Today in Madonna History: February 20, 1995

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On February 20 1995, Madonna performed Bedtime Story live for the first and only time at the Brit Awards. The performance was set to a remix of the song by Junior Vasquez. Madonna wore a white Versace dress and long hair extensions, an image similar to her 1995 Versace advertisement campaign spread.

Madonna invited Björk to feature in the performance but Björk declined the offer, later stating: “I was supposed to get [Madonna’s] personal number and call her up, but it just didn’t feel right. I’d love to meet her accidentally, really drunk in a bar. It’s just all that formality that confuses me.”

Today in Madonna History: February 19, 2015

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On February 19 2015, Living For Love became Madonna’s 44th #1 Billboard Dance Club hit in the USA.

Here is a list of Madonna’s 44 number one Dance hits so far:

1983 – Holiday/Lucky Star
1984 – Like A Virgin
1985 – Material Girl
1985 – Angel/Into the Groove
1987 – Open Your Heart
1987 – Causing a Commotion (Remix)
1988 – You Can Dance (LP Cuts)
1989 – Like A Prayer
1989 – Express Yourself
1990 – Keep It Together
1990 – Vogue
1991 – Justify My Love
1992 – Erotica
1993 – Deeper and Deeper
1993 – Fever
1994 – Secret
1995 – Bedtime Story
1997 – Don’t Cry for Me Argentina
1998 – Frozen
1998 – Ray of Light
1999 – Nothing Really Matters
1999 – Beautiful Stranger
2000 – American Pie
2000 – Music
2001 – Don’t Tell Me
2001 – What It Feels Like for a Girl
2001 – Impressive Instant
2002 – Die Another Day
2003 – American Life
2003 – Hollywood
2003 – Me Against the Music – Britney Spears featuring Madonna
2004 – Nothing Fails
2004 – Love Profusion
2005 – Hung Up
2006 – Sorry
2006 – Get Together
2006 – Jump
2008 – 4 Minutes
2008 – Give It 2 Me
2009 – Celebration
2012 – Give Me All Your Luvin’
2012 – Girl Gone Wild
2012 – Turn Up the Radio
2015 – Living for Love

Today in Madonna History: February 18, 2006

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On February 18 2006, Shaun Woodford spoke to the BBC about how he was challenged to transform the back of an everyday van into a ’70s nightclub on wheels for Madonna’s Sorry music video.

Shaun said that when his customized car firm in Wales first received the request to pimp out the van with pink neon lights, lilac shag carpet and mirror disco balls, he thought it was a joke.

“We weren’t sure what to think at first! And it was only when we got the go ahead, that we knew it was for Madonna’s video.”

Shaun’s team at AB Styling Ltd were given one week to complete the job.

“Everything we needed had to be ordered in and there was a couple of moments where I thought it was going to be touch and go, but we did manage it.”

Shaun delivered the van on time and spent the week on set.

“It was a brilliant experience and by far the biggest job we’ve ever done – you can’t get bigger than Madonna.”

MTV documented and aired the makeover of the van in an episode of Pimp My Ride.

Today in Madonna History: February 17, 2007

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On February 17 2007, Madonna had four singles in the top 10 Billboard Hot Dance Single Sales Chart:

  • #2 – Jump (14 weeks on the chart)
  • #8 – Sorry (51 weeks on the chart)
  • #9 – Get Together (37 weeks on the chart)
  • #10 – Hung Up (65 weeks on the chart)

Today in Madonna History: February 16, 1990

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On February 16 1990, Madonna’s close friend Keith Haring died.

Madonna shared this memory of their friendship:

“We were two odd birds in the same environment. I watched Keith come up from that street base, which is where I also came up from. I’ve always responded to Keith’s art. From the very beginning there was a lot of innocence and a joy that was coupled with a brutal awareness of the world. The fact is, there’s a lot of irony in Keith’s work, just as there’s a lot of irony in my work. And that’s what attracts me to his stuff. I mean, you have these bold colors and those childlike figures and a lot of babies, but if you really look at those works closely, they’re really very powerful and really scary.”

Today in Madonna History: February 15, 1985

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On February 15 1985, the Vision Quest original motion picture soundtrack was released on Geffen Records. To promote the release, music videos for Crazy For You and Gambler were both serviced to MTV together in late January.

Despite Gambler only being released as a single in markets outside North America, its video received moderate rotation from MTV nonetheless – possibly due to the fact that there were no competing videos produced for the final two singles from Like A Virgin.

Gambler was Madonna’s last entirely self-written single until the 2007 release of the charity single, Hey You. Other singles for which she received sole writing credit include Everybody (which was in fact a Stephen Bray co-write–however a publishing arrangement granted him sole credit for another of their collaborations, Ain’t No Big Deal, in trade), Burning Up, Lucky Star and Sidewalk Talk. Album tracks Think Of Me, I Know It and Shoo-Bee-Doo were also entirely self-written.

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A third Madonna song that was recorded for the Vision Quest soundtrack, Warning Signs, was eventually dropped from the project. A cassette copy of the song, which is also credited to Madonna alone, was submitted to the Library of Congress for copyright registration in February of 1984, at the same time as Gambler.

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With Stephen Bray having confirmed his involvement in the song’s production (which he described as “a cool synth track”), it appears that its production credits would mirror those of Gambler, which was produced by Jellybean Benitez and arranged by Bray. Given that early press for Vision Quest (including an on-set interview with Madonna herself) mentioned the inclusion of three new songs, footage of Madonna performing Warning Signs was likely filmed but ended up on the cutting room floor. Surprisingly, this additional footage has never resurfaced and the song has never leaked.

Today in Madonna History: February 14, 1990

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On February 14 1990, Bloodhounds of Broadway was released on home video.

The Howard Brookner film generated $44,000 at the box office.