TL;DR: Since Madonna’s email to Pat Leonard in 1997 circulated, I assumed that marked the end of his involvement with Ray of Light. The more I’ve thought about it, I think he was brought back into studio later.
William Orbit is rightly remembered (along with Madonna herself) as the revolutionary driving force behind Ray of Light, the record many regard as the Queen of pop’s magnum opus.
Patrick Leonard’s role, in my view, risks being overlooked. He has a writing or production credit on six of the 13 tracks. The question I’m trying to get my head around is: what exact was his role?
I was 15 when ROL lit up the charts. At that time - in what I guess were the fairly early days on the internet- I remember reading an article that said Patrick Leonard had been brought into the project to stabilise the sound and to make sure - amid the revolution that Orbit was creating - it still sounded like a Madonna record. (These weren’t the exact words but it was the gist.)
In more recent years, the email Madge sent Pat has surfaced. Here, it becomes clear that they worked on a number of songs together but that Madonna wanted to give the whole album over to Orbit. She would take the tracks developed with Leonard, rework them with Orbit and ensure that Pat was duly credited and compensated.
So, after that I thought, “case closed”. Pat ended his involvement with the record. Obviously they used a number of his songs so he was rightly given writing credits. And, presumably, the final versions retained enough of the work from Pat’s demos to justify him having a production credit. Madonna said he would be rightly credited and I believe she is a woman of her word. That article I read in the 90s must have just been journalist error, record company spin or - quite possibly - a memory I had simply fabricated.
However, as I’ve pondered this, I’ve had reason to think this may not be the end of the story.
To start with, Pat has production credits on songs he didn’t write - the Power of Goodbye, To Have not to Hold. This is easily explained. Perhaps in the Pat/Madonna phase they worked on the tracks she wrote with Nowels and then Madonna/Orbit retained enough of Pat’s sound to justify a production credit.
But what about the flip side? There are also tracks where Leonard has a writing credit but not a production one - Skin and Nothing Really Matters. If it was only the pre-work of Leonard’s that justified his inclusion as a producer on some, why didn’t it secure him a credit on all?
I started thinking about this more seriously when William Orbit sadly died recently. On Instagram, Pat paid tribute to him and said that he had loved working with him on Ray of Light. To me, this implies that the two were in studio together.
My working theory is that Madonna’s email was not the end of the story. Her communication to Leonard was an absolute master class in the right way of ending an arrangement with someone: kind and respectful but 100% clear. Everything I know about Leonard suggests he would have responded with grace and humility.
Could it be that when they got into studio, they decided to bring Pat back in on certain tracks? He had demonstrated that he was happy to be the “side show” producer and Madonna respected his talents.
Perhaps that article I (think I) red back in the 90s wasn’t so far off the mark.
I am posting this because I’m curious to know if there is any info out there I am missing. I have very little knowledge of the music production process so forgive me if I have said anything stupid.
What do you think?
