On November 20 1998, the U.K.’s Channel 4 aired a Madonna interview conducted by Johnny Vaughan. The special was titled Johnny Meets Madonna and was part of Madonna’s European promotional campaign for The Power Of Good-Bye and the Ray Of Light album.
On November 19 1986, Madonna’s Open Your Heart single was released. Open Your Heart was the fourth single to be released from the True Blue album.
The single would eventually become Madonna’s fifth number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (topping the chart on February 7, 1987).
On November 18 1986, Madonna’s True Blue album was certified 3x platinum, for sales of 3 million units in the United States. The album was released on June 30 1986.
Here’s what Madonna had to say about the album track, Where’s The Party?
“It’s my ultimate statement about what it’s like to be in the middle of this Press stuff with everybody on my back, my world about to cave in. Whenever I feel like that – and it does get to me sometimes – I say ‘Wait a minute, I’m supposed to be having a good time here, so where’s the party?’ It doesn’t have to be this way. I can still enjoy life.”
On November 17 1993, Madonna arrived in Sydney, for the start of the Australian leg of her Girlie Show World Tour and it didn’t take long before she was making stirring up controversy over a gift she received.
Here’s a snippet of what ran in the Chicago Tribune the day after she arrived:
The didgeridoo is a long, tube-like wind instrument that is traditional among the Aborigines. Only men are allowed to play it.
Madonna, who offended some fans in Puerto Rico when she rubbed the island’s flag against her crotch, received a five-foot didgeridoo on her arrival in Sydney on Wednesday. It was a gift from the promoter of the Australian leg of her tour.
“The fact Madonna is a Westerner and the didgeridoo as a gift does not change the fact she should not be carrying it around,” said Badangthun Munmunyarrun, an Aboriginal elder.
On November 16 1994, Madonna began filming Four Rooms in Los Angeles.
Madonna played one of the witches, Elspeth, in the first segment of the film called, The Missing Ingredient, directed by Alison Anders. Other actresses playing witches in the coven included: Valeria Golino (Athena), Alicia Witt (Kiva), Sammi Davis (Jezebel), Lili Taylor (Raven), Ione Skye (Eva) and Amanda de Cadenet (Diana).
This beautiful illustration of Elspeth is by Sarah Hedlund Design. Check out Sarah’s Facebook and webpage to see more of her amazing work! We have published Sarah’s version of Elspeth with her permission.
On November 15 2005, Madonna performed an intimate club show for roughly 1,500 contest winners and guests at KOKO in London’s Camden Town district. The event was held to celebrate the release of her album, Confessions On A Dance Floor.
While roughly 200 fans queued overnight to secure a spot near the stage for the gig, fans around the world were able to enjoy a live stream of the performance online.
VIP guests in attendance included Sir Bob Geldof and his late daughter Peaches, Stella McCartney, Guy Ritchie and Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant.
Madonna’s very first promotional concert in London was held at the same venue – then named Camden Palace – in October of 1983.
Setlist
On November 14 2004, Michael Colombier – the composer/arranger who produced the beautiful string arrangements for Madonna’s songs Die Another Day, Don’t Tell Me & Easy Ride, and composed the soundtrack for Swept Away (perhaps the film’s most memorable attribute) – passed away at age 65.
Colombier was one of the most prolific and versatile French musicians of his generation. Besides his career as a film composer scoring over 100 feature, cable and television films since the early 1960’s – Colombier was a prolific songwriter and arranger who worked with artists such as Joni Mitchell, Prince, Serge Gainsbourg, The Beach Boys, Herbie Hancock, Air, Barbra Streisand & Earth Wind And Fire.
As a film composer, Michel Colombier scored many French and American films, including The Golden Child, Ruthless People, New Jack City, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and The Money Pit. His background in jazz was evident in the majority of his film scores, and his ability to compose original score music that merged seamlessly with pop songs made him the perfect composer for 1980’s films with song-heavy soundtracks, including White Nights, Against All Odds and Purple Rain (which won a Grammy Award as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Score).
Today In Madonna History 