On April 12 1998, the television special Madonna Rising premiered.
Produced as part of the promotional activities for the Ray Of Light album, the special featured Madonna reminiscing about her formative years in New York with pal Rupert Everett as they visited some of her pre-fame dwellings and hang-outs. Interview segments with Nile Rodgers, Debi Mazar, Seymour Stein, Maripol and others were also included for good measure.
On April 6 1998, an exclusive studio performance of Frozen was broadcast during the Hey! Music Awards II on Fuji-TV in Japan. Madonna was also honoured with an award during the ceremony, and offered the taped performance and acceptance speech in lieu of attendance.
On March 23 1998, Madonna attended 70th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles where she presented the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Buoyed by the success of her new album, Ray Of Light, it was all about the music for Madonna on the red carpet as well, as she chatted and posed for photographs with an impressive assortment of musical divas: Fiona Apple, Cher, k.d. lang & Joni Mitchell.
Prior to her shared Rolling Stone cover with Courtney Love & Tina Turner the previous year, Madonna had – at least publicly – tended to shy away from aligning herself too closely with other musicians – particularly other women in the industry. Be it a result of a renewed sense of spirituality, motherhood, maturity, or simply shrewd self-marketing (perhaps all the above?), one thing is clear: Madonna’s newfound camaraderie and supportive attitude towards her peers felt refreshing and inspiring!
On March 17 1998, the maxi-single for Madonna’s Frozen single was released in North America.
The maxi-single included:
On March 4 1998, Madonna’s Frozen debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100.
The lead single from Ray of Light climbed to number two on April 4 1998, behind the K-Ci & JoJo song All My Life. Frozen became the sixth single by Madonna to reach the top two position, surpassing Elvis Presley for the most number-two songs.
On March 3 1998, Madonna’s seventh studio album, Ray Of Light, was released in North America.
Spawning five singles and winning four Grammy awards, it garnered near-universal acclaim upon its release and it is often cited as a high watermark in Madonna’s career as a recording artist.
Ray Of Light was produced by Madonna & William Orbit with additional production by Patrick Leonard & Marius De Vries.
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, returning at its peak on March 15 1998, and stayed there for another three weeks.
Australia released Frozen with a unique picture CD (5-track).
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