On June 18 1994, Madonna’s I’ll Remember reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in the USA.
I’ll Remember topped the Adult Contemporary chart for four consecutive weeks, becoming Madonna’s fourth number-one on this chart following Live to Tell, La Isla Bonita and Cherish.
On June 17 2003, the single cover for Madonna’s Hollywood single was revealed. The photo was taken from the photo shoot by Steven Klein for W Magazine.
Hollywood was the second single from the American Life album, released on July 14, 2003.
In April 2003, in an interview with Q Magazine, Madonna described the allure life in Hollywood:
“I’ve had 20 years of fame and fortune, and I feel that I have a right to an opinion on what it is and what it isn’t. All everyone is obsessed about at the moment is being a celebrity. I’m saying that’s bullshit and who knows better than me? Before it happens you have all kinds of notions about how wonderful celebrity is and how much joy it’s going to bring you. Then you arrive … Look like this you’re gonna be happy. Drive this car you’re gonna be popular. Wear these clothes and people are gonna wanna fuck you. It’s a very powerful illusion and people are caught up in it, including myself. Or I was.”
On June 16 2007, the Live Earth website premiered a video for Madonna’s charity song, Hey You. It featured a series of images from all over the world, related to energy consumption and global warming, with natural catastrophes and world leaders.
Recorded during early sessions for Madonna’s Hard Candy album and co-produced by Madonna and Pharrell Williams, Hey You is registered in both the Warner/Chappell and ASCAP publishing databases with Madonna as its sole songwriter, making it the first entirely self-written song Madonna had released since 1985’s Gambler (with the exception of The Funny Song – an interlude from the Drowned World Tour DVD, which is credited to Madonna alone). The demo version of I Love New York (as featured in the I’m Going To Tell You A Secret documentary and CD) is credited solely to Madonna in the release’s liner notes – however, in separate entries from the Confessions on a Dance Floor version, the ASCAP and Warner/Chappell databases both credit the “movie version” to Madonna and Stuart Price.
Madonna adapted some of the lyrics for Hey You from two unreleased (at the time) tracks, Keep The Trance and It’s So Cool (the latter was later officially released as a bonus track for Celebration, although both songs had previously leaked in demo form).
On June 15 1994, Dangerous Game was released on home video. The film was directed by Abel Ferrara, and starred Madonna, Harvey Keitel and James Russo.
In 2007, Ferrara recalled,
It was just another one of our films that never came out. But on that one, the audience didn’t really like the film. Madonna killed it. The first impression people get on a movie is the one that never gets out of their mind. So after Madonna got so trashed for doing Body of Evidence, she thought she was going to beat the critics to the punch and badmouth the film. And she actually got good reviews. She never got a good review from the Voice or The New York Times in her life, but she got good reviews for this movie, which she came out and trashed. I’ll never forgive her for it.
Did you watch this film? Did you like it?
On June 14 1990, Madonna’s Vogue was certified platinum (for shipment of one million units) in the USA.
On June 13 1991, Madonna was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The feature included a photo spread shot by Steven Meisel.
Madonna has no equal at getting attention. She often seems to behave like someone who has been under severe restraint and can now say and do whatever she likes without fear of reprisal. She delights in being challenged, in telling more than she had planned, in going further than she had intended. And judging from her new film Truth or Dare, there is no “too far” for Madonna.
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 