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Madonna put spotlight on AIDS with 'Live to Tell' performance

Madonna
Madonna arrives at the 56th annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on Jan. 26, 2014, in Los Angeles.
Jordan Strauss | Invision | AP

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Today's Morning Edition music is from 30 years ago today, when "Live to Tell" by Madonna was No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

It was her third No. 1 hit. The song was written for use in the film "At Close Range," which starred her then-husband Sean Penn.

In 2006, during her Confessions tour, she sang it while hanging on a giant mirrored cross and wearing a crown of thorns. The number 12 million flashed behind her, an estimate of the number of children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.

Religious leaders decried the performance as blasphemous.