After the mildly successful release of her first two singles: "Everybody" and "Burning Up," Sire greenlit production of Madonna's first album. Though New York DJ Mark Kamins had discovered Madonna and produced "Everybody," she decided to work with Warner-suggested producer Reggie Lucas for the bulk of the album. After production on the album began, Madonna and Lucas clashed, as they each had different ideas of how they wanted the final product to sound. When the album was completed, a dissatisfied Madonna called upon her friend producer John "Jellybean" Benitez to retool it.
The original artwork for the album under the name "Lucky Star".Madonna originally intended for the song "Ain't No Big Deal" to be included on the album—however, Stephen Bray, a former boyfriend and collaborator on the song, had sold the song rights to another label, leaving Madonna and her producers to find another track. The song that made it onto the album was "Holiday," written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens. "Holiday" had originally been offered to, but turned down by, singer Mary Wilson.
The artwork that was featured on the original release of the album started the public's fascination with Madonna. On the cover she has short-cropped, platinum hair and stretches a dog chain roughly around her throat (that says baby "Dita.") Madonna's navel is prominent on the inner sleeve of the album, which became one of her trademarks.
The album was originally slated to be titled Lucky Star, after the track of the same name. It is unknown why the title was changed, but the original artwork created for the album was scrapped and a new, darker direction was taken. The original album title was kept on early pressings of the LP in South Africa and contained a 3:41 version of "Burning Up".[1] The item has since become a must have item for Madonna record collectors.
Madonna dedicated the album to her father, Tony Ciccone.