The Cheat Sheet

Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ Copied Smokey Robinson to Become a Hit

Madonna has many obvious predecessors (Cher, Donna Summer, Nancy Sinatra) but Smokey Robinson is not one of them. Despite that, Robinson influenced one of the key ingredients of Madonna’s “Like a ...
American Songwriter

Why Madonna Doesn’t Want to Hear “Like a Virgin”

Madonna is one of the most popular entertainers of all time, however, her song “Like a Virgin” is a true dark horse. It was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who also wrote “True Colors” for ...
Yahoo

‘Everyone was calling it obscene’: Designer behind Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ look reflects on chaos she caused 40 years ago

Maripol randomly asked Madonna to take her top off while partying at NYC’s the Roxy in 1983. It’s how they met. A year later, the French fashionista found herself styling the pop powerhouse to wow — ...
Queerty

It’s been 40 years since Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ album touched us for the very first time

40 years ago, on November 12, 1984, Madonna‘s Like a Virgin album, with its iconic cover art lensed by fashion photographer Steven Meisel, came out and it still makes us feel shiny and new. Released ...
Yahoo

‘Like a Virgin’ turns 39. How Madonna’s iconic song paved the way for female musicians

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. We all know it like an anthem: that prowling bassline, the peek-a-boo synth and Madonna’s girl-like voice wafting in on the fourth ...
The Cheat Sheet

Why So Many Singers Refused to Sing ‘Like a Virgin’ Before Madonna

Madonna‘s “Like a Virgin” is one of the most important dance songs of the 1980s. You’d think every artist would have wanted to record it! However, other artists had major issues with the track. Things ...
Forbes

Madonna’s New Hit Ties ‘Like A Virgin’ As One Of The Longest-Charting Of Her Career

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 02: Madonna attends the "Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology" Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Mike ...
American Songwriter

Who Wrote Madonna’s “Like a Virgin?”

Like a virgin / Touched for the very first time / Like a virgin / When your heart beats next to mine, plays the ear-worming lyrics to “Like a Virgin.” Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg were the pair ...
W magazine

Rare Photos From Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” Era Are Now Available in an Art Book

In 1985, Madonna made her first-ever trip to Japan. She’d just released Like a Virgin, the follow-up album to her self-titled debut, with Nile Rodgers as a co-producer, and traveled to Tokyo to ...
Us Weekly

Remember When Madonna Stole the First-Ever MTV VMAs Performing ‘Like a Virgin’ for the Very First Time?

It’s almost impossible, given everything that came after, to imagine just how controversial Madonna’s boldly sexual performance at the first MTV Video Music Awards — where she debuted “Like a Virgin” ...
AOL

‘Like a Virgin’ turns 39. How Madonna’s iconic song paved the way for female musicians

We all know it like an anthem: that prowling bassline, the peek-a-boo synth and Madonna’s girl-like voice wafting in on the fourth measure. It’s been 39 years since “Like a Virgin” hit the top of the ...