Madonna - Madonna

Today (July 27th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the self-titled debut album from Madonna. In the early 80’s, the Detroit-born singer-dancer was living in New York City with her boyfriend Steve Bray (of the Breakfast Club) and working on demos. She convinced a local DJ to play one of her songs and that started her on the road to her record deal and a notable career.

The multi-Platinum selling Madonna, co-produced by her then boyfriend John “Jellybean” Benitez, charted at number 28 in Germany, number 20 in Japan, number 16 in Canada, number 15 in Austria, number 10 in Australia, number 8 in France and on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 7 in the Netherlands, number 6 in New Zealand and the UK and number 2 in Sweden.

Jellybean - Just Visiting This Planet

Happy fifty-fifth birthday today (November 7th) to John “Jellybean” Benitez. Born in the South Bronx, this New York City songwriter, drummer, DJ and producer has done remixes over the years for a number of artists including Madonna, Debbie Harry, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and the Pointer Sisters. Today, Benitez is the Executive Producer of Studio 54 Radio which can be heard on Sirius XM satellite radio.

In 1987, Jellybean released his second album Just Visiting This Planet. Like his previous release, he composed a number of dance tracks and spotlighted some upcoming singers on them.