Earlier this year I wrote a blog post in which I wondered if the handwriting on the cover of Miguel Bosé’s albums Made in Spain and Milano-Madrid is Warhol’s. Now I know for sure: it is not! Bosé himself wrote all titles.
In 2008 the Spanish newspaper El País sponsored a special series of re-releases of Bosé’s albums on cd, housed in oblong booklets that mimic the original covers. In the case of Made in Spain: portraits of Bosé in Warhol style, but a bit older and with longer hair. The booklet also has a long article on Bosé, by Inma Ruiz, in part as an interview.
And there we learn some interesting stuff. The experience of working with the Factory seems to have been vital to Bosé. Not only did Warhol design the album cover, and direct two video clips, he even came up with the idea of the name for the album! Bosé himself, who usually picks one of the songs on a record as the album title, this time could not decide, he says. “Why not just call it ‘Made in Spain’, Warhol suggested. I thought it was a great idea. I wrote the title myself by hand, with a marker pen.”
The original text, in Spanish: “Para Miguel, la experienca en la Factory fue vital. De alli salió hasta con el titulo del disco. Made in Spain fue idea de Warhol. El albúm no incluye ninguna canción con ese titulo, pero Bosé, en esa indecisión permanente en la que aprendió a nadar para no ahogarse, cazó al vuelo la idea del neoyorquino de los pelos blancos. “Me pareció una idea estupenda, la escribe yo mismo con mi puño y letra”: y asi aparece en la carátula, con su caligrafia a rotulador.
Fun fact: Two years earlier Warhol had worked with Italian singer Loredana Bertè, and her album was called… Made in Italy. It is a safe bet that it was also Warhol who suggested that title.
Miguel Bosé at the big release party for Made in Spain on June 7th, 1983 in Madrid. Bosé stands in front of a large mural with Warhol’s portraits. Pictures by Santi Álvarez, in Semana magazine (25 de junio de 1983, núm. 2.262).
Picture left: Miguel Bosé at the release party. Right: Bosé and Warhol at The Factory, New York, during the photoshoot for the album cover. (Semana magazine 25 de junio de 1983, núm. 2.262).
The 2008 El País release of ‘Made in Spain’. Cover illustration by Sonia Carballo / Socatoba.
Andy Earhole 
Thank you for another thought provoking post! Just this week I got hold of the promo folder for “Made in Spain” and convinced myself that the typography really was Warhol’s! Could Bosé have lied that he wrote the title? As you pointed out in your previous post, the lettering is so similar to lettering on the 1986 “Aretha” album and singles taken from it, that we KNOW weren’t written by Bosé. What about the writinng on the “Madrid-Milano” cover? Is that Bosé’s too? I’m still sceptical….
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Richard! Sorry if my post has misled you to an expensive purchase. 🙂
But no, I don’t think Bosé has lied about this. Why would he?
Still the question remains: who did the final design of the larger lettering on the cover of the booklet in the promo map? Surely not Bosé. His writing has been blown up, outlined, and coloured. Two possibilities here: either Warhol did this, or a CBS graphic designer.
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