Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” Was Originally Pitched To Michael Jackson
Madonna has had a number of key collaborators over the years (Shep Pettibone, Stephen Bray, Mirwais and William Orbit all spring to mind), but Patrick Leonard was arguably the most integral to her legacy. Together they conjured up dozens of pop classics including “Live To Tell,” “Like A Prayer” and “Frozen.” He recently gave an interview about their working relationship and shares a couple fascinating tidbits. One of most interesting is the fact that “La Isla Bonita” was originally offered to Michael Jackson.
“After the Victory Tour, I was still in touch with Michael [Jackson] and Quincy [Jones] and doing some work with them and Quincy called me and said, ‘I want to do something sort of Sade-like for Michael — would you write something?’ and so I wrote that song and sent it to him with some form of a vocal on it and the phrase ‘la isla bonita,'” Patrick tells Boy Culture. “He called up and said, ‘Ah, I just don’t think it’s for Michael.’ Madonna and I were getting together, so I showed it to her and she said, ‘Oh, I like this, let’s work on it.'”
“So we sat and changed, you know, whatever we changed and she changed lyrics and we reconstructed it. It’s a good song, for sure. I don’t know why she would return to that one more than others, to be honest. But I like it. It’s always easy — over the years, I learned to play “Live to Tell” and I can play “La Isla Bonita.” All the rest I have to re-learn them.” Read the full interview here. It’s basically porn for Madonna fans! Also, follow Patrick on Instagram. He is opening up the vaults.
Can you imagine the song with Michael’s vocals? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!
