How Madonna became the biggest pop star on the planet

In 1986 Madonna released her classic third album True Blue, which would go on to sell 25 million copies internationally making it the biggest of her career (just behind her first greatest hits, the Immaculate Collection) and positioning her among the ranks of superstars such as Prince and Michael Jackson. It broke all kinds of records around the world, became the biggest selling album of 1986 in the UK and is widely considered by many fans to be her greatest era.

So just how did Madonna make such a success of True Blue? How did she meet Patrick Leonard and start working with him? Why were Warner execs so anxious about releasing Live to Tell? Who originally wrote ‘Papa don’t Preach’ and 'Open your Heart' and how did those songs find their way to Madonna? Which major singer said no to 'La Isla Bonita?' Why did one of her managers stop working with her around this time? So many questions, let’s find out.


00:00 Intro
00:54 How did Patrick and Madonna meet?
01:40 The story of ‘Live to tell’
03:54 The story of ‘Papa don’t preach’
07:11 The story of ‘Open your Heart’
10:41 The story of ‘La Isla Bonita’
12:48 The story of ‘True Blue’
13:37 The other album tracks
15:42 The new image
17:01 The manager situation
19:06 Bloopers

Books I used for research in this documentary

Like an Icon, Lucy O' Brien 2018, https://amzn.to/3xzvzqu
Listen out Loud - A Life in Music, Ron Weisner, https://amzn.to/3EnlAIV
Revolutions in Sound, Warner Bros Records, the first fifty years. https://amzn.to/3kgXloH


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Don’t forget to check out my last video about why Avril Lavigne never won a Grammy    • Why has Avril Lavigne never won a Grammy?