About the album
True Blue is the third studio album by singer Madonna, released in 1986 (see 1986 in music). The album became Madonna's biggest selling studio album internationally. On July 2nd 1995, the RIAA certified True Blue at 7x platinum, denoting sales of 8 million in the US alone, and a total of 20 million worldwide. On its release, it hit number one in twenty-eight countries, an achievement that The Guinness Book of World Records called "totally unprecedented". A remastered version including bonus tracks was released in 2001.
Album history
Released in June 1986, True Blue was Madonna's third album, and saw her continue to collaborate with Stephen Bray and begin to work with Patrick Leonard. Unlike Madonna and Like a Virgin, Madonna wrote or co-wrote every song on the album; she also is credited with co-producing every track as well. The album was recorded in late 1985/early 1986, during the first year of Madonna's marriage to American actor Sean Penn. She dedicated the album to him, "the coolest guy in the universe".
The album's second single, "Papa Don't Preach", was surrounded by controversy due to its message about a young woman who tells her father that she is pregnant out of wedlock, but is going to keep her baby. Madonna's love for the Golden Age of Hollywood can be seen in the Jimmy Cagney tribute, "White Heat", which features a sample from the ending of the film White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949). Track number four on the album, "Live to Tell", was originally recorded as the theme to the film At Close Range, and was released as a single before the album was released. "Love Makes the World Go Round" closes the album and made its debut at Live Aid a year earlier in July 1985.
The album cover, shot by photographer Herb Ritts, is one of Madonna's most recognizable pictures. It features a picture of Madonna from the neck up; the main colors in the picture are gray, white, and various shades of blue to reinforce the album's title.
In 1986, the album won a Juno Award in Canada for Best International Album.
In 2001, True Blue was remastered and re-released with two bonus tracks, remixes of the hit singles "True Blue" and "La Isla Bonita".