It could have been... Lucky Star

Legend says, during the recording sessions, Madonna originally planned to name her debut album Lucky Star. There was even a photoshoot inspired by the title, by Swiss photographer Edo Bertoglio.
Fortunately for all of us, things would take a whole new direction...

 

First tests, Lucky Star album photoshoot by Edo Bertoglio

(friend Martin Burgoyne joined M at some point)

 

 

 

 

Lucky Star album photoshoot by Edo Bertoglio

 

 

 

 

 First test for the actual Lucky Star album cover

 

 

Martin, Debi and Maripol joining M for some shots

 

So, what are your plans Warner Music?

Bryan Ferry

I've always loved Bryan Ferry. And it was such a thrill to hear his new album, Olympia.

Which made me want to go back to his old stuff. And after listening to 1987's Bête Noire (one of my all-time favourites), I was struck by the amazing Madonna-esque sound it emanates. Limbo and Day For Night would fit her perfectly. And then I asked myself... who produced it? Went to Wiki. And... BINGO! There it was: Patrick Leonard. It's amazing how we can become so sensitive to subtleties like these...

Then I remembered: back in 1988 (precisely during the Bête Noire period), there were these rumours of a Madonna / Ferry collaboration. What a pity that it never became a matter of fact...

One thing is for sure: M did attend one of his shows, at that time.

Attending Bryan Ferry's concert, 1988
(notice the All Access sticker on her coat... and the oh-so-gorgeous face).

Listen and judge for yourself...

Pre-production: Costume Designer's first drafts

Gautlier's sketches for the Blond Ambition Tour are a classic. What I couldn't even dream of seeing, though, was the first sketches he did, prior to those. Madonna's Scrapbook just gave me this amazing revelation: six drawings from Gaultier's team, probably for what would be the Like A Prayer World Tour, since M is portrayed with dark hair - more than that, with Like a Prayer video hairdo.

According to Scrapbook's reader Pheel, they were revealed in Gaultier's interview for Libération, in the July 1990 issue:

«She wears a bathrobe because he wanted her to take a shower on stage (which she replaced by the masturbation scene). On the back of the bathrobe there was a tag "Taste Heaven". In this interview, he talked about the La Isla Bonita costumes and how at the last minute he had to redo all the costumes because from when he took Madonna's measurments to the time she was about to start the tour, she had lost a lot of weight and his team was forced to go to L.A., to resize everything.»

Oh-my-god...

Thank you Pheel, thank you Pud!