Today in Madonna History: May 30, 1987

On May 30th 1987, Breakfast Club scored their biggest hit as Right On Track peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Madonna became a member of Breakfast Club in late 1979, first as a drummer before branching out to keyboards and guitar, all the while sharing vocal duties (and living quarters) with her boyfriend, Dan Gilroy, and his brother Ed.

Bassist Gary Burke left Breakfast Club with Madonna and Mike Monahan to form Emmy with Stephen Bray in early 1981.

As Madonna was achieving success as a solo artist, Burke and Bray rejoined the Gilroy brothers for Breakfast Club’s 1984 single, Rico Mambo, on ZE Records, followed by a self-titled LP for MCA Records in 1987.

In yet another Madonna connection, Re-Invention Tour back-up singer/dancer Siedah Garrett makes an appearance in the video for Right On Track and also provided backing vocals for the song.

Today in Madonna History: March 28, 1987

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On March 28 1987, Madonna appeared on the cover of the British magazine, Lookin.

Today in Madonna History: February 26, 1987

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On February 26 1987, Madonna won Best Female Singer and Sexiest Female Artist in Rolling Stone magazine’s 11th annual Readers Poll.

Today in Madonna History: January 26, 1987

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On January 26 1987, Madonna won Favorite Female Pop/Rock Video for Papa Don’t Preach at the 14th annual American Music Awards at the Scottish Rite Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA.

One of the award presenters, Mister Mister’s Richard Page, would later collaborate with Madonna & Patrick Leonard on the 1994 soundtrack hit, I’ll Remember.

Isn’t she adorable?

Today in Madonna History: January 4, 1987

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On January 4 1987, Open Your Heart spent its third and final consecutive week at its peak position of #4 on the UK Singles chart.

Today in Madonna History: December 28, 1987

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On December 28 1987, Madonna appeared on the cover of the special year-end double issue of US Weekly magazine: The Sexiest, The Sassiest, The Boldest, The Best.

Today in Madonna History: December 4, 1987

On December 4 1987, Madonna filed for divorce from Sean Penn in Los Angeles County Superior Court, California. Twelve days later, Madonna withdrew the divorce papers and the couple stayed together until January 5 1989, when Madonna filed new divorce papers citing “irreconcilable differences”.

Jay’s Note: I often wondered why Madonna released You Can Dance with so little promotion behind it (You Can Dance was released November 17/1987). Understanding that her personal life was falling apart at the time, it makes sense that she wouldn’t have been concerned with releasing singles or filming music videos to promote the remix collection.

I also found this quote from her about You Can Dance:

“I don’t know that I like it, people screwing with my records, remixing them. The jury is out on it for me. But the fans like it, and really, this one was for the fans, for the kids in the clubs who like these songs and wanted to hear them in a new, fresh way.”