When “The Color Purple” hit theaters in 1985 — as the beloved film adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel — it was before a certain cast member, Oprah Winfrey, was even the Queen of Talk.
And the very same year, Stephen Bray — executive music producer of the new “Color Purple” movie musical that opens on Christmas Day — scored his first hits with the future Queen of Pop, Madonna, as co-writer of both “Into the Groove” and “Angel.”
But Bray and Madonna shared a different kind of rhythmic history even before that — when they were both living in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“I used to play percussion in some of the dance classes that she was in,” Bray told The Post. “And then she moved to New York and was playing drums for [the band] Breakfast Club in ’79. And I followed out, so I actually took her place as Breakfast Club’s drummer.”
And Bray was also behind the skins in Emmy & the Emmys, another early Madonna band in which she sang lead before finding solo stardom after her 1983 self-titled debut album was released 40 years ago.
Bray was actually supposed to have a song that he’d written, “Ain’t No Big Deal,” on Madge’s debut LP that would change pop forever. But because he couldn’t also produce the track, he refused to close the deal.
“I was too proud — I wanted to be a producer like Quincy Jones,” he said, referring to the music legend who scored the 1985 “Color Purple” movie and also served as a producer for both films. “I didn’t understand that having written the song was equally important in the sort of, you know, stratosphere of making albums. And so that song was kept off the album. So she went on quite successfully without me. And I learned one of the toughest lessons of my music career.”
But Madonna didn’t forget their beats bond when she had more juice to call the shots for her second LP, 1984’s smash “Like a Virgin” — even with Chic czar Nile Rodgers as the sole producer.
“She came to me and said, ‘Hey, let’s write some songs for my next album,’” said Bray. “And I was ready, willing and able to be a part of the process.”
That would lead to Bray co-writing four of nine tunes for “Like of Virgin,” including “Angel.” And then he got his big producing break with Madonna’s 1985 classic “Into the Groove,” from her “Desperately Seeking Susan” movie.
And as Madonna was becoming arguably the biggest female pop superstar on the planet, Bray was one of her hand-picked collaborators for 1986’s “True Blue” blockbuster as a writer and producer on four tracks, including her No. 1 single “Papa Don’t Preach.”
“God bless her for doing that — she did not have to do that,” said Bray. “‘Papa Don’t Preach’ is one of the best things I’ve ever done.”
And then when it came to 1989’s “Like a Prayer” — which makes any short list of Madonna’s very best albums — she again collaborated with Bray on both “Express Yourself,” one of her most iconic singles, and the Blond Ambition Tour closer “Keep It Together.”
Reflecting on the magic that they made together — as Madonna is in the midst of her 40th anniversary Celebration Tour that returns to New York at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 22, 23 and 29 — Bray said, “We were making music that we loved. And that writing relationship is one of the best I’ve ever had because we just have the same instincts, and it was just so much fun.
“We would finish each other’s musical sentences, you know? Day in, day out. I think, in the 10 years that we worked together, we had one disagreement about a harmony part. The whole thing was just flow.”
