On February 27 1991, Madonna’s first greatest hits video collection, The Immaculate Collection video was certified double platinum (for sales of 200,000 units).
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (AllMusic) had this to say about the video collection:
Category Archives: February
Today in Madonna History: February 26, 1987
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: February 25, 1992
On February 25 1992, the Pioneer LaserDisc-only release Madonna: Blond Ambition World Tour Live won Best Music Video–Long Form at the 34th annual Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall, New York.
Although Madonna had received four Grammy nominations in previous years (Best Female Pop Vocal in 1986 & 1987; Best Original Song From A Motion Picture in 1988; Best Music Video–Short Form in 1991 for Oh Father), Madonna: Blond Ambition Tour Live represented her very first Grammy Award win. Ironically, the lack of a VHS edition or of any subsequent DVD/Blu-Ray reissue of the title meant that only those in possession a pricey LaserDisc player were afforded the opportunity to purchase and enjoy the award-winning release.
Madonna would receive three more Grammy nominations for Best Music Video–Long Form in the years that followed; she was nominated in 1995 and 2007 for The Girlie Show–Live Down Under and I’m Going To Tell You A Secret, respectively, before finally winning the award a second time for The Confessions Tour in 2008.
Today in Madonna History: February 24, 1999
On February 24 1999, Madonna performed Nothing Really Matters at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. Madonna also took home 4 Grammies:
- Best Pop Album – David Reitzas, Jon Ingoldsby, Pat McCarthy (engineers/mixers), William Orbit (producer) and Madonna (producer & artist) for Ray Of Light
- Best Dance Recording – Pat McCarthy (mixer), William Orbit (producer) and Madonna (producer & artist) for Ray of Light
- Best Short Form Music Video – Jonas Åkerlund (video director) and Madonna for Ray of Light
- Best Recording Package – Kevin Reagan (art director) for Ray of Light performed by Madonna
Today in Madonna History: February 23, 1998
On February 23 1998, Frozen was released by Maverick records as the lead single from Madonna’s seventh studio album, Ray of Light. The song was written by Madonna & Patrick Leonard and was produced by Madonna, Leonard & William Orbit.
Madonna has mentioned that she considers Frozen as part of a thematic trilogy with The Power Of Good-Bye and To Have And Not To Hold. In an interview with Barry Walters for Spin magazine, Madonna commented on the inspiration behind the song:
“I was so obsessed with the movie The Sheltering Sky and that whole Moroccan/orchestral/super-romantic/man-carrying-the-woman-he-loves-across-the-desert vibe. So I told [Patrick Leonard] that I wanted something with a tribal feel, something really lush and romantic. When he started playing some music, I just turned the DAT on and started free-associating and came up with the melody.”
Initially unsure of which song should be released as the album’s first single, Madonna was eventually convinced by Warner Bros. executives that Frozen would be a perfect way to bridge the Adult Contemporary leanings of her most recent hits (Take A Bow, You’ll See and the singles from Evita) with the more cutting-edge, electronic sounds of Ray Of Light.
Today in Madonna History: February 22, 1995
On February 22 1995, Madonna and Babyface performed Take A Bow at the San Remo Music Festival in Italy. At the end of the performance, Madonna thanked the audience in Italian, and received a standing ovation.
Today in Madonna History: February 21, 2016
On February 21 2016, Madonna performed the second of two sold out shows during her Rebel Heart World Tour at the Studio City Event Center in Macau, China.
The undisputed ‘Queen of Pop’ is set to excite and delight Asia’s music fans at Studio City’s awe-inspiring Studio City Event Center when she brings her ‘Rebel Heart Tour’ to Macau.
The ‘Rebel Heart Tour’, which lands in Macau on February 20 and 21, 2016, is supporting Madonna’s 13th studio album ‘Rebel Heart’ which includes the Billboard Hot 100 hit, ‘Bitch, I’m Madonna’. The hit single features star-studded cameos by Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West as well as appearances by Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Rita Ora.
The ‘Rebel Heart’ Tour follows the spring release of Madonna’s Rebel Heart album on Interscope Records. Rave reviews of the album include: ROLLING STONE: ‘Rebel Heart is a long, passionate, self-referential meditation on losing love and finding purpose in chilling time.’ LA TIMES: ‘Rebel Heart like its creator pushes through the pain and more often than not lands solidly and with great grace on its feet.’ NOISEY: ‘Madonna continues to keep us on our toes, like no other performer in the history of modern music. NY DAILY TIMES ‘Rebel Heart’s best moments boast some of the most finely structured pop melodies of Madonna’s 32-year career.’
Along with extraordinary critical acclaim as an artist, songwriter and producer who has sold a record breaking 300 million records, Madonna’s reputation as one of the most successful, provocative and enduring live performers of all time speaks for itself. The 2008/2009 Sticky & Sweet tour is the highest grossing tour of all time for a solo artist and the 20123 MDNA tour was the most successful tour of that year.
Today In Madonna History 