In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Dan Gilroy, the former boyfriend and bandmate of Madonna, opened up about their intense 18-month relationship that blossomed during the late 1970s.
Gilroy, 77, reminisced about meeting the pop icon at a party and their subsequent musical collaborations in the band Breakfast Club, which he formed with his brother, Ed. “Anyone who has been in a band knows it’s a very intimate kind of relationship,” he noted, emphasizing the deep connection formed through shared creativity. He recalled, “You get to work with each other. You exchange ideas. You have arguments about the material, and then you get together and perform it and get a good reaction maybe, hopefully. Yeah, it’s exciting.”
The couple’s romance, however, was short-lived. In 1980, Madonna left Breakfast Club to pursue a new musical direction with her drummer boyfriend, Stephen Bray, forming the band Emmy & The Emmys.
Now, over four decades later, Gilroy is ready to embark on a new chapter. He is auctioning off memorabilia from his time with Madonna at Guernsey’s 60th Anniversary Downtown Auction on September 25. Among the items are two guitars and a set of drums that hold significant historical value. “These musical items were the first she ever played—the guitar she learned on and wrote all her first songs on… The drums that she played for a whole year and used at CBGB’s,” he shared. “I mean, they’re pop culture historical artifacts. They have some cultural importance.”
While these items are notable, Gilroy revealed that he had initially planned to include a collection of love letters Madonna wrote to him during her time in Europe. “She’s very private about that,” he explained, noting her reluctance to share personal correspondence with the public. “But to me, they were just so poetic. In exchange for those, we took them off the auction and she signed the equipment.”
Although he hasn’t been in contact with Madonna in decades, save for a few brief exchanges, Gilroy fondly reflected on their time together, stating, “It was wonderful.” He acknowledged Madonna’s undeniable talent and ambition, recalling her evolution as an artist. “She got the bug to sing because she would be playing drums at CBGB. But then she would get off the drums, and I would get on the drums, and she would sing a couple of songs. There was no going back. She wanted to do it herself.”
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