Today in Madonna History: April 17, 1986

acr premiere 7 acr premiere 6 Classic Images of Madonna acr premiere 5 acr premiere 2 acr premiere 1

On April 17 1986, Madonna and Sean Penn attended the Los Angeles premiere of his film At Close Range at the Bruin Theater.

Sporting a new cropped, platinum blonde hairstyle, Madonna and her notoriously media-shy husband paused to speak with various media outlets as they made their way down the red carpet.

The film, which co-starred Christopher Walken and Mary Stuart Masterson, featured Madonna’s latest single, Live To Tell, along with an original musical score by Patrick Leonard comprising mostly of motifs inspired by Live To Tell‘s minor chord changes. Its director, James Foley, helmed several of Madonna’s music videos for the True Blue album and directed her next film, Who’s That Girl.

Today In Madonna History: March 18, 1995

madonna_pj party 1 550 madonna_pj party 2 & 5 madonna_pj party 3 550 madonna_pj party 6 & 7

On March 18 1995, Madonna celebrated the premiere of her Bedtime Story video by throwing a Pajama Party at Webster Hall in New York. The event was broadcast live on MTV in the U.S. and was hosted by Kurt Loder.

Today in Madonna History: March 17, 1994

i'll remember usa sheet music

On March 17 1994, the music video for I’ll Remember (Theme From With Honors) premiered on BBC1-TV’s Top Of The Pops in the UK.

I’ll Remember began as a collaboration between Richard Page (of 80’s band Mister Mister) and Patrick Leonard. Leonard had been asked by Madonna to score Alek Keshishian’s film With Honors, and had also been collaborating with Page on an upcoming Toy Matinee album. When Leonard played an early demo of I’ll Remember for Madonna, she loved it and decided to record it with new lyrics she had written. The song was produced by Madonna & Patrick Leonard, with Page providing additional backing vocals.

ama 1987 richard page

Madonna had previously crossed paths with Richard Page when he presented her with a trophy at the 1987 American Music Awards (pictured above).

Today in Madonna History: March 6, 1998

madonna toronto march 1998

On March 6 1998, Madonna spent the day in Toronto, Canada conducting a press conference and various print interviews to promote her new album, Ray Of Light, released earlier that week. She ended the day with a live, hour-long interview on Much Music hosted by VJ’s Master T (personally selected by Madonna herself after viewing reels of the station’s on-air personalities) and Geneviève Borne (a self-proclaimed Madonna fan and VJ from Much Music’s French-language sister station, Musique Plus).

The much-hyped event, which marked Madonna’s first and only visit to the Much Music studios, was prefaced by the Canadian music video channel’s second Madonnathon – a day of all-Madonna programming. The first, which featured her 1992 interview with Jonathan Ross and a then-recent press junket interview with The New Music’s Jana Lynne White (and all of her music videos), aired in January of 1993 at the height of the Sex/Erotica/Body Of Evidence backlash.

After the appearance was announced, fans seeking a limited hot spot inside the studio for the interview were asked to call in and were queried a series of Madonna-related trivia questions to prove their worthiness, while others who didn’t make it inside lined the streets of the Queen St W studios on the day of the event to welcome the Queen of Pop to Toronto.

Today in Madonna History: March 1, 1998

vlcsnap-2015-03-01-16h28m54s207vlcsnap-2015-03-01-16h17m11s65vlcsnap-2015-03-01-16h14m17s108

On March 1 1998, Madonna’s Ray Of Light album was featured in an episode MTV’s Ultrasound.

Kurt Loder visited Madonna in the studio during the recording of the Ray Of Light album in late 1997 for an exclusive chat and behind-the-scenes look into her recording process. He later joined her on the set of the Frozen video to conduct an additional interview for the episode. Madonna chatted about motherhood, her recent spiritual awakening, and the inspiration behind the album. Kurt also conducted interviews with collaborator William Ørbit, Guy Oseary and the director of the Frozen video, Chris Cunningham.

Today in Madonna History: October 30, 1995

you'll see video 2you'll see canadian sleeve

On October 30 1995, You’ll See  was released as the first single from the ballads compilation, Something To Remember. It was one of three tracks written and produced by Madonna with Canadian songwriter David Foster during a marathon writing/recording session in late September 1995, with One More Chance also making the album’s final cut. A shelved collaboration entitled I Can’t Forget was recorded by British electronic group Tilt (retitled Come Closer) in 2006 and later by Canadian vocalist Angelica Di Castro. Madonna’s original unreleased demo leaked to the internet in 2010.

A Spanish version of You’ll See entitled Verás (featuring lyrics by Paz Martinez) was recorded during a brief promotional push for the album and was included on the North American maxi-single alongside an instrumental version and a live recording of Live To Tell (taken from 1987’s Ciao Italia! concert release). An alternate version of the You’ll See video was serviced to Latin markets to promote Verás featuring in-studio footage of Madonna recording its vocals.

Today in Madonna History: September 8, 1994

On September 8 1994, Madonna presented the award for Video of the Year at the MTV VMA’s. She was escorted onstage by David Letterman, poking fun at their supposed feud following Madonna’s infamous profanity propelled appearance on Letterman earlier that year.

The appearance was intended to generate buzz for her soon-to-be-released single, Secret and its accompanying album, Bedtime Stories.