''Revolver'' will be released only as a digital single in the Netherlands on December 14. For the time being, there will be no new remixes available on the single.
The tracklisting will be: ''Revolver (One Love Mix)'', ''Revolver (One Love Mix) feat. Lil' Wayne'' and ''Revolver (feat. Akon)''.
The artwork for "Madonna vs. David Guetta - Revolver (One Love Remix)" is yet another variation of the iconic portrait assembled by Mr Brainwash.
''You Can Dance'' is the first remix album by Madonna and it is not considered as her ''greatest hits'' album since it continues songs from her first three albums and the new song ''Spotlight'' which was released as a single only in Japan. It was released on November 17, 1987.
Originally it is thought that the album was to be released at the end of 1986 or early 1987 to help promote Madonna's first world tour - ''Who's That Girl World Tour''. Madonna also used the Shep Pettibone remix of "Into the Groove" on the tour which began on June 14, 1987 — 5 months before the album release.
The tracks on the album were segued together to resemble a DJ's set; this idea was revisited on the 2005 dance album ''Confessions on a Dance Floor''. Although it was her only album to fail to reach the top ten in the United States, it sold well (1,000,000 copies in the US), despite having no singles to promote it.
It is true that some of this now sounds dated — these are quite clearly extended mixes from the mid-'80s — but that's part of its charm, and it all holds together quite well.
Later CD edition of the release included 3 dub versions included after the original tracklisting. Worldwide the album has sold over 5 million copies to date. Not essential, but fun.
Madonna broke into tears when Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista announced that he would donate $7 million for her welfare projects, a media report said.
During a dinner at Batista’s home Thursday, the tycoon asked the singer how much money she collected and how much more she needed. When she answered that she had $3 million and needed to raise $10 million, the billionaire announced his readiness to complete the sum.
It was at that moment that Madonna was moved to tears, the Folha de Sao Paulo daily reported.
At the dinner were Rio de Janeiro State Governor Sergio Cabral and Mayor Eduardo Paes.
The singer left Brazil Friday after a five-day visit seeking investments for a number of social projects that she wants to launch.
On Thursday before the dinner, the artist made a quick trip to Sao Paulo to meet a group of poor women, with whom she spoke about the positive values contained in the Hebrew doctrine of the Kabbalah, of which she herself is a follower.
The mayor told the media that the singer had accepted his offer for her to perform at the next New Year’s festival, for which some two million people would gather on the Copacabana beach.
''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' is the tenth studio album by Madonna, released on November 15, 2005.
Despite moments of greatness ("Intervention," "Die Another Day," "Nothing Fails"), ''American Life'' somehow amounted to less than the sum of its parts, at times awkward and monotonous (thanks to Mirwais's creatively-stunted production), but also daring, the sound of a superstar once again venturing outside her comfort zone. Like with ''Erotica'', Madonna was given the cold shoulder by critics and audiences alike. It may went to No.1 and became platinum but it was her first album ever not to have a single enter the Billboard pop Top Ten. ''American Life'' wasn't a bad album by any standard; had it been released today (or in '03 by an unknown artist), it could very well have become a critics' darling a la Green Day's ''American Idiot'' or, at least, been less of a bomb.
Madonna needed a complete departure from it so that's how ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' came to life - as a back-to-basics move of sorts: after a stumble, she's returning to her roots, namely the discos and clubs where she launched her career in the early '80s. Her best work has always married the rapturous with the introspective (think of ''Ray of Light'' or ''Like a Prayer'') and maybe Madonna has learned that she's better off taking a cue from George W. Bush and appealing to her base. And if there's anything else the woman knows how to do, it's damage control. ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' is the first album where Madonna seems like a veteran musician. Not only is there a sense of conscious craft to the album, in how the sounds and the songs segue together, but in how it explicitly references the past — both her own and club music in the larger sense — the music seems disassociated from the present; Madonna is reworking familiar territory, not pushing forward.
The album is structured like a DJ's nightly set. The songs are sequenced and blended together so that they are played continuously without any intermediate gap. The title arrived from the fact that the tracklisting for the album consists of light-hearted and happy songs in the beginning, and progresses to much darker melodies and lyrics describing personal feelings and commitments. Taken on a purely sonic level, ''Confession on a Dance Floor'' does its job: with the assistance of co-producer Stuart Price (plus Bloodshy & Avant and Mirwais) she not only maintains the mood, but keeps the music moving nicely, never letting one track linger any longer than necessary. This is shimmering music falling just short of sexy, yet it's alluring enough on the surface to make for a perfect soundtrack for pitch-black nights. That's what the album was designed to do, and it works well on that level.
Aside from "Hung Up" and "Sorry", the insanely catchy second single that's destined to become a Madonna classic, ''Confessions...'' isn't the mindlessly fun dance album we were promised. It, in fact, has a lot more in common with Madonna's last three albums than her first three. ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' is ''American Life'' repackaged for the masses—or, rather, her masses: recurrent topics include materialism ("Let It Will Be" and "How High") and, of course, spirituality (''Isaac'').
"Future Lovers", with its spoken-word passages and chants, is less like an actual song and more like a spiritual instruction manual. The allegorical closing track, "Like It or Not'', finds Madonna stuck in English Roses mode, stringing together Kabbalah-learned platitudes one after the other. For evidence of Madonna's previous talent of turning clichés into pop slogans, though, look no further than "Get Together", with its subtle nods to "Holiday" and "Secret," or the "I've heard it all before" hook of the ABBA-esque "Sorry" (the track appropriates the bassline from the Jacksons's "Can You Feel It," the beat of which was, coincidentally, nabbed for Madonna's career-defining "Material Girl" 20 years ago).
After its release, the album debuted at the top of the charts in most nations. It became Madonna's sixth number-one album on the Billboard 200 albums chart (selling 350,000 copies in its first week). She was also honored with a Grammy Award for "Best Dance/Electronic Album" in 2007, as well as "International Female Solo Artist" at the 2006 BRIT Award. The supporting tour for the album, known as ''Confessions Tour'', became the highest grossing tour ever, for a female artist at that time.
Four singles were released from the album: ''Hung Up'' (became Madonna's most successful single worldwide by topping the charts in forty-five countries, thus earning a place in the Guiness Book of World Records), ''Sorry'', ''Get Together'' and ''Jump''. Up to this moment, worldwide sales of the album surpassed 7 million copies.
''GHV2'' (Greatest Hits Volume 2) is Madonna's second greatest hits compilation album, released 9 years ago, on November 12, 2001. It is the follow-up to the 1990 release ''The Immaculate Collection'' and it does not contain any new recordings.
When Madonna's first hits compilation, ''The Immaculate Collection'', was released in 1990, it served not only as a great summation of the talent and appeal of one of the biggest artists of the '80s, but a big "fuck you" to the countless people who swore she'd never last. It was obvious that Madonna, whose greatest strength was her ability to evolve with the changing times, was poised and ready for the coming decade.
Unlike its predecessor, however, this collection isn't a nearly flawless collection of joyful, exuberant pop music at its finest. Lest we forget, there were times in the '90s when it seemed that Madonna was losing it - whether the "it" in question was the ability to predict/create the next trend, her creative direction, or her mind. Why isn't this as good as it should be? Why does it seem to have songs missing when it really doesn't? Why is it slightly disappointing?
Although "Vogue" was a promising way for Madonna to enter the '90s, the album that followed it was the first commercial disappointment of her seemingly enchanted career. While it wasn't surprising that ''Erotica'' followed through on the dance-music inclinations of "Vogue", what did come as a shock was how detached and robotic it sounded. The semi-kinky sexuality Madonna promoted in both the album and the book ''Sex'' made ''Erotica'' even more of a hard sell.
''GHV2'' kicks off with one of the best from ''Erotica'' album: "Deeper and Deeper". The song's somewhat robotic dance beats belie that it is, at heart, a great pop song about the importance of listening to Mom and Dad's advice. "Erotica", however, hasn't aged nearly as well. It's funny that Madonna had no qualms about posing for the ''Sex'' book, but didn't even have the balls to say the "F" word in the song.
Certainly, the gentle grooves of "Secret", accompanied as they are by acoustic guitar and delicate strings, are more seductive than any of the sanitized beats on ''Erotica''. The slick ballad "Take a Bow"was a huge hit, and the Bjork co-composition "Bedtime Story" found Madonna flirting with electronica for the first time. Still, all the genre-hopping of the ''Bedtime Stories'' tracks illustrates that Madonna had lost her way by the mid-'90s.
What saved Madonna, and therefore saves ''GHV2'', was turning her attention to personal matters in the late '90s. A hard-won role in ''Evita'' and new motherhood seemed to turn Madonna's focus inward, and she began to explore two seemingly contradictory impulses: to write reflective, personal songs and to dive headfirst into electronic music. Her collaboration with William Orbit on ''Ray of Light'' produced the warmest, least mechanical album Madonna had made in 10 years. The Orbit tracks included on ''GHV2'' - "The Power of Goodbye", "Frozen", "Ray of Light", "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", "Beautiful Stranger" - are a testament to his ability to use gadgets and electronic wizardry not to alienate listeners, but to draw them in.
Madonna's collaboration with Mirwais Ahmadzai on 2000's ''Music'' was another triumph represented nicely here by "Don't Tell Me", "What It Feels Like for a Girl", and the title track. There couldn't be a better closing track for this collection than "Music", because the goofy Rick James rip-off reasserts the freewheeling, fun spirit that made Madonna so damn appealing when she debuted nearly twenty years ago. "Music" and "Beautiful Stranger" alone bear the burden of giving ''GHV2'' what all seventeen tracks on ''The Immaculate Collection'' provided in abundance: that thrilling, exuberant feeling, that indefinable thing that is what we love about Madonna.
Chronological sequencing would have made it easier to follow the course of Madonna's musical evolution. But would these changes have made ''GHV2'' a significantly better album? Probably not. As it stands, it's the best summary of Madonna's second decade as a performer.
The album was given very little promotion with no singles released apart from the promotional only ''GHV2 Megamix''. It was the 12th best selling album of 2001. Worldwide, the album has sold more than seven million units.
''The Immaculate Collection''is the first greatest hits collection by Madonna, released 19 years ago, on November 13, 1990. On the surface, the single-disc hits compilation appears to be a definitive retrospective of Madonna's heyday in the '80s. After all, it features 17 of Madonna's greatest hits, from "Holiday" and "Like a Virgin" to "Like a Prayer" and "Vogue". However, looks can be deceiving. It's true that ''The Immaculate Collection'' contains the bulk of Madonna's hits, but there are several big hits that aren't present, including "Angel", "Dress You Up", "True Blue", "Who's That Girl", ''Everybody'', ''Burning Up'', ''Oh Father'' or "Causing a Commotion" - big hits in the '80's. The songs that are included are altered from their original versions.
Originally titled ''Ultra Madonna'', the compilation was dedicated to "The Pope, my divine inspiration". This led to many believing it was dedicated to Pope John Paul II, but it was actually dedicated to her brother, Christopher Ciccone, (if only she new then what she knows now) who had spent the year on tour with Madonna ("The Pope" is one of his nicknames). Everything on the collection is remastered in Q-sound, except "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me" - a QSound mix of "Justify My Love" was later released on the US maxi-single to the song - which gives an exaggerated sense of stereo separation that often distorts the original intent of the recordings. Furthermore, several songs are faster than their original versions and some are faded out earlier than either their single or album versions, while others are segued together. In other words, while all the hits are present, they're simply not in their correct versions.
All of the songs on ''The Immaculate Collection'' (except of the two new songs) were remixed by Shep Pettibone. Although Madonna re-recorded the vocals for the song "Lucky Star" for the compilation, all of the original vocals on the other tracks remained the same and ultimately the original vocals for "Lucky Star" were also used and the new version was scrapped (although it has appeared on bootlegs). Notably, "Like a Prayer" and "Express Yourself" feature completely different music backing Madonna's vocals from their original album release.
"Justify My Love" became the first single to promote the album, and created a furor over the sexual video and the controversy in regards to who wrote it. The single shot to number one in the U.S. and number two in the UK. A second release, "Rescue Me", was released in early 1991, which also went top ten.
Many fans were quick to point out the shortcomings of the album. Every hit (except "Like a Prayer" and "Vogue") was heavily edited although the album was only 73 minutes long. Moreover, many fans and critics stressed that the presence of the Shep Pettibone's "Like a Prayer" dance remix, rather than the more familiar (and better) LP version, was not the best way to pay tribute to a track that is considered by many as one of Madonna's best.
Fans also pointed out the numerous missing hits, so Warner Bros. released an EP in the UK and Europe titled ''The Holiday Collection'' which had the same design as ''The Immaculate Collection''. The full-length version of "Holiday" was included alongside "True Blue", "Who's That Girl", and the Silver Screen Single mix of "Causing a Commotion". The re-released "Holiday" eventually went to number five in the UK charts, as did a re-release of the ballad "Crazy for You".
By the late 1990s, and after twenty million copies had been sold, the Guinness Book of World Records declared ''The Immaculate Collection'' to be the biggest selling 'hits' compilation album by a solo female artist and was placed in several "albums of the millennium" lists. In November 2006, the album was confirmed by the British Phonographic Industry to be the biggest selling album by a solo female artist in British history, and the tenth biggest selling album of all time in the UK by any artist.
The album is the best-selling compilation ever released by a female artist, with 22 million copies sold worldwide.
''The Immaculate Collection'' remains a necessary purchase, because it captures everything Madonna is about and it proves that she was one of the finest singles artists of the '80s. Until ''Celebration'', released 19 years later, ''The Immaculate Collection'' was the closest thing to a definitive retrospective (next compilation of Madonna's greatest hits - ''GHV2'' - was released on November 13, 2001 - subject for the next post).
Madonna had hits with her first album, even reaching the Top Ten twice with "Borderline" and "Lucky Star," but she didn't become a superstar, an icon, until her second album,''Like a Virgin''. The album was released on November 12, 1984.
''Like a Virgin'' launched Madonna into unearthly super-stardom and defined a generation with hits like "Material Girl" and the now-classic title track.
Nile Rodgers was chosen by Madonna as the producer of the album which was built on the sound and image that Madonna had created in her debut album, which was very much disco and pop-oriented, and then carefully constructed her image as an ironic, ferociously sexy Boy Toy - the Steven Meisel-shot cover, capturing her as a buxom bride with a Boy Toy belt buckle on the front, and dressing after a night of passion, was as key to her reinvention as the music itself.
Yet, there's no discounting the best songs on the record, the moments when her grand concepts are married to music that transcends the mere classification of dance-pop. These, of course, are "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin," the two songs that made her an icon, and the two songs that remain definitive statements. They overshadow the rest of the record, not just because they are a perfect match of theme and sound, but because the rest of the album vacillates wildly in terms of quality. The other two singles, "Angel" and "Dress You Up'', are excellent standard-issue dance-pop, and there are other moments that work well ("Over and Over" and "Stay'') but overall, it adds up to less than the sum of its parts — partially because the singles are so good, but also because on the first album, she stunned with style and a certain joy.
The album's title track was her first number one hit song. Madonna debuted the song at the first annual MTV Video Music Awards and that became one of the most defining moments of music TV's history. The album's second single, ''Material Girl'', earned Madonna the nickname of "material girl" from the media. The song ''Into the Groove'' was included in the 1985 film ''Desperately Seeking Susan'' and due to its success - it hit #1 in various countries, becoming her first number one in the UK - was included in the re-release of the album (August 5, 1985).
The version of "Stay" that appears on the album borrows its lyrics from two early Madonna demo tracks titled "Stay" and "Don't You Know". An early version of "Stay" appeared on the demo cassette that landed Madonna her record deal with Sire/Warner in 1982. The mid-tempo ballad "Shoo-Bee-Doo" and a soulful cover of Rose Royce's "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" proved Madonna could churn out more than just novelty hits, while the sugary "Angel" and the irresistible "Dress You Up" contributed to the singer's record-breaking list of consecutive Top 5 hits (16 in all).
''Like a Virgin'' has been certified Diamond for selling more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone, and has sold over 21 million copies worldwide (the album is on No.53 of the list of the best selling albums of all time). The album produced five singles (all five made to Top 5 in US and UK): ''Like a Virgin'', ''Material Girl'', ''Angel'', ''Into the Groove'' and ''Dress You Up''.
Madonna, who has promoted school building in the African country Malawi, is now turning her star power onto projects to improve the notorious slums of Rio de Janeiro.
The 51-year-old star is in Rio to visit some of the Brazilian city's slums, or favelas, and meet with one of the country's richest businessmen to discuss setting up social projects, said state Governor Sergio Cabral.
"She will get to know some social projects; she is enchanted with Rio and wants to help," Cabral said. The beachside city has about 1,000 slums, many of them controlled by violent drug gangs or other armed groups.
A major outbreak of violence last month, which followed Rio's selection to host the 2016 Olympics, underlined its stubborn security and poverty problems.
''Something to Remember'' is the third compilation (if we count ''You Can Dance'') by Madonna. It was released on November 7, 1995, compiling a selection of the singer's ballads. The songs weren't selected by ''No.1'' status or even by ''greatest hits'' standard.
Only two tracks on the album overlap with ''The Immaculate Collection'' (''Crazy for You'' and ''Live to Tell'') and the disc also marks the first appearance of "This Used to Be My Playground" and "I'll Remember" on one of Madonna's albums.
For some, ''Something to Remember'' is even better than ''The Immaculate Collection'' or ''GHV2'' because it showed Madonna-portrait of the lady as a brilliant chaunteuse crying her heart out. Throughout the album, Madonna proves that she's a terrific and underrated singer whose voice has improved over the years.
The songs on this beautiful artwork express a longing, a yearning and a desire - as only Lady Madonna can do it - as the record indicated her future as mother, seeker and rebel with a good heart. Let's start with the covers - ''Love Don't Live Here Anymore'' was the first time Madonna cried on record - simply amazing and mature beyond her years - and ''I Want You'' (a collaboration with Massive Attack'') is incredible, as if her sadness is a constant - and the video is where Madonna does her best method acting. ''Crazy for You'' is simply a wonderful song - Rebel Ciccone sings beautifully on this early hit ballad.
The release of the album was ostensibly strategic, intended to soften Madonna's image prior to her role in the film "Evita". Besides ''I Want You'', there are two new songs, both a collaboration with David Foster: ''You'll See'' and ''One More Chance''. The Japanese version of the album contained the bonus track, ''La Isla Bonita'', the South American and Spanish version of the album had "Verás", a version of "You'll See".
The complete tracklist contains: ''I Want You'' (with Massive Attack) - originally released on the 1995 Marvin Gaye tribute compilation ''Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye'', ''I'll Remember'' (Theme from With Hounrs), ''Take a Bow'', ''You'll See'', "Crazy For You'' - previously unavailable on a Madonna album (previously available only remixed on ''The Immaculate Collection'', this version is the original album version), ''This Used to Be My Playground'' - also previously unavailable on Madonna album, ''Live to Tell'', ''Love Don't Live Here Anymore'' - this version is previously unavailable, original version from the ''Like a Virgin'' album, ''Something to Remember'', ''Forbidden Love'' - taken from ''Bedtime Stories'' album, ''One More Chance'', ''Rain'' - the only ballad taken from ''Erotica'', ''Oh Father'' and ''I Want You'' (Orchestra Version).
Not one of the tracks is second-rate, and the best songs on ''Something to Remember'' rank among the best pop music of the '80s and '90s. The album has sold an estimated 8 million copies worldwide.
Madonna has promised electricity to a village in Malawi, the impoverished southern African country where she runs a charity organization and from which she has adopted two children. Speaking in Mphandula, some 30 miles from Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, the singer said Thursday: "I know you work in darkness. I will bring you electricity." Madonna's Raising Malawi charity already has donated $500,000 for a child care center in the village that feeds and educates 3,000 orphaned children. Madonna arrived in Malawi on Sunday accompanied by her four children. On Monday she broke ground for her $15-million Raising Malawi Academy for Girls. About 500,000 children in this nation of 12 million have lost a parent to AIDS.
Workers at the Home Child Care Centre in Mchinji, Malawi, also spoke highly of the 51-year-old star about the way she has been raising David. The centre's director, Lucy Chipeta, said: "David is too young to understand... but for us who remember the sickly tiny little baby of 2006, it was hard to hold back tears, including Madonna."
Madonna marked the start of construction of her school for girls in Malawi on Monday by planting a tree at the planned site of the $15 million school.
She arrived in the impoverished southern African country on Sunday accompanied by her four children - daughters Lourdes and Mercy, and sons Rocco and David. Madonna was dressed in a dark summer dress and a colorful shawl during Monday's ceremony in the town of Chinkhota, some six miles (10 kilometers) from the capital, Lilongwe. Together with eldest daughter Lourdes she planted a Moringa tree, a hardy tree with edible leaves.
"If this school is a success - with God-willing it will be - we will replicate it not only in Malawi but in other parts of the world as well," she said.
The new school will be called the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls and will open by 2011 and educate 500 students, said its future principal, Anjimile Mtila-Opponyo. It will be similar to the school built by talk show host Oprah Winfrey in South Africa.
Mtila-Opponyo said the curriculum will emphasize science and mathematics. "Madonna did not accept that Malawian women would not study science to become doctors," she said.
Madonna told some 1,000 gathered villagers she was inspired by the strength of Malawian girls and women. "In all my travels, investigations and conversations the most recurring thing is how amazing Malawian women are, both young and old, how industrious they are and how much they deserve to be educated," she said.
Madonna's Raising Malawi, a charity founded in 2006 when she first visited the country, helps feed, educate and provide medical care for some of Malawi's orphans. Malawi, a nation of 12 million, is one of the poorest countries in the world. About 500,000 children have lost a parent to AIDS.
Madonna will also meet with President Bingu wa Mutharika on Tuesday and visit some of the orphanages her charity supports.
"My family and I are on our way to Malawi to attend the ground breaking ceremony for Raising Malawi Academy for Girls. The ceremony will take place on Monday, October 26 at 3:00 p.m. on the future site of the Academy. Our vision for the school is to empower girls to become Malawi's future leaders. Our goal is to teach them to challenge themselves, serve their local communities and develop their country. We created this vision in partnership with the local Malawian Ministry of Education, and other educational experts from Malawi, Sub-Sharan African and elsewhere around the world. We are developing and using innovative educational approaches, cutting-edge architectural design methods, and other modern technologies, which we hope, will become a replicable model for girls secondary school education. Research proves that young girls throughout the developing world are often left without opportunities to receive a comprehensive education and the benefits that education can provide. It’s an honor for me to be able to help as many of these girls as I can achieve their dreams. I’m also incredibly proud of all the projects Raising Malawi is involved in and I look forward to visiting a number of them during my visit."
''Evita'' is the third soundtrack album to feature Madonna (''Who's That Girl'' and ''I'm Breathless'' were the first two), released 13years ago, on October 25,1996. The soundtrack was released in two different versions: a two-disc edition entitled ''Evita: The Motion Picture Music Soundtrack'' featured all the tracks from the film (cover is n the right), and ''Evita: Music From The Motion Picture'', a single-disc edition contained a selection of highlights from the soundtrack. The single-disc version uses the same artwork that was used to promote the film.
The Argentinians were still touchy on the subject of Eva peron, a national icon since her early death in 1952. When Alan Parker went to film his movie version of the musical there, outrage ensued. When he announced the actress who would play their saintly Evita, the country almost exploded. “Evita lives! Madonna get out!" read the graffiti. “Madonna,” declared the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, "is pornographic and unsuitable".
From then until the New Year of 1996, when the movie finally opened, Evita/Madonna parallels will be made. The first person to grasp the similarities was, of course, Madonna herself. From the moment the job was advertised, she lobbied passionately on her own behaIf. "I see this role as being my destiny," she said. "1 don't think anyone could have prayed as hard as I did for the film to go ahead. I put on amulets, I lit candles - even consulted fortune-tellers.” Who, then, was this Evita and why is Miss Ciccone obsessed by her?
Madonna says that movie success is doubly hard because her off-screen fame gets in the way. The great virtue of playing Evita is that any overspill from her own persona can only reinforce the realism of her performance. Pop stars are hired by directors for box-office clout, not thespian talent, but Madonna first came to New York with her options open: singer, model, dancer, actress - she was up for anything. So was Eva, and she ended up running the country. And ''Evita'' is, after all, a musical. If there was ever an ideal vehicle for Madonna's dream of transcendent stardom, this must be it.
As it turns out, she brings a good deal to Andrew Lloyd Webber's party. The soundtrack carries some of her most commanding vocal efforts so far. Cleverly, her singing develops with the plot. When she's a callow showgirl, hustling her way from the pampas to Buenos Aires (which they call "Big Apple"), you hear the old Ciccone squeak. But there is maturity and richness in her rendition of the dying Evita's swan song, the pathos-ridden Final Broadcast.
"You Must Love Me", specially composed for the film ''Evita'', won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Madonna, herself, took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, and the film won the award for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.
It definitely helps if you like ''Don't Cry for Me Argentina''. The song reappears in various disguises on at least half the soundtrack. Admittedly, it's the closest Lloyd Webber has ever come to an enduring pop music standard. Sunset Boulevard may play to packed houses every night, but who among us can hum a single tune from it? Elsewhere, there is nothing as memorable as Eva's famous theme. Of the "real" actors, Jonathan Pryce sings his Juan Peron parts with due care and attention, but Jimmy Nail sounds downright peculiar as a tango-dancing gigolo. Then there is hunky Antonio Banderas, the same handsome Spaniard that Madonna had a crush on in her documentary film. Here he plays guerilla hero Che Guevara, the story's sardonic narrator (still an irritating, un-historical gimmick of an idea). He copes, but the results are inescapably theatrical.
Love, death and the fate of nations - these are the big ideas that underpin ''Evita,'' and they're certain to be trivialised when you try to make a musical out of them. For all we know the movie may restore some sense of drama, but the unadorned soundtrack is kitsch when it wants to be epic, and banal when it wants to be charming. Yet Madonna comes through it unscathed. She gets a hit single specially written into the script for her (''You Must Love Me'') as well as the best tunes in the show - just to sing ''Don't Cry for Me Argentina'' guaranteed her the pivotal emotional moments. Even so, her own pop songs are better than most of this, and ten times more adventurous.
There were three official singles taken from the soundtrack: ''You Must Love Me'' (October 1996), ''Don't Cry for Me Argentina'' (February 1997) and ''Another Suitcase In Another Hall'' (March 1997 - UK only) and one promo CD for US clubs - ''Buenos Aires''.
Worldwide the album has sold 11.000.000 copies to date.
''Bedtime Stories'' is the sixth studio album by Madonna, released 15 years ago, on October 25, 1994.
When Madonna declared, "Only the one who inflicts the pain can take it away," on 1992's "Erotica", she wasn't kidding. Following the funk of the ''Erotica'' album and her notorious ''Sex'' book, Madonna provided the creamy balm of ''Bedtime Stories'', a fluffy-pillowed concept album that unfolds like a musical fairy tale. The album's first single, "Secret", is perhaps the most naked performance of her career. Acoustic guitars, expertly sweetened vocals and producer Dallas Austin's signature R&B beats soulfully transport the listener into Madonna's troubled yet soothing world.
While always a feminist more by example than by word or deed, Madonna seems genuinely shocked at the hypocritical prudishness of her former fans, leading one to expect a set of biting screeds. But instead of reveling in raised consciousness, ''Bedtime Stories'' demonstrates a desire to get unconscious. Madonna still wants to go to bed, but this time it's to pull the covers over her head. Still, in so doing, Madonna has come up with some awfully compelling sounds. In her retreat from sex to romance, she has enlisted four top R&B producers: Atlanta whiz kid Dallas Austin, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Dave "Jam" Hall and Britisher Nellee Hooper (Soul II Soul), who add lush soul and creamy balladry. With this awesome collection of talent, the record verily shimmers. Bass-heavy grooves push it along when more conventional sentiments threaten to bog it down. Both aspects put it on chart-smart terrain.
A number of songs – "Survival", "Secret", "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" (to which Me'Shell NdegéOcello brings a bumping bass line and a jazzy rap) – are infectiously funky. For years, Madonna spoke in metaphors, fantasies and blatant shock tactics, but the performer indignantly struck back at her critics on "Human Nature". She didn't just hold up a mirror, she became the mirror: "Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex/I musta been crazy...I didn't know I couldn't talk about you".
But you don't need her to tell you that she's "drawn to sadness" or that "loneliness has never been a stranger," as she sings on the sorrowful "Love Tried to Welcome Me''. The downbeat restraint in her vocals says it, from the tremulously tender "Inside of Me" to the sob in "Happiness lies in your own hand/It took me much too long to understand" from "Secret".
Whether it's the poetic ballad "Love Tried To Welcome Me," which was inspired by a stripper Madonna met in a club, or the enchanting "Sanctuary", in which she quotes Walt Whitman's "Vocalism," Madonna seemed more interested in literature and human psychology than sexual biology. The album's mix of sorrow and romance (she compares rejection to an aphrodisiac on "Forbidden Love" and equates death and desire on "Sanctuary") exposes a woman who might have been in need of some serious therapy. Despite the album's multiple producers and genre jerkiness, it's this theme of yearning that holds it all together. Working with superstar producers is a rarity for the singer, so Babyface, who penned and produced "Take a Bow'', was in scarce company.
The ballad is at once syrupy and bittersweet, calling on the words of one William Shakespeare to help recount the tale's dramatic conclusion: "All the world is a stage/And everyone has their part...But how was I to know you'd break my heart?" "Take A Bow" became Madonna's longest-running chart-topper, but it's the Björk-penned "Bedtime Story", perhaps the single with the most unfulfilled hit potential in Madonna's 20-year career, that could have been the next "Vogue." "Let's get unconscious, honey," she sings hypnotically over pulsating beats and electronic gurgles courtesy of Nellee Hooper and Marius DeVries. The song was the germ that would later inspire Madonna to seek out and conquer electronica with the likes of William Orbit and Mirwais.
In 1995, ''Bedtime Stories'' album was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Vocal Album category. To date, the album has sold over 6 million copies.
The singles taken from the album are: ''Secret'' (September 1994), ''Take a Bow (December 1994), ''Bedtime Story'' (February 1995) and ''Human Nature'' (June 1995).
Everybody (1982) Burning Up (1983) Holiday (1983) Borderline (1984) Lucky Star (1984) Like a Virgin (1984) Material Girl (1985) Crazy for You (1985) Angel (1985) Into the Groove (1985) Dress You Up (1985) Gambler (1985) Live to Tell (1986) Papa Don't Preach (1986) True Blue (1986) Open Your Heart (1986) La Isla Bonita (1987) Who's That Girl (1987) Causing a Commotion (1987) The Look of Love (1987) Spotlight (1988) Like a Prayer (1989) Express Yourself (1989) Cherish (1989) Oh Father (1989) Dear Jessie (1989) Keep It Together (1990) Vogue (1990) Hanky Panky (1990) Justify My Love (1990) Rescue Me (1991) This Used to Be My Playground (1992) Erotica (1992) Deeper and Deeper (1992) Bad Girl (1993) Fever (1993) Rain (1993) Bye Bye Baby (1993) I'll Remember (1994) Secret (1994) Take a Bow (1994) Bedtime Story (1995) Human Nature (1995) You'll See (1995) One More Chance (1996) Love Don't Live Here Anymore (1996) You Must Love Me (1996) Don't Cry for Me Argentina (1996) Another Suitcase in Another Hall (1997) Frozen (1998) Ray of Light (1998) Drowned World/Substitute for Love (1998) The Power of Good-Bye (1998) Nothing Really Matters (1999) Beautiful Stranger (1999) American Pie (2000) Music (2000) Don't Tell Me (2000) What It Feels Like for a Girl (2001) Die Another Day (2002) American Life (2003) Hollywood (2003) Nothing Fails (2003) Love Profusion (2003) Hung Up (2005) Sorry (2006) Get Together (2006) Jump (2006) Hey You (2007) 4 Minutes (2008) Give It 2 Me (2008) Miles Away (2008) Celebration (2009) Revolver (2009)
Tours
The Virgin Tour (1985) Who's That Girl World Tour (1987) Blonde Ambition Tour (1990) The Girlie Show (1993) Drowned World Tour (2001) Re-Invention World Tour (2004) Confessions Tour (2006) Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008) Sticky & Sweet Tour (2009)
Madonna broke into tears when Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista announced that he would donate $7 million for her welfare projects, a media report said. 
Certainly, the gentle grooves of "Secret", accompanied as they are by acoustic guitar and delicate strings, are more seductive than any of the sanitized beats on ''Erotica''. The slick ballad "Take a Bow" was a huge hit, and the Bjork co-composition "Bedtime Story" found Madonna flirting with electronica for the first time. Still, all the genre-hopping of the ''Bedtime Stories'' tracks illustrates that Madonna had lost her way by the mid-'90s.
''Something to Remember'' is the third compilation (if we count ''You Can Dance'') by Madonna. It was released on November 7, 1995, compiling a selection of the singer's ballads. The songs weren't selected by ''No.1'' status or even by ''greatest hits'' standard.
Madonna has promised electricity to a village in Malawi, the impoverished southern African country where she runs a charity organization and from which she has adopted two children. 
Madonna marked the start of construction of her school for girls in Malawi on Monday by planting a tree at the planned site of the $15 million school.
Madonna posted this blog entry on raisingmalawi.org:
''Evita'' is the third soundtrack album to feature Madonna (''Who's That Girl'' and ''I'm Breathless'' were the first two), released 13years ago, on October 25,1996. The soundtrack was released in two different versions: a two-disc edition entitled ''Evita: The Motion Picture Music Soundtrack'' featured all the tracks from the film (cover is n the right), and ''Evita: Music From The Motion Picture'', a single-disc edition contained a selection of highlights from the soundtrack. The single-disc version uses the same artwork that was used to promote the film.
As it turns out, she brings a good deal to Andrew Lloyd Webber's party. The soundtrack carries some of her most commanding vocal efforts so far. Cleverly, her singing develops with the plot. When she's a callow showgirl, hustling her way from the pampas to Buenos Aires (which they call "Big Apple"), you hear the old Ciccone squeak. But there is maturity and richness in her rendition of the dying Evita's swan song, the pathos-ridden Final Broadcast.
''Bedtime Stories'' is the sixth studio album by Madonna, released 15 years ago, on October 25, 1994.
The ballad is at once syrupy and bittersweet, calling on the words of one William Shakespeare to help recount the tale's dramatic conclusion: "All the world is a stage/And everyone has their part...But how was I to know you'd break my heart?" "Take A Bow" became Madonna's longest-running chart-topper, but it's the Björk-penned "Bedtime Story", perhaps the single with the most unfulfilled hit potential in Madonna's 20-year career, that could have been the next "Vogue." "Let's get unconscious, honey," she sings hypnotically over pulsating beats and electronic gurgles courtesy of Nellee Hooper and Marius DeVries. The song was the germ that would later inspire Madonna to seek out and conquer electronica with the likes of William Orbit and Mirwais.
