Today in Madonna History: April 6, 2017

 

On April 6 2017, CNN published an article explaining why Madonna understands a little something about pulled Pepsi commercials:

In 1989, she starred in a Pepsi commercial that was pulled because of controversy over the music video for Like A Prayer, which featured burning crosses and showed Madonna kissing a black actor portraying a saint.

She reminded the world of this bit of pop culture history Wednesday when she posted on Instagram about the disastrous Pepsi ad featuring Kendall Jenner.

 “When you wake up and realize that SHIT just really doesn’t make sense. Side Note: My Pepsi commercial was pulled 30 years ago because I was kissing a black saint! #ironic.”

 

Today in Madonna History: April 5, 2017

On April 5 2017, Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary, Tweeted the following message to Pharrell Williams:

Happy Birthday @pharrell … need to get you back in the studio with the blonde in the photo.. have a great one.

What do you think? Should Madonna and Pharrell work together again? What is your favourite collaboration from them? 

Today in Madonna History: March 15, 1999

On March 15 1999, Madonna’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, confirmed to MTV News that a tour in support of Ray Of Light had been canceled.  Instead, Madonna would be working on a number of other projects including:

  • A new song with Ricky Martin for his next album
  • A new song for the Austin Powers 2 soundtrack
  • Assembling a new greatest hits album (Liz called it “The Immaculate Collection 2“) with a few new songs
  • Starring in a new film, The Next Best Thing, with Rupert Everett

Liz had this to say:

“The starting date of the movie was postponed, and it created such a small window to turn things around and get into total tour mode and put together the kind of show Madonna does, with no stone unturned, that she thought it would be better to wait until 2000.”

Today in Madonna History: March 11, 1986

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On March 11 1986, Madonna was named Favorite Female Musical Performer at the 12th annual People’s Choice Awards.  Madonna accepted her award from the set of Shanghai Surprise in London, England.

Today In Madonna History: March 8, 1994

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On March 8 1994, Madonna’s I’ll Remember (Theme From The Motion Picture With Honors) single was released.

I’ll Remember was written by Madonna, Patrick Leonard, and Richard Page.

It later appeared on Madonna’s ballads collection, Something to Remember.

Today in Madonna History: March 7, 1996

On March 7 1996, Madonna’s One More Chance was released as the third single in the UK and several other European countries, and the second single in Australia and Japan, from her ballads collection, Something to Remember.

The song received positive response from music critics overall, who praised its musical simplicity and Madonna’s nuanced and emotive vocal delivery.  Since Madonna was busy filming the Evita, the song received little promotion and no original music video was produced to accompany the release.

The Spanish version of You’ll See, titled Verás, appeared as the B-side of the single release.

In a January 1996 interview with Spin magazine, Madonna said of the song: “Often in my songwriting, I take things people say to me and turn them around, and put it in the first person. So it’s actually something that was said to me.”

One More Chance was written and produced by Madonna and David Foster. Foster initially did not expect Madonna would collaborate with him, as he believed that his music was not “really hip enough for her.” Madonna and Foster worked on the song during the writing and recording session for Something to Remember, in the third weekend of September 1995. They wrote and recorded three songs for the project, but only You’ll See and One More Chance made the final cut.

Their third track from the sessions, titled I Can’t Forget, was later offered by Madonna’s songwriting publisher to the to the UK electronic/dance group, Tilt, to record. Their version, retitled Come Closer, was released on their 2006 rarities collection, Vaults. Several years after Tilt’s version was issued, Madonna and Foster’s original demo recording of I Can’t Forget surfaced on the internet.

 

Today in Madonna History: March 1, 1998

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On March 1 1998, the lead single from Madonna’s Ray of Light album, Frozen, debuted on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Singles Chart at its peak of number five.  The next week Frozen fell to number nine, but it returned to its peak of number five on March 15 1998 where it held steady for another three weeks.

Australia released Frozen with a unique picture CD (5-track).