On July 4 1987, Madonna performed her Who’s That Girl show to a sold out crowd of 50,000 fans at the CNE Stadium in Toronto, Ontario.
Peter Goddard from the Toronto Star reviewed the concert and said:
“Madonna proved that she may be a lost girl in the roads of life, like her film, but she ain’t lost when she is singing. Especially during songs like ‘Papa Don’t Preach‘, her vocal prowess was substantially notable.”
On July 3 2015, the third single off Madonna’s Rebel Heart album, Bitch I’m Madonna, climbed eight spots on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart to #7 in the USA. The hit dance song remained the Greatest Gainer for the second week in a row.
Thank you Justin for the great artwork above! – Jay
On July 2 2005, Madonna performed Like A Prayer, Ray Of Light and Music in front of an audience of over 200,000 during the Live 8 benefit concert at London’s Hyde Park. Part of a series of concerts, many of which were held simultaneously at various locations around the world, Live 8 was broadcast live on television and radio to an estimated global audience of two billion.
Madonna is one of only eight acts – and the only female artist – to have been a headlining performer at both 1985’s Live Aid and 2005’s Live 8. Other returning performers were U2, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sting, The Who, George Michael, and organizer, Bob Geldof. It took a bit of arm twisting on Geldof’s part to win Madonna’s commitment the second time around, as Madonna explained to MTV’s John Norris in a backstage interview after her performance:
Bob Geldof sent me a letter asking ‘will you do Live 8?’ and he didn’t really tell me anything and I went ‘Oh common dude, you gotta do better than that! Prove to me that it’s gonna make a difference and I’ll be there for you.’ And he did!”
In what turned out to be one of the event’s most moving moments, Madonna was introduced to the stage by Geldof with Birhan Woldu – the starving African child featured in the CBC News report twenty years earlier who had prompted Geldof to organize Live Aid. When Geldof had asked Woldu which artist she would like to appear with on stage, she immediately selected Madonna for the simple reason that she was the only artist on the bill that she had ever heard of. In a later interview, Woldu recalled the experience:
The crowd seemed to stretch for miles, but I’d been telling myself not to be nervous. There was just a huge picture of me as a child on the screen. That photo still upsets me. It was taken 20 years ago, when both my mother and sister died. I knew I must be strong for them but when I walked on I could feel my body shaking. Then Madonna took my hand and looked into my eyes, the crowd roared and I realised the world wanted to help my continent. I felt myself grow stronger.”
Madonna’s memorable performance at Live 8 was largely praised by mainstream media and fans alike.
On July 1 1989, Madonna’s Express Yourself enjoyed its second week at #1 on the United World Chart (Tracks).
Like A Prayer spent its sixteenth and final week in the Top 10 on the United World Chart at #10.
On June 30 1992, Madonna contributed a remixed version of Supernatural (originally released as the b-side to Cherish in 1989) on the AIDS benefit CD, Red Hot & Dance.
On June 29 1998, Madonna’s Ray of Light single peaked at #3 on RPM’s Top 100 Canadian Singles chart.
As with all the singles from the Ray of Light album, the title track was issued by Warner Music Canada as a 2-track CD single and as a CD maxi-single. In the U.S. the album’s CD singles were issued in cardboard sleeves with “draw pack” trays and the CD maxi-singles in “FLP digipak” cases, while in Canada the two configurations for each of the album’s four domestic singles were packaged in standard CD jewel cases with printed inserts.
On June 28 2005, Madonna told Britain’s Grazia magazine:
“I am perfectly happy to muck around in a pair of drawstring pants and wellies. Sometimes my daughter gets angry because I go to school with her wearing my tracksuit and she say ‘Can’t you just wear normal clothes?’ I think she wants me to be a Yummy Mummy, but that’s not me.”
