Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone[a] (/tʃɪˈkoʊni/; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Commonly known as the "Queen of Pop", she has been widely recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting and visual presentation. Madonna's works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. A prominent cultural figure spanning both the 20th and 21st centuries, she remains one of the most "well-documented figures of the modern age",[2] with a broad array of scholarly reviews, literature, and art works about her, as well as an academic mini subdiscipline devoted to her called Madonna studies.
For other uses, see Madonna (disambiguation).
Madonna
- Singer
- songwriter
- actress
- dancer
- record producer
- director
- author
- businesswoman
1979–present
Carlos Leon (1995–1997)
6, including Lourdes Leon
Christopher Ciccone (brother)
New York City, US
- Vocals
- guitar
- Breakfast Club
- Emmy
Madonna moved to New York City in 1978 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing as a drummer, guitarist, and vocalist in the rock bands Breakfast Club and Emmy, she rose to solo stardom with her 1983 eponymous debut studio album. Madonna followed it with a series of successful albums, including all-time bestsellers Like a Virgin (1984), True Blue (1986), and The Immaculate Collection (1990), as well as Grammy Award winners Ray of Light (1998) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). Throughout her career, she has amassed many chart-topping singles, including "Like a Virgin", "La Isla Bonita", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Take a Bow", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up" and "4 Minutes".
Madonna's popularity was enhanced by roles in films such as Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Dick Tracy (1990), A League of Their Own (1992) and Evita (1996). While the lattermost won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, many of her other films were not as well received. As a businesswoman, she founded the company Maverick in 1992, which included Maverick Records, one of the most successful artist-run labels in history. Madonna's other ventures include fashion brands, written works, health clubs and filmmaking. She contributes to various charities, having founded the Ray of Light Foundation in 1998 and Raising Malawi in 2006, and advocates for gender equality and LGBT rights.
With sales of over 300 million records worldwide, Madonna is the best-selling female recording artist of all time. She is the most successful solo artist in the history of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and has achieved the most number-one singles by a woman in Australia (11), Canada (24), Italy (23), Spain (21), and the UK (13). One of the highest-grossing touring artists in history, she became the first ever woman to accumulate US$1 billion in concert revenue. Forbes has named her the world's highest-paid female musician a record 11 times across four separate decades (1980s–2010s). Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, her first year of eligibility. She was ranked as the greatest woman in music by VH1, and as the greatest music video artist ever by MTV and Billboard. She was also listed among Rolling Stone's greatest artists and greatest songwriters of all time.
Life and career
1958–1978: Early life
Madonna Louise Ciccone[3] was born on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan, to Catholic parents Madonna Louise (née Fortin) and Silvio Anthony "Tony" Ciccone.[4][5] Her father's parents were Italian emigrants from Pacentro while her mother was of French-Canadian descent.[6] Tony Ciccone worked as an optics engineer for Chrysler Defense and its successor, General Dynamics Land Systems, on military projects. Since Madonna had the same name as her mother, family members called her "Little Nonnie".[7] Her mother died of breast cancer on December 1, 1963. Madonna later adopted Veronica as a confirmation name when getting confirmed in the Catholic Church in 1966.[8] Madonna was raised in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills), alongside her two older brothers—Anthony and Martin—and three younger siblings; Paula, Christopher, and Melanie.[9] In 1966, Tony married the family's housekeeper Joan Gustafson. They had two children, Jennifer and Mario.[9] Madonna resented her father for getting remarried and began to rebel against him, which strained their relationship for many years afterward.[4]
Madonna attended St. Frederick's and St. Andrew's Catholic Elementary Schools, and West Middle School. She was known for her high grade point average and achieved notoriety for her unconventional behavior. Madonna would perform cartwheels and handstands in the hallways between classes, dangle by her knees from the monkey bars during recess, and pull up her skirt during class—all so that the boys could see her underwear.[10] She later admitted to seeing herself in her youth as a "lonely girl who was searching for something. I wasn't rebellious in a certain way. I cared about being good at something. I didn't shave my underarms or legs, and I didn't wear make-up like normal girls do. But I studied and I got good grades... I wanted to be somebody."[4]
Madonna's father put her in classical piano lessons, but she later convinced him to allow her to take ballet lessons.[11] Christopher Flynn, her ballet teacher, persuaded her to pursue a career in dance.[12] Madonna later attended Rochester Adams High School and became a straight-A student as well as a member of its cheerleading squad.[13][14] After graduating in January 1976, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan and studied over the summer at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina.[15][16]
In 1978, Madonna dropped out of college and relocated to New York City.[17] She said of her move to New York, "It was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi cab. I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done."[18] Madonna soon found an apartment in the Alphabet City neighborhood of the East Village[19] and had little money while working as a hatcheck girl for the Russian Tea Room, an elevator operator at Terrace on the Park, and with modern dance troupes, taking classes at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and eventually performing with Pearl Lang Dance Theater.[20][16][21] She also studied dance under the tutelage of the noted American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. [22] Madonna started to work as a backup dancer for other established artists. One night, while returning from a rehearsal, a pair of men held her at knifepoint and forced her to perform fellatio. She later found the incident to be "a taste of my weakness, it showed me that I still could not save myself in spite of all the strong-girl show. I could never forget it."[23]
1979–1983: Career beginnings, rock bands, and Madonna
In 1979, Madonna became romantically involved with musician Dan Gilroy.[24] Shortly after meeting him, she successfully auditioned to perform in Paris with French disco artist Patrick Hernandez as his backup singer and dancer.[20] During her three months with Hernandez's troupe, she also traveled to Tunisia before returning to New York in August 1979.[24][25] Madonna moved into an abandoned synagogue where Gilroy lived and rehearsed in Corona, Queens.[20][10] Together they formed her first band, the Breakfast Club, for which Madonna sang and played drums and guitar.[26] While with the band, Madonna briefly worked as a coat-check girl at the Russian Tea Room, and she made her acting debut in the low-budget indie film A Certain Sacrifice, which was not released until 1985.[27][28] In 1980, Madonna left the Breakfast Club with drummer Stephen Bray, who was her boyfriend in Michigan, and they formed the band Emmy and the Emmys.[29] They rekindled their romance and moved into the Music Building in Manhattan.[20] The two began writing songs together and they recorded a four-song demo tape in November 1980, but soon after, Madonna decided to promote herself as a solo artist.[30][20]
In March 1981, Camille Barbone, who ran Gotham Records in the Music Building, signed Madonna to a contract with Gotham and worked as her manager until February 1982.[31][32][33] Madonna frequented nightclubs to get disc jockeys to play her demo.[34] DJ Mark Kamins at Danceteria took an interest in her music and they began dating.[35] Kamins arranged a meeting with Madonna and Seymour Stein, the president of Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records.[34] Madonna signed a deal for a total of three singles, with an option for an album.[36]
Kamins produced her debut single, "Everybody", which was released in October 1982.[34] In December 1982, Madonna performed the song live for the first time at Danceteria.[37][38] She made her first television appearance performing "Everybody" on Dancin' On Air in January 1983.[39] In February 1983, she promoted the single with nightclub performances in the United Kingdom.[40] Her second single, the double a-side "Burning Up" / "Physical Attraction", was released in March 1983. Both this single and "Everybody" reached number three on Billboard magazine's Hot Dance Club Songs chart.[41] During this period, Madonna was in a relationship with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and living at his loft in SoHo.[42][43] Basquiat introduced her to art curator Diego Cortez, who had managed some punk bands and co-founded the Mudd Club.[44] Madonna invited Cortez to be her manager, but he declined.[44]
Following the success of the singles, Warner hired Reggie Lucas to produce her debut album, Madonna.[45] However, Madonna was dissatisfied with the completed tracks and disagreed with Lucas' production techniques, so she decided to seek additional help.[46] She asked John "Jellybean" Benitez, the resident DJ at Fun House, to help finish the album's production and a romance ensued.[47] Benitez remixed most of the tracks and produced "Holiday", which was her first international top-ten song. The album was released in July 1983, and peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200. It yielded two top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "Borderline" and "Lucky Star".[48] In late 1983, Madonna's new manager, Freddy DeMann, secured a meeting for her with film producer Jon Peters, who asked her to play the part of a club singer in the romantic drama Vision Quest.[49]
1984–1987: Like a Virgin, first marriage, True Blue, and Who's That Girl
In January 1984, Madonna gained more exposure by performing on American Bandstand and Top of the Pops.[50][51][52] Her image, performances and music videos influenced many young girls and women.[53] Madonna's style became one of the female fashion trends of the 1980s.[54] Created by stylist and jewelry designer Maripol, the look consisted of lace tops, skirts over capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the crucifix, bracelets and bleached hair.[55][56][57] Madonna's popularity continued to rise globally with the release of her second studio album, Like a Virgin, in November 1984. It became her first number-one album in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the UK and the US.[58][59] Like a Virgin became the first album by a female to sell over five million copies in the US.[60] It was later certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold over 21 million copies worldwide.[61]
The album's title track served as its first single, and topped the Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks.[62] It attracted the attention of conservative organizations who complained that the song and its accompanying video promoted premarital sex and undermined family values,[63] and moralists sought to have the song and video banned.[64] Madonna received huge media coverage for her performance of "Like a Virgin" at the first 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. Wearing a wedding dress and white gloves, Madonna appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake and then rolled around suggestively on the floor. MTV retrospectively considered it one of the "most iconic" pop performances of all time.[65] The second single, "Material Girl", reached number two on the Hot 100.[48] While filming the single's music video, Madonna started dating actor Sean Penn. They married on her birthday in 1985.[66]
Madonna entered mainstream films in February 1985, beginning with her cameo in Vision Quest. The soundtrack contained two new singles, her US number-one single, "Crazy for You", and another track "Gambler".[48] She also played the title role in the 1985 comedy Desperately Seeking Susan, a film which introduced the song "Into the Groove", her first number-one single in the UK.[67] Her popularity caused the film to be perceived as a Madonna vehicle, despite how she was not billed as a lead actress.[68] The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby named it one of the ten best films of 1985.[69]
Beginning in April 1985, Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in North America, the Virgin Tour, with the Beastie Boys as her opening act. The tour saw the peak of Madonna wannabe phenomenon, with many female attendees dressing like her.[70] At that time, she released two more hits, "Angel" and "Dress You Up", making all four singles from the album peak inside the top five on the Hot 100 chart.[71] In July, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of nude photos of Madonna, taken when she moonlighted as an art model in 1978.[72] She had posed for the photographs because she needed money at the time, and was paid as little as $25 a session.[73] The publication of the photos caused a media uproar, but Madonna remained "unapologetic and defiant".[74] The photographs were ultimately sold for up to $100,000.[73] She referred to these events at the 1985 outdoor Live Aid charity concert, saying that she would not take her jacket off because "[the media] might hold it against me ten years from now."[74][75]
In June 1986, Madonna released her third studio album, True Blue, which was inspired by and dedicated to her husband Penn.[76] Rolling Stone was impressed with the effort, writing that the album "sound[s] as if it comes from the heart".[77] Five singles were released—"Live to Tell", "Papa Don't Preach", "True Blue", "Open Your Heart", and "La Isla Bonita"—all of which reached number one in the US or the UK.[48][78] The album topped the charts in 28 countries worldwide, an unprecedented achievement at the time, and remains Madonna's bestselling studio album, with sales of 25 million copies.[79][80] True Blue was featured in the 1992 edition of Guinness World Records as the bestselling album by a woman of all time.[81]
Madonna starred in the critically panned film Shanghai Surprise in 1986, for which she received her first Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.[82] She made her theatrical debut in a production of David Rabe's Goose and Tom-Tom; the film and play both co-starred Penn.[83] The next year, Madonna was featured in the film Who's That Girl. She contributed four songs to its soundtrack, including the title track and "Causing a Commotion".[84] Madonna embarked on the Who's That Girl World Tour in June 1987, which continued until September.[85][86] It broke several attendance records, including over 130,000 people in a show near Paris, which was then a record for the highest-attended female concert of all time.[87] Later that year, she released a remix album of past hits, You Can Dance, which reached number 14 on the Billboard 200.[58][88] After a tumultuous two years' marriage, Madonna filed for divorce from Penn on December 4, 1987, but withdrew the petition a few weeks later.[89][90]
Films starred
Films directed
