On January 27 1984, Madonna performed Burning Up and Holiday on the UK television program, The Tube. The show was broadcast live from The Hacienda club in Manchester.
Malcolm Gerrie, executive producer of The Tube, has been quoted as saying that the show paid for Madonna to travel to Manchester because Warner Bros. didn’t yet consider her a “priority artist” and were unwilling to cover her travel costs.
On November 24 1984, Madonna’s Like A Virgin album was reviewed in Billboard magazine.
Check out Malcolm Middleton’s excellent cover of Stay, a pre-fame Madonna & Stephen Bray collaboration that later became the closing track on Like A Virgin:
On November 17 1984, Madonna’s Like A Virgin single was reviewed in Billboard magazine.
Also in the same issue, dance music columnist Brian Chin highlighted Jellybean Benitez’ remix of the track.
On November 10 1984, Billboard magazine reported that Madonna’s Like A Virgin music video had been added to MTV’s playlist, immediately earning heavy rotation status on the network.
Filmed in Venice, Italy, the video marked Madonna’s second collaboration with director Mary Lambert. Lambert later recalled of the shoot:
“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.”
On August 14 1984, Madonna’s self-titled debut album was certified platinum by the RIAA to commemorate U.S. sales of more than one-million copies.
The album would eventually be certified five times platinum in the U.S.
On July 7 1984, Warner Bros. Records took out a full-page ad in Billboard magazine to congratulate Madonna on the Gold certification of her self-titled debut album.
The ad featured the first look at a new photo shoot Madonna had recently completed with Steven Meisel. This image would later appear on the back cover of her next album, Like A Virgin.
On June 2 1984, Madonna’s Borderline was released as a single in the UK. The single only reached a peak of #56, but upon re-releasing the song on January 1 1986, it reached a new peak of #2.
Borderline was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in February 1986, for shipment of 500,000 copies.
