robert-hoskins-madonna-1 robert-hoskins-madonna-2 robert-hoskins-madonna-3 robert-hoskins-madonna-5 APW2002052445681

On May 29 1995, Robert Hoskins was shot by a security guard outside Madonna’s Castillo Del Lago estate in Los Angeles, California for trespassing on her property and threatening to marry or kill Madonna. Madonna was not at home during the time of the incident.

Hoskins was shot in the arm and hip and was arrested on $150,000 bail.

Today in Madonna History: May 27, 2015

m-forbes-2015

On May 27 2015, Forbes magazine announced that Madonna topped the annual list of top-earning musicians and also claimed the No. 28 spot on their list of America’s richest self-made women.

Here’s what Forbes had to say:

The wealthiest musician on the list, Madonna has an estimated net worth of $520 million, with her main source being from music, clothing, and real estate  One of the top pop divas of all time. Her tours have grossed an estimated $1.2 billion over the years, including $305 million from her 2012 MDNA tour. That helped her earn an estimated $125 million during the ensuing 12-month period during which Forbes calculated celebrity earnings, more than any other musician. Look for another bump when she goes on the road with her latest album, Rebel Heart, in August.

Today in Madonna History: May 26, 1984

helmut-1

On May 26 1984, this classic Madonna photo by Helmut Werb was featured in No 1 UK magazine, along with the lyrics to Borderline.

Here are more amazing photos from that photo session:

helmut-2 helmut-3 helmut-7 helmut-10 helmut-8 helmut-9 helmut-9b helmut-6 helmut-5

Today in Madonna History: May 25, 1985

madonna-cobo-arena-1 madonna-cobo-arena-2 madonna-cobo-arena-3 madonna-cobo-arena-4

On May 25 1985, Madonna performed The Virgin Tour at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The show was filmed by Daniel Kleinman, and released by Warner Music Video and Sire Records on November 13 1985.

Here is the dialog from Madonna’s famous Virgin Tour introduction (filmed by James Foley for the video release, it was not present during the concerts):

“I went to New York. I had a dream. I wanted to be a big star, I didn’t know anybody, I wanted to dance, I wanted to sing, I wanted to do all those things, I wanted to make people happy, I wanted to be famous, I wanted everybody to love me. I wanted to be a star. I worked really hard, and my dream came true.”

Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour was an enormous success.  The home video release was the top selling music video cassette of 1986 in the USA, and the video was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 100,000 copies.

Today in Madonna History: May 23, 1985

virgin-toronto-1 virgin-toronto-2 virgin-toronto-3 virgin-toronto-4 virgin-toronto-5

On May 23 1985, Madonna performed her Virgin Tour concert in front of a sold-out crowd of 16,000 fans at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. The show generated $238,264 in ticket sales.

Here’s a great photo of the Beastie Boys hanging outside Maple Leaf Gardens before the show (on Church Street just north of Carlton):

beastie-boys-maple-leaf-gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens was primarily a hockey and concert venue from 1931 until 2001. The building sat dormant until November 2011, when it reopened as a Loblaws grocery store.  To celebrate the history of the building, Loblaws kept centre ice, created art out of some of the seats and commemorated important dates on some of the supporting columns.  Here is one of those columns:

madonna-maple-leaf-gardens

Jay’s note: I’d like to say that I made a special trip to Loblaws just to take this photo, but it’s the long-weekend here in Canada — and I really wanted one of their amazing chocolate dip donuts!