Early work (pre-fame)


Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club was a band that formed in 1979 in New York City with band members Dan Gilroy (vocals, guitar), Ed Gilroy (guitar), Madonna (drums) and Angie Smit (bass). They wrote a few demo tracks, before Madonna left to form another band Emmy and the Emmys. The Breakfast Club went through several line-ups over the years and released a few albums in the 80s.

Breakfast Club

  1. Little Boy
  2. Safe Neighborhood
  3. Shine A Light

Patrick Hernandez

French singer Patrick Hernandez was a 1-hit wonder who scored a success in 1979 with the song Born To Be Alive. Madonna, still unfamous at the time, was living in France for a while around that period and was a back-up dancer and singer for Hernandez.

Best of Patrick Hernandez, the album

  1. Born To Be Alive

Emmy and the Emmys

Madonna did lead vocals for her band Emmy and the Emmys in 1980, before persuing a solo career.

Emmy & the Emmy's

  1. Bells Ringing
  2. Drowning
  3. (I Like) Love For Tender
  4. No Time For Love

Pre-Madonna / In The Beginning

Pre-Madonna is a collection of demos written and recorded by Madonna in the period 1980-1981 in New York City. It also includes original versions of Everybody and Burning Up, which later ended up on Madonna's first album. Steve Bray released Pre-Madonna on June 10, 1997, without the authorization of Madonna. In Europe, the album was released as In The Beginning.

Pre-Madonna, the album In The Beginning, the album

  1. Ain't No Big Deal
  2. Crimes Of Passion
  3. Don't You Know
  4. Laugh To Keep From Crying
  5. Everybody
  6. Burning Up
  7. Stay

Gotham tapes

In 1981, Madonna hit the Gotham Sound Studios in New York City with her first manager Camille Barbone and guitarist Jon Gordon. They recorded a handful of Pat Benatar style pop-rock demo tracks, which would become known as the Gotham Tapes.

Gotham tapes

  1. Get Up
  2. High Society
  3. I Want You
  4. Love On The Run

The Early Years (Otto Von Wernherr)

In 1981, Madonna did some backing vocals for German singer Otto Von Wernherr, who never made it in the show business (if you hear the tracks, you understand why). When Madonna shot to fame, he tried several times to cash in by releasing the demo tracks he recorded with her.

Madonna: The Early Years

  1. Cosmic Climb
  2. We Are The Gods
  3. Wild Dancing
  4. Time To Dance
  5. On The Street
  6. Oh My!!!
  7. Shake
  8. Get Down


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