Patrick Leonard Speaks ..and he misses Madonna!

[Alessandro]

Does Madonna write her own songs? Yes, and no. She doesn’t write the music, that’s for sure. And now that Ms. Ciccone has been put up for induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, I thought it might be interesting to settle the question after all.

Last night I chatted with Patrick Leonard, the great composer of pop hits and sometimes even a ghost writer and ‘enabler’ for rock stars who need help getting their work onto paper. Leonard is a trained musician who can play anything at the drop of a hat. On the phone, from Amsterdam, where he’s working with Leonard Cohen, Patrick played “Like a Prayer” for me in different sections. He wrote the music for that hit, as he did for many of Madonna’s big hits during her top of the chart heyday.

Patrick Leonard wrote the music for, among others: “Like a Prayer,” “Cherish,” “True Blue,” “Live to Tell,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Frozen,” “Hanky Panky,” “Sky Fits Heaven,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “I’ll Remember,” and “Something to Remember.” He was a producer on “Open Your Heart.”

Madonna wrote the lyrics, Leonard says, with him, and helped create the melodies. He considers her a friend and mentor. “She put me on the map,” he says, “I’m grateful.”

“I’m one of those people behind the curtain.” Leonard says. “If she [Madonna] hadn’t sung those songs, no one would have heard them. She’s made it possible for me to do what I’m doing now.”

Their process was simple. He wrote the music, and brought it to Madonna. She would help supply lyrics and offer changes in the music to suit her. “She’d refine it,” he says. “You give her a track, she sings the melody. She’s very very talented.” Of their collaboration, he says, “One doesn’t exist without the other. She always showed up and she was always completely involved. I miss her, actually.”

They haven’t written together since 1997. Would he like to do it again? “Absolutely,” Leonard says. “She writes a lot with deejays now.”

Leonard is credited on all the songs he wrote with Madonna. They include the largest number of chart hits on which she is credited as co-writer. There are no songs that are credited just to Madonna. And a clutch of them were written solely by others including “Holiday,” “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl,” and “Borderline.”

Leonard told me he didn’t care if Madonna goes into the Songwriters Hall of Fame without him. He doesn’t believe in awards. He doesn’t even hang his gold records. “They’re all in a closet somewhere,” he said. He just believes in moving forward. This week he comes to New York to work with Roger Waters.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/10/11/madonna-writer-of-her-songs-explains-how-like-a-prayer-other-hits-were-composed

[jotmagazine]

The best productor Madonna had EVER.

[Roland Barthes]

Roger Fried man again....

[ROCKERITO_MX]

article by Roger Friedman? Guess he got a new job...but still writing about M.

[dollhouse]

Does Madonna write her own songs? Yes, and no. She doesn’t write the music, that’s for sure. And now that Ms. Ciccone has been put up for induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, I thought it might be interesting to settle the question after all.

Last night I chatted with Patrick Leonard, the great composer of pop hits and sometimes even a ghost writer and ‘enabler’ for rock stars who need help getting their work onto paper. Leonard is a trained musician who can play anything at the drop of a hat. On the phone, from Amsterdam, where he’s working with Leonard Cohen, Patrick played “Like a Prayer” for me in different sections. He wrote the music for that hit, as he did for many of Madonna’s big hits during her top of the chart heyday.

Patrick Leonard wrote the music for, among others: “Like a Prayer,” “Cherish,” “True Blue,” “Live to Tell,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Frozen,” “Hanky Panky,” “Sky Fits Heaven,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “I’ll Remember,” and “Something to Remember.” He was a producer on “Open Your Heart.”

Madonna wrote the lyrics, Leonard says, with him, and helped create the melodies. He considers her a friend and mentor. “She put me on the map,” he says, “I’m grateful.”

“I’m one of those people behind the curtain.” Leonard says. “If she [Madonna] hadn’t sung those songs, no one would have heard them. She’s made it possible for me to do what I’m doing now.”

Their process was simple. He wrote the music, and brought it to Madonna. She would help supply lyrics and offer changes in the music to suit her. “She’d refine it,” he says. “You give her a track, she sings the melody. She’s very very talented.” Of their collaboration, he says, “One doesn’t exist without the other. She always showed up and she was always completely involved. I miss her, actually.”

They haven’t written together since 1997. Would he like to do it again? “Absolutely,” Leonard says. “She writes a lot with deejays now.”

Leonard is credited on all the songs he wrote with Madonna. They include the largest number of chart hits on which she is credited as co-writer. There are no songs that are credited just to Madonna. And a clutch of them were written solely by others including “Holiday,” “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl,” and “Borderline.”

Leonard told me he didn’t care if Madonna goes into the Songwriters Hall of Fame without him. He doesn’t believe in awards. He doesn’t even hang his gold records. “They’re all in a closet somewhere,” he said. He just believes in moving forward. This week he comes to New York to work with Roger Waters.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/10/11/madonna-writer-of-her-songs-explains-how-like-a-prayer-other-hits-were-composed

[Guest Not4Pussies]

Does Madonna write her own songs? Yes, and no. She doesn’t write the music, that’s for sure. And now that Ms. Ciccone has been put up for induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, I thought it might be interesting to settle the question after all.

Last night I chatted with Patrick Leonard, the great composer of pop hits and sometimes even a ghost writer and ‘enabler’ for rock stars who need help getting their work onto paper. Leonard is a trained musician who can play anything at the drop of a hat. On the phone, from Amsterdam, where he’s working with Leonard Cohen, Patrick played “Like a Prayer” for me in different sections. He wrote the music for that hit, as he did for many of Madonna’s big hits during her top of the chart heyday.

Patrick Leonard wrote the music for, among others: “Like a Prayer,” “Cherish,” “True Blue,” “Live to Tell,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Frozen,” “Hanky Panky,” “Sky Fits Heaven,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “I’ll Remember,” and “Something to Remember.” He was a producer on “Open Your Heart.”

Madonna wrote the lyrics, Leonard says, with him, and helped create the melodies. He considers her a friend and mentor. “She put me on the map,” he says, “I’m grateful.”

“I’m one of those people behind the curtain.” Leonard says. “If she [Madonna] hadn’t sung those songs, no one would have heard them. She’s made it possible for me to do what I’m doing now.”

Their process was simple. He wrote the music, and brought it to Madonna. She would help supply lyrics and offer changes in the music to suit her. “She’d refine it,” he says. “You give her a track, she sings the melody. She’s very very talented.” Of their collaboration, he says, “One doesn’t exist without the other. She always showed up and she was always completely involved. I miss her, actually.”

They haven’t written together since 1997. Would he like to do it again? “Absolutely,” Leonard says. “She writes a lot with deejays now.”

Leonard is credited on all the songs he wrote with Madonna. They include the largest number of chart hits on which she is credited as co-writer. There are no songs that are credited just to Madonna. And a clutch of them were written solely by others including “Holiday,” “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl,” and “Borderline.”

Leonard told me he didn’t care if Madonna goes into the Songwriters Hall of Fame without him. He doesn’t believe in awards. He doesn’t even hang his gold records. “They’re all in a closet somewhere,” he said. He just believes in moving forward. This week he comes to New York to work with Roger Waters.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/10/11/madonna-writer-of-her-songs-explains-how-like-a-prayer-other-hits-were-composed

excuse me? i stopped reading after that.

[runa]

Seriously, I think ROL, the album, would not be what it is without Leonard. Orbit is a good producer, but Leonard is a better songwriter.

[Alessandro]

excuse me? i stopped reading after that.

Whatever lololololol I only care about Patick Leonard lol

[realityisalways]

Whatever lololololol I only care about Patick Leonard lol

Alessandro (what a beautiful name btw), please separate the paragraphs <3

[CMoody]

excuse me? i stopped reading after that.

It's nothing negative, she simply does not compose her own music. Read on, he praises her, very highly, later on. But this does answer the question of her involvement in the creative process of her music.

[realityisalways]

article by Roger Friedman? Guess he got a new job...but still writing about M.

That's actually Roger's website (showbiz41 bla bla)

So basically Roger is trying to make articles to discredit Madonna's songwriting so that she doesn't get into the sw hall of fame... Will he ever let it go?

[mangapop]

"She writes a lot with deejays now." - True

"She doesn’t write the music, that’s for sure." - Well, i don't know really. Nobody does, we can only guess. I belive she write the lyrics, but she doesn't write music. Actually, she helps other people to write music. She sings the melody she has imagined and then someone like Leonard write it on a paper. In the end, she is the part of the process.

Edited October 11, 2013 by mangapop

[Guest Not4Pussies]

It's nothing negative, she simply does not compose her own music. Read on, he praises her, very highly, later on. But this does answer the question of her involvement in the cretive process of her music.

i am aware but that comment i highlighted wasn't said by Leonard but by Friedman. that's who i am referring to.

[ryan]

They wrote together for Hello Suckers, and he did the score for I am Because We Are.

This interview/article feels altered....

[realityisalways]

i am aware but that comment i highlighted wasn't said by Leonard but by Friedman. that's who i am referring to.

I also love how Roger had to say 'when she was on her top of the charts heyday'

[Guest Not4Pussies]

"She writes a lot with deejays now." - True

"She doesn’t write the music, that’s for sure." - Well, i don't know really. Nobody does, we can only guess. I belive she write the lyrics, but she doesn't write music. Actually, she helps other people to write music. She sings the melody she has imagined and then a someone like Leonard write it on paper. In the end, she is the part of the process.

she writes the lyrics, and co writes the music.

take these two examples, when she was nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes her nominations were credited as

music by: madonna, lyrics by: madonna and william orbit for beautiful stranger

music by: madonna and mirwais, lyrics by: madonna for die another day

it varies.

[Jamesy]

A few years I bought Peter Cetera's 1988 album "One More Story" cos Madonna's on it as backing vocalist during one track.

Anyway - was listening to it the other week for the first time since I got it. The album is mostly written and produced by Pat Leonard and it's really really wierd how it all is very very reminiscent of "WHO'S THAT GIRL"!

They forgot that one in the article above btw - one of Madonna's biggest worldwide number ones - anyway...

The Peter Cetera album has so many other people on it from True Blue & Like A Prayer - it's kinda almost like a pretend Madonna album from that era. Definitely worth a listen. I can't stand Peter Cetera's middle of the road style and his voice doesn't do anything for me but all those Leonard tracks are strangely likeable. The lead track "Best of Times" is I think the strongest and as I say - so VERY WHO'S THAT GIRL sounding!!!

Pat Leonard lovers should check it out!

[CMoody]

i am aware but that comment i highlighted wasn't said by Leonard but by Friedman. that's who i am referring to.

I didn't realize the article was written by that notorious and biast hater. Blah.

But I think the Leonard interview confirms that Madonna is more a lyrist and an overall "fine tuner" of the melody and sound of the music. She isn't sitting around at the piano composing her own melodies and it is unfair to the likes of Patrick Leonard to suggest otherwise. Madonna does not have solo writing credits for any of her music, her songwriting involvement has always been collaborative. She is still a songwriter, and highly talented in her involvement and contribution, but she is not churning out her material all on her own.

[Larkspur]

"She writes a lot with deejays now." - True

"She doesnt write the music, thats for sure." - Well, i don't know really. Nobody does, we can only guess. I belive she write the lyrics, but she doesn't write music. Actually, she helps other people to write music. She sings the melody she has imagined and then someone like Leonard write it on a paper. In the end, she is the part of the process.

Patrick Leonard did not say that in bold. You know who I would love to write a book? One of Madonna's collaborators whom she did not have a romantic relationship with. Shut people and a lot of fans I might add up. Ask Roger Friedman if Elton John can put two words together?

[dollhouse]

Its a fact P. Leonard hated Madonna going for DeeJays..

Mainly Pettibone and Orbit.

[mangapop]

A few years I bought Peter Cetera's 1988 album "One More Story" cos Madonna's on it as backing vocalist during one track.

Anyway - was listening to it the other week for the first time since I got it. The album is mostly written and produced by Pat Leonard and it's really really wierd how it all is very very reminiscent of "WHO'S THAT GIRL"!

They forgot that one in the article above btw - one of Madonna's biggest worldwide number ones - anyway...

The Peter Cetera album has so many other people on it from True Blue & Like A Prayer - it's kinda almost like a pretend Madonna album from that era. Definitely worth a listen. I can't stand Peter Cetera's middle of the road style and his voice doesn't do anything for me but all those Leonard tracks are strangely likeable. The lead track "Best of Times" is I think the strongest and as I say - so VERY WHO'S THAT GIRL sounding!!!

Pat Leonard lovers should check it out!

Thanks. It definitely worth to listen, just to see what else Madonna could have made in WTG era.

[Guest Rachelle of London]

Imagine a book with interviews of all of Ms collaborators...what a great treat for the fans that would be...my god

[neutrocks]

Any artist who goes in and has great input in the music direction of a song, whether it's the melody or sound, has every right to be credited as the "song writer". I think the majority of Madonna fans know she isn't a music composer. She couldn't go into a music studio and come up with a song on her own. However, she can offer a melody that can be built on or someone like Leonard (and many of her other collaborators) will provide a demo to her and she suggest changes or offer input in what she wants the song to sound like. Her biggest contribution to many of her songs are the lyrics. To me, without the lyrics (unless it's an intended instrumental), it's not a complete song. So if someone writes lyrics to a composed song, then you should be credited as the song writer as well. Madonna obviously knew from the get-go that if she wanted credit for any songs, she had to put in some input in how the song should go after the demo stages.

I'm betting Madonna probably doesn't care so much about getting this "songwriting" award like Leonard. Every time, someone asks her about her awards, she acts like they are thrown in a closet somewhere and not really a huge satisfaction to her.

As for the two working together, I'd love for them to work on another pop album, but it will never be close to what they did together back in the day. To me, it's like beating a dead horse, and I think the two probably have exhausted each other out for new ideas, but it's not impossible. I just don't believe anything do from this point on will be as well accepted or successful as their previous collabs.

[mangapop]

Its a fact P. Leonard hated Madonna going for DeeJays..

Mainly Pettibone and Orbit.

I have read that Leonard and Pettibone didn't get a long.

Pettibone proved that he can do more than just remixing songs. Erotica was flawless.

When you compare Pettibone to some new DJs like Solveig, it is obvious that there is a big difference. Solveig made catchy songs, but they weren't like the ones which Pettibone made. TUTR was a perfect example of Solveig's sound on Madonna's album, while he managed to make song like IDGA, which doesn't sound like Solveig, which is good.

I think Leonard is afraid she might lost herself in DJ sound and not to express her own style.

I wonder what does Leonard think of Pettibone now?

Edited October 11, 2013 by mangapop

[CMoody]

Any artist who goes in and has great input in the music direction of a song, whether it's the melody or sound, has every right to be credited as the "song writer". I think the majority of Madonna fans know she isn't a music composer. She couldn't go into a music studio and come up with a song on her own. However, she can offer a melody that can be built on or someone like Leonard (and many of her other collaborators) will provide a demo to her and she suggest changes or offer input in what she wants the song to sound like. Her biggest contribution to many of her songs are the lyrics. To me, without the lyrics (unless it's an intended instrumental), it's not a complete song. So if someone writes lyrics to a composed song, then you should be credited as the song writer as well. Madonna obviously knew from the get-go that if she wanted credit for any songs, she had to put in some input in how the song should go after the demo stages.

I'm betting Madonna probably doesn't care so much about getting this "songwriting" award like Leonard. Every time, someone asks her about her awards, she acts like they are thrown in a closet somewhere and not really a huge satisfaction to her.

As for the two working together, I'd love for them to work on another pop album, but it will never be close to what they did together back in the day. To me, it's like beating a dead horse, and I think the two probably have exhausted each other out for new ideas, but it's not impossible. I just don't believe anything do from this point on will be as well accepted or successful as their previous collabs.

Absolutely agree. Very well put.

[dollhouse]

Madonna wrote a letter for Leonard after she ditched him for Orbit as ROL producer.

He wasnt too happy..

[Guest ditaluver]

"There are no songs that are credited just to Madonna."

what????

[Nikki]

that's roger rightwing putting his opinion on it before he lets leonard talk, to basically say almost the opposite.

[dollhouse]

I do think she needs a real song writer, instead those DeeJays.

[CMoody]

Also, M has always been very, very savvy. It is the writers that make the big $ when a song is released, far more than the recording artist. At one time (when albums still sold), Madonna also garnered more per sale than any other writer/artist. I believe it was something like over $1.00 per sale when the standard was some where in the $.30-.50 cent range. So anytime M records someone else's song and her only contribution is a few changed or altered lyrics, she is vying for her writers fee as she collects more there than if she only lends her voice to the piece.