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The Pre-Madonna Era


groovyguy
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1979 Pre-Emmy recruitment solo cassette: Madonna's earliest known actual demo was discovered in 2009 and detailed in the U.K. magazine Record Collector. It contained "All My Love," "No Running in the City," "Hear Me" (early version of "Shine a Light," a catchy '80s rock track), "Safe Neighborhood" (hard-driving rock tune that surfaced on a bootleg picture disc as "On the Ground" years later), "Simon Says" (loping guitar track with dying-goose vocal), "Love Express" (rockabilly-flavored), "Little Boy Lost" (like a slower "Safe Neighborhood," with a strong B-52s sound), three separate instrumental tracks and two versions of a nameless song. All were sung by Madonna, who accompanied herself on guitar. The tape was sold at auction on November 21, 2009, with a pre-sale estimate of $1,000-$2,000, selling for $6,000.

 

Source: Encyclopedia Madonnica 2.0

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  • 3 weeks later...

VH1 Documentary. This is Part Three of a five-part video. 

This part focuses on Madonna's time in New York before she found fame. Includes glimpses of her nude modelling, and time spent in various bands, i.e. The Breakfast Club, and Emmy. Also included is her part in the film A Certain Sacrifice. Features interviews with former band member and song co-writer Stephen Bray and former friend and backing-dancer Erika Bell, amongst others.

 

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VH1 Documentary. This is Part Four of a five-part video. 

This part details Madonna's search for fame in New York. Learn about the Music Building, Gotham Records, her first demo tape, her nights out at Danceteria, her fateful meeting with DJ Mark Kamins, her signing with SIRE Records and the release of her first single Everybody. Features interviews with DJ Mark Kamins, former band member and song co-writer Stephen Bray and former friend and backing-dancer Erika Bell, amongst others.

 

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VH1 Documentary. Final part of a five-part video. 

Madonna had her first single Everybody under her belt. It was the release of Holiday that would really put her on the road to fame. Includes live footage of Everybody, and Holiday performances. Also featured is her audition for the Fame TV series. 

 

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Interview with Stephen Bray and the Breakfast Club

 

Full Interview @ http://www.madonnatribe.com/interviews/madonnatribe-meets-stephen-bray-breakfast-club/

 

APRIL 23, 2016

 

Hi guys, it’s a pleasure having Stephen Bray and The Breakfast Club here

Stephen Bray: Thanks very much – we appreciate the interest!

 

First of all, why was the band called Breakfast Club and who came up with the name?

Dan Gilroy: We used to go to IHOP with whatever musicians happened to be around. (buckwheat pancakes and we would bring our own real maple syrup)… we used to say, “want to do a breakfast club?†which was a play on the old radio show out of Chicago called Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club. This sounded catchy so we decided on it for a band name. This predated several bands with “Club†names including Gun Club, Culture Club and the movie “The Breakfast Clubâ€.

 

Stephen Bray: It was a really big deal for us when the movie came out in 84 since Dan and Ed had been using the name since 1978! There was a lot of hand wringing and discussion of name changes but nothing stuck. We got a lot of weird looks back in 1986 but I feel it was a good decision to keep the name.

 

Can you tell us more about the early days of Breakfast Club? what was the idea behind the band and what was each member doing? Madonna was playing drums right?

Dan: We were gigging as Acme Band around NY in ’78. I met Madonna and shortly after she moved to Corona where we had equipment: drums, guitars, etc. With her dancer background and good rhythmic sense Madonna took to the drums pretty easily. So the first lineup was my brother Ed on guitar, Madonna on drums and Angie Smit on bass, whom Madonna recruited after meeting her at a club.

 

What kind of days were those? We know Madonna was determined, but were you trying to reach success at any cost or you had other jobs and playing music just to see what might have come along?

Dan: We loved to play and wanted gigs! Splitting 100 bucks four ways was fun but didn’t pay the rent so, yes, we (even Madonna) needed other jobs, too.

 

Stephen: This is tiny bit of out of sequence but arriving in 1980 was my first time in New York since being 7 years old. I was broke for the most part having arrived with nothing but lint in my pocket but in love with becoming a New Yorker. I was immediately rehearsing with Madonna and Gary [Gary Burke, who played bass in Madonna’s own Emmy band] and by 1982 was taking the train out to Corona to rehearse Dan and Ed’s songs too.

I was living more than less in a rehearsal loft on 8th avenue which really made for a fantastically romantic bohemian artist lifestyle. Playing gigs at Max’s Kansas City, Danceteria, CBGB’s and the clubs of the time was pure heaven. At one point I was playing at CBGB’s so often I’d leave my drums in the loft above the stage. This was after the super heyday of Talking Heads and Blondie but it was still an amazing time.

 

Speaking about those old days, a few years ago a rather tawdry tv movie was made about the early days of M in New York, Innocence Lost was the title. You were also portrayed in the film with a different name, I guess to avoid legal disputes. Did you see the movie? and if you did was fun or awkward watching a piece of your life being distorted on tv?

Stephen: I’ve seen a few bio pics about those early days and while they are fun to watch – I love movies as much as music – none of them have really captured the moment, in my opinion.

If you weren’t there you have to guess and I think in most of those cases they’ve guessed wrong.

One of these days someone will get it right, or at least closer. It’s far more flattering than awkward to be included in Madonna’s origin lore.

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  • 1 month later...

¿"Crimmes of Passion" se graba antes o después de las "sire tapes" ("everybody", "ain´t no big deal", "burning up" & "Don´t you know"?

 

siempre he pensado que se debió grabar en la misma sesión, porque su voz, dulce, pop... recuerda mucho en la manera de cantar a "Don´t you know"...

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  • 1 year later...

Unreleased Madonna Songs by https://vk.com/madonnarandd

 

The Early Years

 

1980 (I LIKE) LOVE FOR TENDER Emmy band demo distributed on TDK cassette recorded at The Music Building

1980 ARE YOU READY FOR IT Early studio recording with the band Emmy

1980 BELLS RINGING Emmy band demo distributed on TDK cassette recorded at The Music Building

1980 CRIMES OF PASSION Original pre-fame demo remains unreleased, "Pre-Madonna" indie issue uses 1996 re-constructed instrumentation

1980 DROWNING Emmy band demo distributed on TDK cassette recorded at The Music Building. Madonna & Stephen Brays favorite at the time.

1980 LITTLE BOY Early studio recording with the band Emmy, surfaced on bootleg

1980 NO TIME (FOR LOVE) Emmy band demo distributed on TDK cassette recorded at The Music Building

1980 REMEMBERING YOUR TOUCH Early studio recording with the band Emmy

1980 SHINE A LIGHT Early studio recording with the band Emmy, surfaced on bootleg. A Favorite of Steve Bray's.

1980 SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD (usually referred to by its incorrect title, "SHIT ON THE GROUND" - Early studio recording with the band Emmy, surfaced on bootleg

1980 SUNSHINE Apparently this is another "Breakfast Club" track sung by Madonna. It's never been released by Receiver Records. Unconfirmed early studio recording with the band Emmy. Media rumor. However, peter_magennis@hotmail.com notes that the track 'Sunshine' isn't an early demo with The Breakfast Club. He says that this track is actually just Madonna singing (kinda outta tune) over "Let The Sun Shine In" by the Fifth Dimension in the movie "A Certain Scarifice". This is true; Madonna did sing part of that song in a rare out-take of the movie (a portion of which was broadcast in the Robin Leach special "Madonna Exposed") and this track has also been circulating on various "early era" bootleg CDs, but it's also quite possible that there really is a song called "Sunshine" that has nothing to do with "A Certain Scarifice". If anybody out there has any more info on this, please let me know!

1981 GET UP From 4 song demo recorded with Gotham Management at Media Sound. To see the original studio "mixing notes" for this song, click here

1981 HIGH SOCIETY (SOCIETYS BOY) From 4 song demo recorded with Gotham Management at Media Sound. To see the original studio "mixing notes" for this song, click here

1981 LOVE ON THE RUN From 4 song demo recorded with Gotham Management at Media Sound. To see the original studio "mixing notes" for this song, click here

1981 TAKE ME (I WANT YOU) From 4 song demo recorded with Gotham Management at Media Sound. To see the original studio "mixing notes" for this song, click here

1982 AINT NO BIG DEAL (REMIX) Remix by Jellybean Benetiz abandoned when "Holiday" was selected for Madonna's 1st album

1982 AINT NO BIG DEAL 24 track studio demo is "lost" says collaborator Stephen Bray. Different than version on indie release "Pre-Madonna".

1982 AINT NO BIG DEAL Version produced by Mark Kamins for Madonna's 1st album was rejected

1982 EVERYBODY (REMIX) Remix by Jellybean Benitez used during Madonna club performances, never released says Stephen Bray.

1982 SHAKE YOUR HEAD 1983 Was (not Was) produced pre-fame Madonna vocal replaced w/ Ozzy Osborne on album "Born To Laugh At Tornadoes". Confirmed by Was(not Was) UK media interviews. New 1990's remix by Tommy Musto featured Kim Bassinger for Europe only.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --

1982 WE LIVE IN A HOUSE Cassette on file at Library of Congress PAU-1-843-482. Written by Joshua J Braun, Madonna L Ciccone, Janis Galloway. Date created 1982, but not filed until 1994. Origin unknown. Vocal by Joshua Braun. Bruce Baron recently listened to this track at the Library of Congress, and he writes: When I first found this title in the LOCIS database, I was skeptical of it's true nature for three reasons: 1) It is registered as a written collaboration between Madonna and J.Braun aka J. Galloway who I have never heard of before in her career history. 2) No vocalist is listed 3) Date of creation listed is 1982, but the date of registration is 1992. Because of these unusual circumstances, I included it in the listing of unreleased recordings but not in the text of last years Goldmine article I suspected that it might be a rap song that used an early-era Madonna song sample (such as "Everybody")which was not identified in the registration. My guess was wrong. It is actually a previously unknown pre-Warner Brothers recording with a full Madonna lead vocal !!

 

The label is hand written on a TDK SA90 cassette. Her vocal is in the style of her Breakfastclub & Emmy periods. The song seems to be a social statement about the ignorant masses who remain at home rather than to pay attention to the world around them outside. It's not very catchy and the chorus something like: "We Live In A House, and people just don't care" "We Live In A House, they don't go anywhere" Madonna screams a backing vocal at one point: "You can't come into my house" The guitar sounds are a little like the B-52's meets New Order and the Ramones. When I interviewed Stephen Bray last year, I asked him about this song. He had never heard of it, and did not know who Braun or Galloway was in Madonna's past. If it was done prior to Bray's arrival in New York, the songs origin could actually be older circa 1979-1980. This song represents a portion of Madonna's early NY time period with a collaborator that was not previously known to the public.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --

1983 SIDEWALK TALK (Demo produced with Stephen Bray, Madonna on all vocals. Released version done with Jellybean & Catherine Buchanan). Demo on file Library of Congress PAU-1-925-241. Bruce Baron recently visited the Washington DC Library Of Congress, hoping to hear this version with Madonna on ALL vocals, but unfortunately this submission was made later than I expected to find (on Jan 21st 1987). The tape I requested features the single mix which peaked in the teens on the American Billboard HOT 100 chart. It first appeared on the American dance chart a few years before this as a Jellybean 12" single. The date of creation is 1983. This song was written by Madonna, but the lead vocal is actually by Catherine Buchanan on all released commercial versions. Madonna does the backup vocals. I was hoping to hear the demo version with Madonna on the lead vocal, but this was not it. Stephen Bray does own a copy of this (co-produced by him and not Jellybean), but for now it remains unheard by the public. Thanks 

 

Emmy Demos:

ARE YOU READY FOR IT

BELLS RINGING

DROWNING

(I LIKE) LOVE FOR TENDER

LITTLE BOY

NO TIME (FOR LOVE)

REMEMBERING YOUR TOUCH

SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD (aka SHIT ON THE GROUND)

SHINE A LIGHT

SUNSHINE

 

Gotham Demos:

GET UP

HIGH SOCIETY (SOCIETYS BOY)

LOVE ON THE RUN

TAKE ME (I WANT YOU)

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  • 3 years later...

Parisian months not so Parisian by the way... more like north of France/border with Belgium... I still have to cover that era when i have more time. I am in touch with people who were with her at that time ( i live in the same place as the team of Patick Hernandez). I am even i touch with one person who was with her all the time during the Hernandez era (the person was at the NY audition, on the pics with her during the dinner in NY, in Tunisia etc...)

 

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