What is "pre-madonna"

n. (misspelling of prima donna English)

Pre-Madonna is a collection of demos by American singer Madonna. The album was released in 1997 by Stephen Bray, who was the producer of the songs when they were recorded, and was distributed by Soultone. It was released as In the Beginning in European countries. Madonna met up with Bray, her former boyfriend, in 1980 when she was trying to establish her music career. She had left the band Breakfast Club and enlisted Bray's help to further her career. Together they started writing songs and recorded them at New York's Music Building studio. The songs recorded at that time —seven of which were written solely by Madonna—were released in Pre-Madonna.

Although not authorized by Madonna, Bray decided to release Pre-Madonna by remixing some of the tracks, and keeping the others in their original form. Included were the demo versions of " Everybody" and " Burning Up" which Madonna used for her self-titled debut album. Bray chose to coincide the release of the album with the birth of Madonna's daughter Lourdes, to cash-in the publicity. The album received mixed reviews, with some critics deeming the release as unnecessary, while others were delighted to hear Madonna's original recordings.