Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records. It saw the singer reunited with Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, with whom she had worked collaborated on her previous studio album True Blue (1986), and the soundtrack to the 1987 film Who's That Girl; artist Prince also collaborated on the record, co-writing and co-producing one of the tracks alongside Madonna. Her most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer is a pop record with elements of rock and dance pop. Its lyrics deal with personal themes she had been too afraid to approach up at that point: her Catholic upbringing, her troubled marriage to actor Sean Penn, the death of her mother, and her relationship with her father.

Patrick Ray Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums True Blue (1986), Who's That Girl (1987), Like a Prayer (1989), I'm Breathless (1990) and Ray of Light (1998). He scored Madonna's 2008 documentary I Am Because We Are, played keyboards with her at Live Aid (1985), and was musical director and keyboardist on The Virgin Tour (1985) and the Who's That Girl World Tour (1987).