HOUSE MUSIC

Another rare demo tape that has recently surfaced from Madonna's pre-fame days is an old TDK SA90 cassette, featuring a song entitled 'We Live In A House'. The tape was another Bruce Baron find, which he traced during his extensive research for his 'Goldmine' magazine article. The track is credited to Madonna, Joshua J Braun and Madonna's old college friend Janice Galloway (Mis-spelt on the cassette as "Janis"). Vocals are credited to both Madonna and Braun, however; only Madonna's vocals appear to be audible.

The demo is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington and is dated 1982 although curiously it wasn't filed until 1994. The lyrics apparently make a stab at making a statement, but don't quite work, "We live in a house and people just don't care, we live in a house they don't go anywhere".
A highlight is Madonna screaming, "You can't come into my house", is it really that bad? Stephen Bray revealed to Bruce Baron that has no recollection of Madonna's co-writers. Bray's unfamiliarity with Galloway is odd considering the fact that while Madonna was recording demos with Bray in 1982, she was sharing an apartment with Galloway, her college friend from Ann Arbor. Galloway would also eventually marry Sire Records A&R agent Michael Rosenblatt.§

SHAKE YOUR HEAD (LETS GET OZZY INSTEAD)

Whilst recording with Bray, Madonna still had to make money. She had moved on from her infamous nude modelling days and was looking for singing jobs. In early 1982 Madonna recorded vocals for a Was (Not Was) track called 'Shake Your Head (Lets Go To Bed)'. Due to problems convincing Geffen to release the band's material the song didn't see the light of day until the end of 1983. The version that finally appeared on the band's 'Born To Laugh At Tornadoes' album featured lyrics by Ozzy Osbourne instead of Madonna. Don Was later explained, "She sang really well but I've always imagined the vocalist as extensions of ourselves and l couldn't relate to female vocals being our voice".Є Don was also not entirely convinced that anyone outside of New York would even know who the pre-fame Madonna was. Little did he know!
In 1992 a re-recorded version of the song, featuring Kim Basinger on vocals, appeared on Was (Not Was)'s album 'Hello Dad I'm In Jail'. The song was a UK hit partly thanks to its promotion utilizing the Madonna connection.

Whilst researching for Channel Four's UK documentary 'Naked Ambition', Helen Terry, of Culture Club fame, contacted Bruce Baron.
Terry had worked briefly with Don Was before becoming a television producer. Terry got to hear the original Madonna version when Don Was produced one of her own recordings about ten years ago. Helen claimed Madonna's vocal was much better than Basinger's. She also denied another old rumour that Madonna supplied vocals for Ozzy Osbourne's 'Crazy Train'. Around the same time Madonna was auditioning for many backing vocalist jobs. I recall watching an interview with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran on UK TV back in the 1980s. (Don't ask me what it was; I was about eight years old at the time!) Le Bon recalled that Madonna leant some vocals to one of the band's sessions, but that the vocals weren't used because they were so bad. Oh dear! Nile Rodgers, who produced Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' did some remixing and production work with Duran Duran back in their 1980s heyday. Perhaps this explains the Madonna connection. Madonna would more famously lend backing vocals to another Rodgers-produced 1980s pop group. In 1985 Madonna would sing backup alongside Nile himself during The Thompson Twins rendition of 'Revolution' at Live Aid, in Philadelphia.

DREAMS COME TRUE

"I was carrying this tape around with me everywhere, to every club, waiting to pop it on somebody!"Є
(Madonna, 1985)

Finally the moment came when Madonna had an audience to "pop" her demo tape on courtesy of Mark Kamins. Madonna had met New York DJ Kamins at her then favourite nightclub Danceteria, which was also a haunt for future-stars Sade and Madonna's pal Debi Mazar. Kamins agreed to listen to Madonna's demo and, if he liked it, test it out at Danceteria. Fortunately for Madonna Kamins loved the demo, especially 'Everybody' and decided to test the song out at the club.
The ultra-cool clubbers lapped up Madonna and Bray's plea to get up on the dance floor and she began to grow an even bigger New York following. More importantly Madonna now had another ally on her side to help her clinch a record deal. Madonna's then-ally is still in the music business and in 1999 he teamed up with 'Erotica' session musician, Joe Moskowitz, to produce pioneering trance-techno artist, Sasha Lazard. Lazard's other Madonna connection is that she toured with a dance set choreographed by Slam, a dancer on Madonna's 'Blond Ambition Tour'.Ё

Besides spinning tracks at Danceteria, Kamins also worked as an A&R agent for Chris Blackwell's Island Records. Unimpressed, Blackwell passed on Madonna but undeterred Kamins called Seymour Stein, president of Sire Records, to try to convince him of Madonna's musical potential. Stein was mildly impressed by Madonna's demo and agreed to sign her on a short-term basis. The myth that Madonna visited Stein in hospital to get her record deal is exactly that, a myth. In fact Madonna didn't actually meet Seymour Stein until after 'Everybody' had hit big on the dance charts, although the setting was admittedly in a hospital. Stein liked the demo but wasn't overwhelmed and so passed Madonna on to Michael Rosenblatt who signed Madonna for a measly $15,000 two-single deal. The deal may pale in comparison to the rumoured $60million deal Madonna signed with Warner Bros in 1992, but Madonna wasn't going to turn her nose up. She knew this opportunity could be her big break and she was determined that she was going to make it. She was only signed to release two singles so she had to make a lasting impression.

A LUCKYSTAR IS BORN

A&R agent Rosenblatt was won over by Madonna's charisma but wasn't convinced by the whole tape and so 'Stay' and 'Don't You Know' were dumped in favour of 'Everybody' and 'Ain't No Big Deal', the latter being the planned debut single. As a thank you to Kamins, Madonna let him produce the tracks, which meant that Stephen Bray was out of the picture. Bray was rightfully gutted but would eventually return to the Madonna camp to co-write some of her big hits of the 1980s. This was make or break time for Madonna, and to make matters worse she and Kamins had to pay for all the recording costs from their limited $15,000 budget. True to form Madonna was undeterred. In her delight at finally getting the record deal that she had so coveted, Madonna sat down and wrote 'Luckystar', which she dedicated to Kamins. Ironically, just as Madonna had finally got the record deal she so coveted, 'Luckystar' would be one of the last songs credited as written solely by Madonna. With the exceptions of 'Shoo-Bee-Doo', 'Gambler' and 'Sidewalk Talk', Madonna would not receive a sloe writing credit until 'The Funny Song' in 2001.

There is evidence to suggest that Madonna is not actually the sole writer on some of her early songs. There is a copyright registration for a sheet music book, 'Like A Virgin Plus Hits From Madonna', published by Warner Bros Publications. 'Everybody' is credited to Madonna Ciccone and Steve Bray. There is another registration of 'Everybody', sent in by Bray's publisher, with Madonna's name spelt incorrectly and an incorrect title. The version of the song that appears on 'Pre-Madonna' is labelled as 'Everybody Dance', by Stephen Bray and Madonna Ciconi a.k.a. Madonna). This supports Stephen Bray's claim in my interview with Bruce Baron that these early tunes were all co-collaborations, but because of an agreement between the two, the writing credits were split. There was apparent confusion at Warner Bros with the multiple registrations of the same song. 'Physical Attraction' was registered with a separate sole writing credit for Madonna, and then another registration for Reggie Lucas.
Bray's sole writing credit, as part of his agreement with Madonna, can be seen on the registration for his production of 'Ain't No Big Deal', performed by Barracuda.

Despite his musical background, Kamins was about as inexperienced as Madonna and his ineptitude was apparent in the studio. Kamins asked friend and Afrika Bambaataa producer




COMING TO MADONNARAMA.COM THOUGHOUT 2003…



…MADONNA UNCOVERED: THE BEATS WITHIN…



…PART TWO - BLOND CONTRITION: THE IMMACULATE REJECTIONS

…PART THREE - MISTRESS AT WORK: TRUTH AND DARE

…PART FOUR - KABBALIST GIRL: UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

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