Today in Madonna History: March 4, 1998

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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.

Today in Madonna History: March 3, 1998

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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.

Today in Madonna History: March 1, 1998

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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, but it returned to its peak of number five on March 15 1998 where it held steady for another three weeks.

Australia released Frozen with a unique picture CD (5-track).

Today In Madonna History: March 31, 1994

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On March 31 1994, Madonna guested on CBS-TV’s Late Show With David Letterman: during the 20-minute interview, she said the word “fuck” 13 times, made obscene remarks and wisecracks, refused to leave the set and was rude to her host; her lewd and vulgar behavior caused a public and media controversy and Letterman also expressed his displeasure by her appearance on his show.

Watch the video!

Today in Madonna History: March 30, 1992

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On March 30 1992, Madonna attended Swifty Lazar’s annual post-Academy Awards party at Spago in Los Angeles.  Madonna arrived with Rosie O’Donnell.

Today in Madonna History: March 29, 2015

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On March 29 2015, Madonna performed Ghosttown with Taylor Swift at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Here’s what Rolling Stone magazine had to say about the performance:

The 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards promised there would be “unexpected collaborations” between the marquee artists attending the Los Angeles event, and the ceremony didn’t disappoint as Taylor Swift joined Madonna for an acoustic rendition of the Rebel Heart singer’s new single Ghosttown.

Following the performance, Madonna tweeted, “My new favorite guitar player! Thank you Taylor!”

Today in Madonna History: March 28, 1987

On March 28 1987, the final single from Madonna’s True Blue album, La Isla Bonita, was briefly reviewed in Billboard magazine.

The now-classic song was Madonna’s first sonic exploration into her love of Latin music and culture which would become a recurring inspiration in her body of work.

While Madonna has said that La Isla Bonita took inspiration from “the beauty and mystery of Latin American people,” she has remained more elusive about the song’s geographical references. Years later, she teasingly commented in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine:

“I don’t know where San Pedro is. At that point, I wasn’t a person who went on holidays to beautiful islands. I may have been on the way to the studio and seen an exit ramp for San Pedro.”