Like a Prayer producer shares 3 demos in protest of Madonna memorabilia auction

Thanks to Patrick Leonard, a producer and co-writer on Madonna’s Like a Prayer, three of that album’s demos have been released onto YouTube for the first time. Leonard released them as a means of protesting an upcoming auction of the Madonna’s personal items, which includes the demo cassette tapes containing these songs.

According to Rolling Stone, there are 70 items going on sale; in addition to the tapes, costumes and a “handwritten apology letter” Tupac Shakur sent to Madonna a year before he was murdered are included. Though curated by her former art advisor, Darlene Lutz, the auction’s been fiercely protested by Madonna over the past two years. Being famous, she argues, “does not obviate my right to maintain my privacy.” A judge overturned her hold on the case.

The title track, as well as “Cherish” and the previously unreleased “Angels,” are among the released demos. “I hope these posts stop the sale of that cassette at auction,” Leonard writes in the video description of “Cherish.” “Not cool at all that someone would sell it. Not theirs to sell.”