Pre-Madonna

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Pre-Madonna was an album released by Stephen Bray in 1997, without Madonna's authorization.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Laugh To Keep From Crying"
2. "Crimes Of Passion"
3. "Ain't No Big Deal" (1997 Edit)
4. "Everybody" (1997 Version)
5. "Burning Up"
6. "Ain't No Big Deal" (1981 Version)
7. "Everybody" (1981 Version)
8. "Stay" (1981 Version)
9. "Don't You Know"
10. "Ain't No Big Deal" (1997 Extended Version)

[edit] Album history

Stephen Bray worked with Madonna in New York during the early 1980s and produced the tape that helped her gain attention in the club scene. Bray owns many of Madonna's original demo recordings, and several of these were used to create the "Pre-Madonna" compilation.

The album was originally released in 1997 exclusively in the USA. In 1998, it was re-released in Europe under a new title, "In The Beginning". The re-release features a slightly re-arranged tracklisting and omits the final track, Ain't No Big Deal ('97 Extended).

At the time the compilation was released, Madonna was riding a wave of publicity as a result of the film Evita and her pregnancy with daughter Lourdes. The album did not sell exceptionally well, however, due to limited distribution.

[edit] Music

The CD consists of ten tracks. Seven of these (Stay, Everybody, Ain't No Big Deal, Don't You Know, Burning Up, Crimes Of Passion, and Laugh To Keep From Crying) are demos recorded before Madonna signed a record deal with Sire Records; the remaining three are contemporary remixes of "Everybody" and "Ain't No Big Deal" prepared by Bray specifically for this compilation, utilizing the demo vocal tracks.

Everybody and Burning Up were eventually re-recorded and released on Madonna's first album, Madonna. Ain't No Big Deal was re-recorded and released as the b-side to her singles True Blue and Papa Don't Preach. Stay and Don't You Know were combined into one song, Stay, which was included on the Like a Virgin album. Everybody '81, Burning Up '81, Stay '81, and Ain't No Big Deal '81 are demo versions of officially-released songs whose titles are tagged with the year in which they were recorded to differentiate them from the officially-released versions.

[edit] Production

• Album executive producers: Nick Matzorkis and Robert Rich
• All songs written by Madonna
• Except tracks 3, 6 and 10 by Stephen Bray
• All songs produced by Stephen Bray
• Except tracks 2, 3, 4 and 10 produced by Stephen Bray and Tony Shepperd