On September 20 1997, the single-disc version of the Evita soundtrack, Music From The Motion Picture Evita, re-entered the Billboard 200 albums chart in the U.S., spending its final charting week at #190.
In the same issue of Billboard, the promo-only remixes of Buenos Aires earned “Hot Shot Debut” status on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart, entering at #35.
On August 23 1997, Evita: Music from the Motion Picture (the highlights disc) debuted at #168 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart in the USA.
The highlights disc included 19 tracks from the film, and was released on July 29 1997 in North America to help promote the home video release. The single disc was released in select markets around the world in 1996 at the same time as the double disc complete soundtrack, but not in North America.
Evita: The Motion Picture Music Soundtrack featured all 34 tracks from the film, and was released on November 12 1996.
The highlights disc didn’t perform very well in the late summer of 1997 because it was released a full 8 months after the original release. No single was released to radio to promote it, and most die-hard fans had already secured an imported version of the single disc soundtrack the previous year. Why it was released at all in July 1997 remains a mystery. Why the single-disc set wasn’t released in North America in November 1996 is a better question. Why not release the double-disc set (expensive) and the single disc set (average price of a CD at the time) and appeal to the largest possible group of consumers? That was the approach around the world, but not in North America, we can’t help but wonder why? – Jay
On May 7 1919, Eva Maria Duarte de Perón, Argentinian actress and the 25th First Lady of Argentina was born. Eva was the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón from 1946 until she died of cervical cancer on July 26 1952.
Madonna portrayed Eva in the musical film version of EVITA, directed by Alan Parker.
On April 30 2020, Madonna’s 1994 Bedtime Stories album topped the U.S. iTunes Albums Chart after her fans kicked of th #JusticeForBedtimeStories campaign.
This is how the Daily Mail reported it:
More than 25 years after its initial release, one of Madonna’s most under-appreciated albums is getting some love.
Bedtime Stories, the Material Girl’s sixth studio album released in 1994, shot to the top position of the U.S. iTunes chart on Thursday, thanks to a fan-led hashtag campaign ‘#JusticeForBedtimeStories’.
The campaign follows in the footsteps of #JusticeForEMC2, a similar move made by the Mariah Carey fandom in support of her 2008 album, as well as an effort on behalf of Janet Jackson’s 1986 record Control.
Madonna’s Bedtime Stories marked a transitional time in the career of the now 61-year-old performer, after she pushed the envelope with 1992’s salacious Erotica album and the publication of her Sex book, and before her Golden Globe-winning role as buttoned-up Evita Peron in 1996’s musical film Evita.
And while Bedtime Stories‘ final track, Take A Bow, spent seven weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 – to date her longest-running number-one single – only one of the album’s other singles, Secret, managed to break the top 10.
Still, Bedtime Stories remains to this day one of Madge’s most cohesive and melodic albums, containing one of her best songs of all time – the brazen and unapologetic anthem Human Nature.
On March 25 1997, Madonna performed You Must Love Me at the 68th Academy Awards. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Kathleen Guerdo from Billboard said that “Madonna delivers what is by far one of the strongest vocal performances of her career, comfortably scaling to the song’s demanding soprano heights while infusing it with delicate, heart-rending emotion.”
On March 4 1996, Madonna’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore music video was shot at the Confitería El Molino in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during her day off from filming Evita.
The music video was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, who worked with Madonna on her videos for Open Your Heart, Justify My Love and Human Nature.
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore was released as the fourth single from the Something to Remember ballads collection.
In her Evita diaries, published by Vanity Fair magazine in 1996, Madonna made reference to the video shoot:
“There are no words to describe the weariness I feel today. I have not slept well in days, and when I do, there is no comfort. My dreams are violent and full of betrayal. Like my life, there’s no escape. I feel the responsibility of this film. I cannot talk about Evita and her life without defending myself … Dear God, what have I gotten myself into? What is happening to me? Today we went to shoot a music video for my next song. But I kept forgetting the lyrics, and felt like crying each and every time I did it. It was so frustrating. It’s my own song!”
On December 21 1996, Madonna’s You Must Love Me (the lead single from EVITA) spent its final week on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay Chart in the USA. The hit single spent a total of 9 weeks on the chart.
Peter Keough of the Boston Phoenix had this to say about the song:
“You Must Love Me is an aching farewell that dispels the illusion of a romance-of-convenience to reveal the inescapable love and tragedy beneath”.
Today In Madonna History 