Today in Madonna History: July 14, 2008

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On July 14 2008, Madonna and Guy Ritchie were featured on the cover of People Magazine with the caption: “Madonna & Guy Ritchie – Is It Over?”

Here’s a snippet of the article inside by Joe Artolomeo:

For the past five months, it’s been the same story: While Madonna is on one continent making music, working on her Malawi documentary or planning her upcoming tour, her husband, Guy Ritchie, is in another part of the world tending to his own needs. Every few months they reunite—for a photo op, at least. The weekend of June 28 was no different. Madonna was in New York City taking a break from rehearsals to attend services at the Kabbalah Centre with her kids Lourdes, Rocco and David; meanwhile, in London Ritchie was also attending Kabbalah services and spending time with family friend Trudie Styler. On Monday, June 30, he boarded a flight bound for New York City—and his wife.   This time the reunion had a sense of urgency. The British press had spent the past five days reporting that Madonna, 49, and Ritchie, 39, had consulted separate divorce lawyers (she chose Fiona Shackleton, who represented Sir Paul McCartney, said The Times and the Daily Mirror), a story that had first surfaced in early June. They pointed out that neither was wearing a wedding band and noted that during their last public appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, the couple appeared unhappy. When asked if Madonna and Ritchie are breaking up or even just having problems, Madonna’s rep Liz Rosenberg—who only recently insisted the couple were still happily married—told PEOPLE, “No comment.”

Today in Madonna History: July 11, 2008

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On July 11 2008, Benny Benassi was announced to be the opening act for Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet shows in Rome on September 6th (2008).

Today in Madonna History: June 12, 2008

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On June 12 2008, Simon & Schuster announced that Madonna’s younger brother, Christopher Ciccone, would be writing a memoir about his famous sister.

“Ciccone’s extraordinary memoir is based on his life and 47 years of growing up with and working with his sister-the most famous woman in the world,” the company said in a press release.

The publishing house ordered a first printing of 350,000 copies of Life With My Sister, to be released on July 15, 2008.

When asked, Madonna’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said there would be no comment “at this time.”

Have you read Christopher’s book on Madonna? What did you think?

Today in Madonna History: June 5, 2008

On June 5 2008, Madonna added a fourth Sticky & Sweet Tour show at New York’s Madison Square Gardens for October 12.

In total, Madonna enjoyed four sell-out shows at Madison Square Garden, generating $11.5 million in ticket sales from just under 62,000 fans.

This gave Madonna a record breaking 23 sold-out performances at the venue since 2001, a record for a single artist in that decade.

Today in Madonna History: May 12, 2008

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On May 12 2008, Madonna’s Hard Candy album was released in the UK in a Limited Collector’s Edition Candy Box.

The Candy Box included a 14-track edition of the hit album (containing the standard version of the album and two bonus 4 Minutes remixes), a bag of Starlite Mint candies and a 16-page booklet.

The exact same version was released in North America on April 29 2008.

Track listing:

1. Candy Store
2. 4 Minutes
3. Give It 2 Me
4. Heartbeat
5. Miles Away
6. Shes Not Me
7. Incredible
8. Beat Goes On
9. Dance 2Night
10. Spanish Lesson
11. Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You
12. Voices

Bonus tracks:
13. 4 Minutes – Tracy Young House Edit
14. 4 Minutes – Rebirth Remix Edit

Today in Madonna History: April 12, 2008

On April 12 2008, Madonna’s 4 Minutes spent the first of nine (non-consecutive) weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Canadian Hot 100 Singles chart.

Today In Madonna History: April 3, 2008

On April 3 2008, the music video for 4 Minutes – the debut single from Madonna’s 11th studio album for Warner Bros. Records, Hard Candy – made its world premiere as a video single available to purchase through iTunes. The digital retailer held exclusive rights to the video for a period of 48 hours, after which it was made available for streaming and broadcast through digital and traditional channels.

The video was filmed in London in February, 2008 and was directed by French duo, Jonas & François. At the time of the video’s launch, the audio download of 4 Minutes was already holding the #1 position on iTunes. When asked about the “4 Minute Fever Phenomenon,” Madonna commented, “Goody goody gum drops.”