Madonna
Madonna
Singer, songwriter, record company executive
Continued to Provoke Controversy
The career of pop music superstar Madonna has lasted longer than most of her detractors ever predicted. She has become a kind of modern-day, multimedia ueber-celebrity who dabbles in film, theater projects, and the occasional publishing venture in addition to her recording endeavors. But Madonna’s most impressive feat may be her ability to sell millions of records around the world regardless of what the music press says about her. Rock critic Robert Christgau summed up Madonna’s magic touch in Vogue, calling the singer-songwriter “a trailblazer in a raceless dance music with discernible roots in postpunk and Eurodisco, who is also on flirting terms with such white-bread subgenres as Vegas schlock, show tune, and housewife ballad.” Christgau further described the accomplished performer’s million-selling efforts as rife with “corny cool, postfeminist confidence, [and] pleasure-centered electronic pulse.”
Off stage, Madonna demonstrates considerable business acumen as chief executive of her own company and record label. Her skills in guiding her career and the “Madonna” persona have, in the space of a decade, made her one of the world’s wealthiest women.
Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan, in 1958. The “Veronica” that is commonly cited as one of her birth names is really her confirmation name, chosen for the religious ceremony when she was in her early teens. Her family—Madonna is the third of eight children—was living in Pontiac, Michigan, at the time of her birth, but they were visiting relatives in Bay City when her then-very-pregnant mother went into labor. Tragically, Mrs. Ciccone died of cancer when Madonna and her siblings were quite young. The children lived for a while with various relatives until her father settled down in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit, and reunited the family.
Madonna’s father, an engineer by profession, eventually married the family’s housekeeper. Being the eldest daughter of a large brood meant that a greater share of household and emotional responsibilities fell on Madonna’s young shoulders. “Sometimes growing up I felt like the unhired help,” she admitted to Time writer Carl Wayne Arrington. Of her strict, Italian American, Roman Catholic upbringing, she recalled, “My family life at home was very repressive, very Catholic, and I was very unhappy. I was considered the sissy of the family because I relied on feminine wiles to get my way. I wasn’t quiet at all. I remember always being told to shut up.”
Interested in dance from an early age, Madonna studied with local instructors as a teenager. In high school, she was an honor roll student and a cheerleader. She
For the Record…
Born Madonna Louise Ciccone (pronounced “Chick-one”), August 16, 1958, in Bay City, MI; daughter of Silvio (an engineer) and Madonna (Fortin) Ciccone; married Sean Penn (an actor), August 16, 1985 (divorced, January 1989). Education: Attended University of Michigan for two years; studied dance in New York City with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and with Pearl Lang.
Singer, songwriter, record company executive, and actress. Backup singer and drummer for the Breakfast Club (a dance band), 1980; backup singer for disco star Patrick Hernandez, 1980-81; singer in a number of New York-based dance bands, including the Millionaires, Modern Dance, and Emmy, 1981-83; solo performer, 1983—; signed with Sire Records (a division of Warner Bros.), 1983; released first album, Madonna, 1983; had first Top Ten hit, “Borderline,” 1984; signed with Time-Warner, 1991; head of own record label (Maverick), 1992—. Actress in feature films, including Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985, Shanghai Surprise, 1986, Who’s That Girl?, 1987, Dick Tracy, 1990, A League of Their Own, 1992, Shadows and Fog, 1992, Body of Evidence, 1993, Dangerous Game, 1993, Blue in the Face, 1995, Four Rooms, 1996, Girl 6, 1996; Evita, slated for release in 1996; also the subject of a documentary titled Truth or Dare, 1991. Has made several world tours in conjunction with album releases.
Selected Awards: Grammy Award nomination for best female pop performance, 1986, for “Crazy for You.”
Addresses: Home —New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; and Miami, FL. Record company —Maverick Records, 8000 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048.
graduated early and attended the University of Michigan for two years, continuing her dance training, then dropped out and moved to New York City in the late 1970s. There she attempted to get her foot in the show business door. While working in a series of low-wage jobs—including a stint as an artist’s model—she took more dance classes and eventually won a spot in the third company of Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theater.
Next, Madonna hooked up with disco performer Patrick Hernandez. She moved with him to Paris for a short time but then returned to New York City and became a part of burgeoning music scene that was combining postpunk-rock shock with the quick-tempoed beats left over from the disco era. She played drums and sang for a number of New York-based ensembles, including Emmy, the Millionaires, and the Breakfast Club.
An Ambitious Streak
Around 1981 Madonna teamed up with boyfriend Steve Bray to form her own band, simply called Madonna. It was also around this time that she first picked up a guitar and started writing songs herself. Playing in New York City clubs, Madonna soon garnered attention with her new act. She found herself a respected manager and began leaning toward a more funky, rhythm-and-blues-tinged sound, which went over well in the dance clubs she played. New York club disc jockey Mark Kamins, who had extensive contacts in themusic business, helped win her a recording contract with Warner Bros, in 1982. “I was very impressed with how determined she was,” remembered recording executive Seymour Stein in an interview with Vogue writer David Handelman. “I don’t want to use the word ruthless; at the time, I said, ‘She’s somebody who would take a shortcut through a cemetery at night to get somewhere.’ You could tell it in her eyes.”
The contract with Warner Bros, led to the release of Madonna’s self-titled debut album in 1983; cuts from Madonna slowly became underground dance club hits. When the first single, “Holiday,” got extensive airplay, many listeners were surprised to find that the voice belonged to a white woman. Stardom quickly followed when the singles “Borderline” and “Lucky Star” began climbing the charts. By early 1985 Madonna had become a household name, but her second album, Like a Virgin, did even more for her budding career. The record quickly went platinum, buoyed by the hits “Material Girl,” “Into the Groove,” and the title track.
At one point, two singles from Like a Virgin were in the Top Five at the same time, and it seemed Madonna was now turning up everywhere in the media. She launched her first tour in the spring of 1985, initially in small venues, but as the shows began selling out in less than an hour, the dates were switched into larger arenas—with the Beastie Boys opening for her on some nights. That spring also saw the releaseof Desperately Seeking Susan, a movie she had made in 1984 when she was still relatively unknown. The low-budget film, directed by Susan Seidelman, became a commercial hit.
The showy “Like a Virgin” tour catapulted Madonna into a very public eye, and it was also during this period that she started to become a sort of icon for fans of her pop music. Teenaged—and even younger—girls began adopting the mid-’80s Madonna look of messy, badlydyed hair, neon rubber bracelets, black lace bras, white lace gloves, a “Boy Toy” belt buckle, and other sartorial signifiers. The cult of Madonna even spawned the term “wannabe” —as in youngsters who “wanted to be” like the star.
Early in her career, Madonna was already becoming an accomplished songwriter— Like a Virgin included five cuts that she wrote herself. Her next effort, the 1986 release True Blue, was another success, best remembered for the “Papa Don’t Preach” dilemma-of-teen-pregnancy track. Shortly thereafter, in 1987, Madonna landed another major film role in Who’s That Girl?, a light comedy that was panned by critics. An uneven soundtrack album accompanied the film, followed the next year by You Can Dance, a series of remixes of her best-known hits.
By this time, Madonna’s personal life was attracting about the same amount of attention as her music and film performances. Her homes had become bastions of high-tech security measures designed to keep an increasingly frenzied fan base and similarly persistent paparazzi out of her hair. In 1985 she had married actor Sean Penn to much media hoopla, and the ups and downs of their marriage were well-chronicled by the press. By early 1989 the marriage was on the rocks, divorce papers had been filed, and her next full-length studio album, Like a Prayer, was released.
Continued to Provoke Controversy
Like a Prayer was especially notable for the racy videos to both the title cut and another track titled “Express Yourself.” Prior to its release, Madonna had inked a $5 million deal with Pepsi for some commercials and sponsorship of an upcoming tour, but the religious symbolism in the “Like a Prayer” video made the cola giant wary; the company canceled the deal, although the increasingly savvy businesswoman kept the money.
During the late 1980s, Madonna took intermittent breaks from her music to work in film and theater. Her role opposite Warren Beatty in 1990’s Dick Tracy garnered major media attention as much for her performance as for her off-camera relationship with the film’s star. The Trouser Press Record Guide panned I’m Breathless, the album that was released in conjunction with the movie, calling its best-known single, “Vogue,” “just an empty shell of a song, style sans substance.”
Yet the “Vogue” single was another example of Madonna’s ability to capitalize on a still-underground pop culture phenomenon. “Vogueing” had been a flourishing dance trend on the New York gay discotheque scene for a number of years, where men—sometimes dressed as women—posed and strutted to a high-energy beat. Madonna’s video carried this trend into living rooms from Iowa to Omaha. Her next album, The Immaculate Collection, was also released in 1990, but it was mainly an assemblage of her biggest hits to date, including “Vogue.”
Late in 1990 Madonna became embroiled in yet another controversy, this time surrounding the video to “Justify My Love,” the only new track on The Immaculate Collection. The steamy images of slightly sadomasochistic situations and multiple partnerships, shot with Madonna’s then-boyfriend Tony Ward, provoked MTV to initially ban it from airplay. The furor only boosted sales and prompted Time reporter Jay Cocks to point out that the flap made “MTV look an organization of aging church elders, and [Madonna] a champion of feminism and free expression in the process.”
Madonna blended her interest in film and music in the concert documentary Truth or Dare. Shot during her 1990 “Blond Ambition” tour by video director Alex Keshishian, the work had a cinemaverite, “you-are-there” feel to it as it chronicled pre-show backstage prayer sessions with her dancers and followed the performer around both her L.A. abode and Manhattan apartment. Time reviewer Richard Corliss called it “raw, raunchy and epically entertaining … pure, unadulterated Madonna.” In another issue of Time, Carl Wayne Arrington described it as “a panoramic, emetic, beauty-marks-and-all” work that “draws its substance from the dark well of Madonna’s life.”
That dark well of Madonna—especially the out-there sexuality that seemed to unnerve most of her critics—was further explored in her first book, a hefty volume titled Sex. The 1992 tome contains racy images shot by fashion photographer Steven Meisel, along with intermittent text of Madonna’s musings on sex and love written under the name of her alter ego, Dita Parlo. The $50 book was released to much fanfare, especially when some of the photographs appeared in the media prior to publication—leaked or perhaps sold by insiders. The metal-jacketed Sex came tightly wrapped in Mylar to guard against bookstore peekers and was roundly condemned by more conservative elements in the media. The photographs—among them, one of Madonna hitchhiking nude and several others involving other people and bondage gear—seemed to be calculatingly titillating. Once again, Madonna was at the forefront of a new trend, opined News wee/cwriter John Leland, who wrote: “Call it the new voyeurism: the middlebrow embrace, in the age of AIDS, of explicit erotic material for its own sake.” The book was a sell-out across the country.
Multimedia Mogul
Madonna reportedly received an advance of $5.5 million for the Sex book from media giant Time-Warner, and the conglomerate also engineered an almost-unheard-of contract with the singer in 1991. (A year earlier, Madonna had appeared on the cover of the staid financial magazine Forbes under the banner “America’s Smartest Business Woman?”) The seven-year multimedia contract with Time-Warner, reportedly worth $60 million, gave her almost complete artistic control over her music—including her own label, Maverick—and supposedly included $5 million advances for each forthcoming album. Included in the package were deals for cable-TV specials and any film projects she wished to develop.
The Sex book coincided with the release of Madonna’s 1992 album Erotica. Again, a steamy video accompanied the title track, but this time the video easily made it onto MTV playlists—albeit in the wee hours of the night. Much of the material, as in the Like a Prayer effort, was written by Madonna with the help of producers Shep Pettibone and Andre Betts. First, they developed the rhythm section for each song, which Madonna would listen to while paging through a journal she keeps for songwriting purposes. The early vocal takes she recorded usually wound up on the final mix, a quirk explained by Pettibone in the Vogue interview: “As soon as she comes up with a melodic idea, we record it, because it has that feeling, which usually gets watered down the more you sing it.” In addition to Erótica’s bestselling title song, the record also contains “In This Life,” a track about people close to the singer who have died of AIDS, as well as “Goodbye to Innocence,” a wistful look at the nature of celebrity.
The Erotica album was followed by another film release, a mediocre murder mystery titled Body of Evidence, in which Madonna starred opposite Willem Dafoe. She also embarked on yet another world tour, this one entitled “The Girlie Show.” It featured topless women and more racy vignettes set to her music—and helped earn her condemnation from the Roman Catholic church authority in Rome.
After a short hiatus, Madonna made a splash in the spring of 1994 when she appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. The show was memorable for the antagonism between the host and guest and the audience’s apparent willingness to see Letterman skewer her mercilessly. It was a battle of wits, with Madonna using a certain banned word 13 different times—a stunt that drew her severe media criticism the next day. Entertainment Weekly writer Ken Tucker saw it as an attention-getting ploy, “a way to keep her name in the papers in lieu of actually producing some sort of creative work,” and noted that by 1994, “as a feminist culture hero,” she was fading from the spotlight.
But Madonna showed another side of her complex persona with the late 1994 release of Bedtime Stories. The record featured quieter, more soul-tinged numbers, and reaction was favorable, although sales were not as brisk as for her previous records. “The eroticism she hints at on Bedtime Stories is actually sexier than that of her more wanton songs and videos,” observed Time reviewer Christopher John Farley. The critic added that as “One of the pop-music giants of the 1980s … she has risked becoming an artifact of that era,” but pointed out that her collaborative efforts with some groundbreaking performers of the 1990s—songs either written or performed with the likes of Me’Shell Ndege-Ocello, Björk, and producer Kenneth “Babyface” Nelson—were quite impressive.
In addition to her work with Nelson, Madonna teamed with a trio of other producers specializing in the contemporary black sounds of R&B. When Rolling Stone writer Zehme asked Madonna if she ever felt black, she replied “Oh, yes, all the time…. When I was a little girl, I wished I was black. All my girlfriends were black. I was living in Pontiac, Michigan, and I was definitely the minority in the neighborhood…. I used to make corn-rows and everything…. If being black is synonymous with having soul, then, yes, I feel that I am.”
By the mid-1990s, Madonna had become an active chief executive of the Maverick label. Maverick’s roster includes Me’Shell Ndege Ocello—who performed on Bedtime Stories— heavy grunge rockers Candlebox, and Bad Brains. There is also a separate film production company, not attached to Time-Warner, that allows Madonna to develop film projects, among them Farewell My Concubine and Dangerous Game.
With a contract with Time-Warner that stretches into the very end of the twentieth century, Madonna’s musical career—and celebrity status—shows no signs of abating. Yet the unwanted attention brought on by her fame may be the most difficult part of her life. Newsweek reporter David Ansen once queried, “Do you ever get sick of being Madonna?,” and she replied, “Yes, I do. I do. Sometimes, I just want to go to a movie and not have someone pull on my shirt, you know what I mean? I mean, I can’t go grocery shopping, and a lot of times, my secretaries don’t get me what I want. And I think,‘God, if I could just go myself, I’d get the right kind of cereal.’”
In a 1995 interview with ABC news correspondent Forest Sawyer for Prime Time, Madonna showed a softer side, ruminating over the loss of her mother, its impact on her life, and her desire to settle down and start a family. Still, she exhibits a philosophical and balanced attitude about her image, her career, and her future. “I see what has happened to me as a blessing because I am able to express myself in many ways that I never would have if I hadn’t had this kind of career,” she told Arrington in the Time interview. “I am lucky to be in the position of power that I am in and to be intelligent. Most people in my position say,’Listen, you don’t have to do any of that. Just kick back, man. Just enjoy your riches. Go get a house in Tahiti. Why do you keep getting yourself into trouble?’ It’s not my nature to just kick back. I am not going to be anybody’s patsy. I am not going to be anybody’s good girl. I will always be this way.”
Selected writings
Sex, edited by Glenn O’Brien, photographs by Steven Meisel, Warner Books, 1992.
Selected discography
Madonna, Sire, 1983.
Like a Virgin, Sire, 1985.
True Blue, Sire, 1986.
Who’s That Girl?, Sire, 1987.
You Can Dance, Sire, 1988.
Like a Prayer, Sire, 1989.
I’m Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy, Sire, 1990.
The Immaculate Collection, Sire, 1990.
Erotica, Maverick, 1992.
Bedtime Stories, Maverick, 1994.
Something to Remember, Maverick, 1995.
Also contributed cuts to the soundtracks for the films Vision Quest, 1985, and Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985.
Sources
Books
The Trouser Press Record Guide, 4th edition, edited by Ira Robbins, Collier Books, 1991.
Periodicals
Entertainment Weekly, April 15, 1994.
Esquire, August 1994.
Nation, June 8, 1992.
Newsweek, November 2, 1992.
Rolling Stone, March 23, 1989; October 15, 1992; November 11, 1993; December 15, 1994.
Stereo Review, February 1995.
Time, May 27, 1985; December 17, 19904; May 8, 1991; May 20, 1991; November 7, 1994.
Vogue, October 1992.
Additional information for this profile was obtained from a Prime Time interview with Forest Sawyer broadcast on December 6, 1995, on ABC-TV.
—Carol Brennan
Madonna
Madonna
Pop singer, songwriter; actress
The reigning queen of pop music is Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, a sultry singer-dancer born in Bay City, Michigan. Madonna has dominated the concert scene, the pop charts, and the music-video airwaves since 1985, with nary a rival able to nip at her heels. Her engaging blends of hip dance music and suggestive, campy lyrics have found audiences on every continent and have made her one of the wealthiest active performers in the world. Vanity Fair correspondent James Wolcott writes that Madonna “could be the American star who fulfills the [ultimate] erotic promise…. Madonna clearly has the nerve to confront a sexual equal on his own turf, redefine the boundaries of desire, then walk away from the bed unscathed.”
Madonna’s music videos and live concert performances have indeed featured some of the most erotic dancing and posing ever seen in the music industry. Feminists have been quick to complain that the singer perpetuates the “woman as sexual plaything” stereotype, with her lingerie costumes and “boy toy” belt buckles. Madonna herself couldn’t disagree more. She told Rolling Stone: “People have this idea that if you’re sexual and beautiful and provocative, then there’s nothing else you could possibly offer. People have always had that image about women. And while it might have seemed like I was behaving in a stereotypical way, at the same time, I was also masterminding it. I was in control of everything I was doing, and I think that when people realized that, it confused them…. You can be sexy and strong at the same time.”
Madonna was born August 16, 1958, and was named after her mother, who was also Madonna Ciccone. The singer had a very abbreviated childhood—when she was five, her mother died of cancer after a long and painful illness. At first Madonna and her five siblings were shuttled among relatives, then they were placed under the care of a housekeeper who eventually married their father. Remembering her days at home with a new parent, Madonna told People: “I felt like Cinderella with a wicked stepmother. I couldn’t wait to escape.” Madonna was tapped for child care and babysitting chores to such an extent that she had little time to be a child herself. She also attended Catholic school, where she earned top grades despite a tendency to decorate her dull uniforms and cavort in class.
In junior high Madonna discovered the world of drama and dance. She began taking private ballet lessons with Christopher Flynn, a teacher who encouraged her to dream of fame. During her high-school years at Rochester Adams High in suburban Detroit, Madonna was able to make the honor roll and be a cheerleader while still pursuing dance with great seriousness. Even then she had the determination to succeed, an attitude
For the Record…
Full name Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone (pronounced Chick-onee); born August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Mich.; daughter of Silvio (an engineer) and Madonna Ciccone; married Sean Penn (an actor), August 16, 1985 (divorced). Education: Attended University of Michigan for two years; studied dance in New York City with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and with Pearl Lang.
Pop singer, songwriter, and actress, 1980—. Backup singer and drummer for the Breakfast Club (dance band), 1980; backup singer and dancer for Patrick Hernandez (disco star), 1980-81; singer in a number of New York-based dance bands, including the Millionaires, Modern Dance, and Emmy, 1981-83. Solo performer, 1983—; signed with Sire Records (a division of Warner Brothers), 1983, released first album, Madonna, 1983; had first top ten hit, “Borderline,” 1984. Actress in feature films, 1984—, including Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985, Shanghai Surprise, 1986, Who’s That Girl, 1987, and Dick Tracy, 1990. Has made several world tours in conjunction with album releases.
Awards: Grammy award nomination for best female pop performance, for “Crazy for You,” 1986.
Addresses: Other— 22271 Carbon Mesa Rd., Malibu, Calif. 90265.
that she took no pains to hide. She graduated early and won a full scholarship to the University of Michigan.
After only two years at Michigan, Madonna left for New York City with the clothes on her back and less than one hundred dollars in pocket money. She worked for some months as an artist’s model and even posed for some nude pictures while waiting for a break into the entertainment business. Her first professional work came with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, where she earned a spot in the third company. She left that troupe and studied briefly with Pearl Lang, but she soon became convinced that dancing alone would not provide her an avenue to fame.
Madonna gravitated to music, especially the new wave sounds of the Pretenders and the Police. Between 1979 and 1982—with a brief hiatus in Paris as a backup singer to disco star Patrick Hernandez—she performed with a number of post-punk groups, including the Breakfast Club, Emmy, and the Millionaires. She soon tired of a backup role, and with a former Michigan boyfriend, Steve Bray, she formed a band with herself in the lead. This group, simply called Madonna, caught the eye of Camille Barbone, who became Madonna’s manager in 1981.
From new wave Madonna moved to funky, rap-influenced dance music, which she performed in New York’s thriving dance clubs with great success. This shift from rock to funk alienated her first manager, but it won her the attention of Mark Kamins, a deejay with wide contacts in the industry. Through Kamins, Madonna signed with Sire Records, a division of Warner Brothers. She cut her first album, Madonna, early in 1983 and engaged the services of Freddie DeMann, Michael Jackson’s manager.
Sales of Madonna’s debut album were hardly brisk at first, but she found powerful allies in the dance clubs. Eventually the exposure led to more radio coverage of her first singles, “Holiday,” “Lucky Star,” and “Borderline.” The latter two songs finally began to inch up the pop charts until both made it into the top twenty in 1984. While stuffy critics predicted that she would be just another flash-in-the-pan, the energetic performer set out to win the world—and she did just that in 1985.
Like a Virgin, Madonna’s second album, was released early in 1985 and quickly went platinum in sales. Madonna had the rare treat of seeing two of her singles, “Material Girl” and “Crazy for You,” in the top five simultaneously, while her funky tune “Into the Groove” became the rage in the dance clubs. Her fame was sealed, however, by the music videos she released with Like a Virgin —and with the white-hot performance she delivered in the film Desperately Seeking Susan. The “Like a Virgin” video featured the singer flirting from beneath a lace wedding gown, and the even campier “Material Girl” offered a tongue-in-cheek imitation of a famous Marilyn Monroe dance number. The “Like a Virgin” tour began in three thousand-seat halls, but quickly moved to the largest arenas as shows sold out in a matter of hours.
International fame brought with it the usual troubles. Critics accused Madonna of releasing only the simplest of pop schlock. The news media hounded the star, making a mockery of her short marriage to actor Sean Penn. Still, Madonna conducted herself with dignity, eventually winning over some of the hardest-to-please rock writers. Her album True Blue was the first to earn critical acclaim for its message song “Papa Don’t Preach,” about unwanted pregnancy, and its lovely ballad “Live To Tell.” As she confronted her own marital difficulties and disappointments, the so-called “Material Girl” began to write and sing about deeper subjects—much to the dismay of those who accused her of pandering to mediocrity.
In 1989 Madonna released Like a Prayer, an album containing brutally frank music about her childhood, her marriage, and her Catholic upbringing. As usual, the music video of the title track caused the biggest sensation, with its sly mixture of religious and sexual symbolism. Behind the sensationalism, though, was some serious music, as J. D. Considine notes in his Rolling Stone review. The songs on Like a Prayer, Considine writes, are “stunning in their breadth and achievement…. as close to art as pop music gets.” The critic adds: “Like a Prayer is proof not only that Madonna should be taken seriously as an artist but that hers is one of the most compelling voices of [the times.]”
Madonna’s 1990 album, I’m Breathless, marks a return to the funky dance-and-flirt style that made the performer famous. Having put her marriage behind her without answering the sensational press reports, the singer seems ready to have fun again. Still in her early thirties, Madonna is head of a multimillion-dollar corporation—Madonna, Inc.—that employs hundreds of people. The beautiful star shows little sign of flagging in either her ambition or her vitality; in fact, her 1990 tour was tagged the “Blond Ambition” tour.
All the hype surrounding her career notwithstanding, Madonna does have enormous talents upon which to draw. She is an able songwriter who has contributed original material to every album she has released, she is a fine dancer who can set trends, and she covers a somewhat thin voice with sophisticated but never dominating instrumentation. It is not surprising, then, that she complained to Rolling Stone: “There are still those people who, no matter what I do, will always think of me as a little disco tart.” The singer is not about to tamper with her image, however—she is content to fulfill audiences’ need for a sultry, campy vamp, at least until she ages some more and moves permanently into film work. Rolling Stone contributor Mikal Gilmore concludes that Madonna need offer no apologies for her hard-won fame. “Madonna will still have her detractors,” the critic writes, “but somehow little girls across the world seem to recognize a genuine hero when they see one.”
Selected discography
Madonna, Sire, 1983.
Like a Virgin, Sire, 1985.
True Blue, Warner Brothers, 1986.
You Can Dance, Sire, 1988.
Like a Prayer, Sire, 1989.
I’m Breathless, Sire, 1990.
Also contributed cuts to the film soundtracks of VisionQuest, 1985, and Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985.
Sources
Mademoiselle, December 1983.
New Republic, August 26, 1985.
Newsweek, March 4, 1985.
New Yorker, April 22, 1985.
New York Times, April 14, 1985.
People, March 11, 1985; September 2, 1985; December 23, 1985; December 14, 1987.
Playboy, September 1985.
Record, March 1985.
Rolling Stone, November 22, 1984; May 9, 1985; May 23, 1985; December 19, 1985; June 5, 1986; September 10, 1987.
Spin, May 1985.
Time, March 4, 1985; May 27, 1985; April 6, 1989.
Vanity Fair, August 1985.
Village Voice, June 18, 1985.
Vogue, May 1989.
Washington Post, May 26, 1985; November 25, 1985.
—Anne Janette Johnson
Madonna
Madonna
Singer, songwriter, record company executive
Remained Embroiled in Controversy
New Role as Maverick Records Executive
Released Introspective Ray of Light
The career of pop music superstar Madonna has lasted longer than most of her detractors ever predicted. She has become a kind of modern-day, multimedia ueber-celebrity who dabbles in film, theater projects, and the occasional publishing venture in addition to her recording endeavors. But Madonna’s most impressive feat may be her ability to sell millions of records around the world regardless of what the music press says about her.
Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan. The “Veronica” that is commonly cited as one of her birth names is really her confirmation name, chosen for the religious ceremony when she was in her early teens. Her family—Madonna is the third of eight children—was living in Pontiac, Michigan, at the time of her birth, but they were visiting relatives in Bay City when her then-very-pregnant mother went into labor. Tragically, Mrs. Ciccone died of cancer when Madonna and her siblings were quite young. The children lived for a while with various relatives until her father settled down in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit, and reunited the family. Madonna’s father, an engineer by profession, eventually married the family’s housekeeper.
Interested in dance from an early age, Madonna studied with local instructors as a teenager. In high school, she was an honor roll student and a cheerleader. She graduated early and attended the University of Michigan for two years, continuing her dance training, then dropped out and moved to New York City in the late 1970s. There she attempted to get her foot in the show business door. While working in a series of low-wage jobs—including a stint as an artist’s model—she took more dance classes and eventually won a spot in the third company of Alvin Alley’s American Dance Theater. Next, Madonna hooked up with disco performer Patrick Hernandez. She moved with him to Paris for a short time but then returned to New York City and became a part of the burgeoning music scene that was combining post-punk-rock shock with the quick-tempoed beats left over from the disco era. She played drums and sang for a number of New York-based ensembles, including Emmy, the Millionaires, and the Breakfast Club.
Around 1981 Madonna teamed up with boyfriend Steve Bray to form her own band, simply called Madonna. It was also around this time that she first picked up a guitar and started writing songs herself. Playing in New York City clubs, Madonna soon garnered attention with her new act. She found herself a respected Manáger and began leaning toward a more funky, R&B-tinged sound, which went over well in the dance clubs she played. New York club disc jockey Mark Kamins, who had extensive contacts in the music business, helped win her a recording contract with Warner Bros, in 1982.
For the Record…
Born Madonna Louise Ciccone (pronounced “Chick-one”) on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, MI; daughter of Silvio (an engineer) and Madonna (Fortin) Ciccone; married Sean Penn (an actor), 1985; divorced, 1989; married Guy Ritchie (a film director), 2000; children: (with Carlos Leon) Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, (with Guy Ritchie) Rocco Ritchie. Education: Attended University of Michigan for two years; studied dance in New York City with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and with Pearl Lang.
Backup singer and drummer for the Breakfast Club (a dance band), 1980; backup singer for disco star Patrick Hernandez, 1980-81; singer in a number of New York-based dance bands, including the Millionaires, Modern Dance, and Emmy, 1981-83; solo performer, 1983-; signed with Sire Records (a division of Warner Bros.), 1983; released first album, Madonna, 1983; had first top-ten hit, “Borderline,” 1984; signed with Time Warner, 1991; head of own record label (Maverick), 1992-. Actress in feature films, including Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985, Shanghai Surprise, 1986, Who’s That Girl?, 1987, Dick Tracy, 1990, A League of Their Own, 1992, Body of Evidence, 1993, Dangerous Game, 1993, Four Rooms, 1996, Girl 6, 1996, Evita, 1996, The Next Best Thing, 2000; also the subject of a documentary titled Truth or Dare, 1991.
Awards: People’s Choice Award, Favorite Female Musical Performer (tied with Whitney Houston), 1987; People’s Choice Award, International Rock Award, 1991; Grammy Award, Best Music Video, Long Form for Madonna: Blonde Ambition World Tour Live (shared), 1992; Golden Globe Award, Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) for Evita, 1996; Billboard Music Artist Achievement Award, 1996; Grammy Awards, Best Dance Recording for “Ray of Light,” Best Pop Vocal Album for Ray of Light (shared), and Best Music Video, Short Form for “Ray of Light” (shared), 1998; Grammy Award, Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television for “Beautiful Stranger” (shared), 1999.
Addresses: Record company —Maverick Records, 8000 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, website: http://www.maverickrecords.com. Website —Madonna Official Website: http://www.madonna.com.
Released Debut Album
The contract with Warner Bros, led to the release of Madonna’s self-titled debut album in 1983; cuts from Madonna slowly became underground dance club hits. When the first single, “Holiday,” got extensive airplay, many listeners were surprised to find that the voice belonged to a white woman. Stardom quickly followed when the singles “Borderline” and “Lucky Star” began climbing the charts. By early 1985 Madonna had become a household name, but her second album, Like a Virgin, did even more for her budding career. The record quickly went platinum, buoyed by the hits “Material Girl,” “Into the Groove,” and the title track. At one point, two singles from Like a Virgin were in the top five at the same time, and it seemed Madonna was now turning up everywhere in the media. She launched her first tour in the spring of 1985, initially in small venues, but as the shows began selling out in less than an hour, the dates were switched into larger arenas. That spring also saw the release of Desperately Seeking Susan, a movie she made in 1984 when she was still relatively unknown. The low-budget film, directed by Susan Seidelman, became a commercial hit.
Early in her career, Madonna was already becoming an accomplished songwriter; Like a Virgin included five cuts that she wrote herself. Her next effort, the 1986 release True Blue, was another success, best remembered for the “Papa Don’t Preach” dilemma-of-teen-pregnancy track. Shortly thereafter, in 1987, Madonna landed another major film role in Who’s That Girl?, a light comedy that was panned by critics. An uneven soundtrack album accompanied the film, followed the next year by You Can Dance, a series of remixes of her best-known hits.
By this time, Madonna’s personal life was attracting about the same amount of attention as her music and film performances. In 1985 she married actor Sean Penn to much media hoopla, and the ups and downs of their marriage were well-chronicled by the press. By early 1989 the marriage was on the rocks, divorce papers had been filed, and her next full-length studio album, Like a Prayer, was released. Like a Prayer was especially notable for the racy videos to both the title cut and another track titled “Express Yourself.” Prior to its release, Madonna inked a $5 million deal with Pepsi for some commercials and sponsorship of an upcoming tour, but the religious symbolism in the “Like a Prayer” video made the cola giant wary; the company canceled the deal, although the increasingly savvy businesswoman kept the money.
During the late 1980s, Madonna took intermittent breaks from her music to work in film and theater. Her role opposite Warren Beatty in 1990’s Dick Tracy garnered major media attention as much for her performance as for her off-camera relationship with the film’s star. The Trouser Press Record Guide panned I’m Breathless, the album that was released in conjunction with the movie, calling its best-known single, “Vogue,” “just an empty shell of a song, style sans substance.”
Remained Embroiled in Controversy
Yet the “Vogue” single was another example of Madonna’s ability to capitalize on a still-underground pop culture phenomenon. “Vogueing” had been a flourishing dance trend on the New York gay discotheque scene for a number of years, where men—sometimes dressed as women—posed and strutted to a high-energy beat. Her next album, The Immaculate Collection, was also released in 1990, but it was mainly an assemblage of her biggest hits to date, including “Vogue.” Late in 1990 Madonna became embroiled in yet another controversy, this time surrounding the video to “Justify My Love,” the only new track on The Immaculate Collection. The steamy images of slightly sado-masochistic situations and multiple partnerships, shot with Madonna’s then-boyfriend Tony Ward, provoked MTV to initially ban it from airplay. Madonna also blended her interest in film and music in the concert documentary Truth or Dare, which was shot during her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990.
Madonna’s out-there sexuality, which seemed to unnerve most of her critics, was further explored in her first book, a hefty volume titled Sex. The 1992 tome contains racy images shot by fashion photographer Steven Meisel, along with intermittent text of Madonna’s musings on sex and love written under the name of her alter ego, Dita Parlo. The $50 book was released to much fanfare, especially when some of the photographs appeared in the media prior to publication—leaked or perhaps sold by insiders.
Madonna reportedly received an advance of $5.5 million for the Sex book from media giant Time Warner, and the conglomerate also engineered an almost-unheard-of contract with the singer in 1991. (A year earlier, Madonna had appeared on the cover of the staid financial magazine Forbes under the banner “America’s Smartest Business Woman?”) The seven-year multimedia contract with Time Warner, reportedly worth $60 million, gave her almost complete artistic control over her music—including her own label, Maverick—and supposedly included $5 million in advances for each forthcoming album. Included in the package were deals for cable television specials and any film projects she wished to develop.
The Sex book coincided with the release of Madonna’s 1992 album Erotica. Again, a steamy video accompanied the title track, but this time the video easily made it onto MTV playlists—albeit in the wee hours of the night. Much of the material, as in the Like a Prayer effort, was written by Madonna with the help of producers Shep Pettibone and André Betts. In addition to Erotica’s bestselling title song, the record also contains “In This Life,” a track about people close to the singer who have died of AIDS, as well as “Goodbye to Innocence,” a wistful look at the nature of celebrity.
The Erotica album was followed by another film release, a mediocre murder mystery titled Body of Evidence, in which Madonna starred opposite Willem Da-foe. She also embarked on yet another world tour, this one entitled The Girlie Show. It featured topless women and more racy vignettes set to her music, and helped earn her condemnation from the Roman Catholic church authority in Rome.
Showed Other Side to Persona
Madonna showed another side of her complex persona with the late 1994 release of Bedtime Stories. The record featured quieter, more soul-tinged numbers, and reaction was favorable, although sales were not as brisk as for her previous records. “The eroticism she hints at on Bedtime Stories is actually sexier than that of her more wanton songs and videos,” observed Time reviewer Christopher John Farley. The critic added that as “one of the pop-music giants of the 1980s… she has risked becoming an artifact of that era,” but pointed out that her collaborative efforts with some groundbreaking performers of the 1990s—songs either written or performed with the likes of Me’Shell NdegéOcello, Björk, and producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds—were quite impressive.
In addition to her work with Edmonds, Madonna teamed with a trio of other producers specializing in the contemporary African American sounds of R&B. When Rolling Stone writer Zehme asked Madonna if she ever felt African American, she replied “Oh, yes, all the time.… When I was a little girl, I wished I was black. All my girlfriends were black. I was living in Pontiac, Michigan, and I was definitely the minority in the neighborhood.… I used to make cornrows and everything.… If being black is synonymous with having soul, then, yes, I feel that I am.”
New Role as Maverick Records Executive
By the mid-1990s, Madonna had become an active chief executive of the Maverick label. Maverick’s roster has included female artists Me’Shell NdegeOcello—who performed on Bedtime Stories —and Alanis Moris-sette, as well as heavy grunge rockers Candlebox, Bad Brains, and Prodigy. There is also a separate film production company, not attached to Time Warner, that allows Madonna to develop film projects, among them Farewell My Concubine and Dangerous Game.
Madonna’s determination to play the starring role in Evita paid off. While the film and her performance received mixed reviews, no one could take away her dedication, hard work, or box office success. In 1997, Madonna won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for the role. Later that year, the song “You Must Love Me” from Evita won an Academy Award for Best Song. The film’s premiere in late 1995 was upstaged in October when Madonna gave birth to a baby girl named Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon (Lola for short). The child was her daughter with Carlos Leon, a personal trainer. Madonna described the event to People magazine as, “the greatest miracle of my life.” She even traded in her pink Hollywood mansion for a home in a low-key suburb of Los Angeles.
Released Introspective Ray of Light
In 1998, Madonna released Ray of Light. For the album, she collaborated with producer William Orbit for many of the tracks. It was filled with somber songs of deep introspection and was a blend of techno and pop. The album reflected her study of the kabbalah (an ancient Jewish doctrine) and interest in Far East Indian culture. It received rave reviews and was one of her best-selling records. The album won Grammy Awards for Best Dance Recording, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Music Video, Short Form. The following year, Madonna contributed the single “Beautiful Stranger” to the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack. The single won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television (shared with Orbit) in 1999.
Madonna costarred in the film The Next Best Thing with her real-life friend, Rupert Everett, in 2000. While the film did not get fantastic reviews, the soundtrack did moderately well. Containing two new Madonna songs, “American Pie” (a remake of the Don McLean classic) and “Time Stood Still,” the album also featured tracks by artists such as Moby, Beth Orton, Christina Aguilera, and Groove Armada. It was Madonna’s first record in which she was the executive producer.
New Marriage, New Life
On August 11, 2000, Madonna gave birth to a baby boy named Rocco. The child was her son with British film director Guy Ritchie. Shortly after that event, Madonna released Music on September 19, 2000. Working with a handful of producers, mainly the French producer Mirwais Ahmadzai (who worked on six of the ten tracks), but also Orbit, Guy Sigsworth, and Mark “Spike” Stent, the album carried on the electronica element she introduced in Ray of Light. Receiving mostly good reviews, the album was “filled with vocoders, stylish neo-electro beats, dalliances with trip-hop, and, occasionally, eerie synthesized atmospherics,” according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide.
On December 21, 2000, Madonna and Richie had their son baptized in a thirteenth-century cathedral in Dornoch, Scotland. The next day, Madonna and Ritchie were married at Scotland’s ninteenth-century Skibo Castle. The nine-part wedding ceremony featured vows the couple had helped write. Madonna’s daughter, Lourdes, was the flower girl, and their four-month-old son sat nearby in the arms of a nanny. Guests at the wedding included Everett, actress Gwyenth Paltrow, musician Sting, and designer Donatella Versace.
Madonna collected her family and embarked on the 48-stop Drowned World tour throughout much of 2001, playing to sellout audiences and grossing an estimated $2 million per performance. She starred in Up for Grabs, a stage play which opened at London’s Wyn-dam Theatre on May 23, 2002, and was to make a cameo appearance in the James Bond film Die Another Day, set for release in the fall of 2002.
Selected discography
Madonna, Sire, 1983.
Like a Virgin, Sire, 1985.
(Contributor) Vision Quest (soundtrack), Geffen, 1985.
True Blue, Sire, 1986.
Who’s That Girl?, Sire, 1987.
You Can Dance, Sire, 1988.
Like a Prayer, Sire, 1989.
I’m Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy, Sire, 1990.
The Immaculate Collection, Sire, 1990.
Erotica, Maverick, 1992.
(Contributor) Desperately Seeking Susan (soundtrack), Varese, 1985.
Bedtime Stories, Maverick, 1994.
Something to Remember, Maverick, 1995.
Evita (soundtrack), Warner Bros., 1996.
Ray of Light, Warner Bros., 1998.
Music, Warner Bros., 2000.
Sources
Books
Robins, Ira, editor, The Trouser Press Record Guide, 4th edition, Collier Books, 1991.
Periodicals
Entertainment Weekly, April 15, 1994.
Esquire, August 1994.
Nation, June 8, 1992.
Newsweek, November 2, 1992.
People, August 27, 2001.
Rolling Stone, March 23, 1989; October 15, 1992; November 11, 1993; December 15, 1994.
Stereo Review, February 1995.
Time, May 27, 1985; December 17, 1994; May 8, 1991; May 20, 1991; November 7, 1994.
Vogue, October 1992.
Online
“Madonna,” All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (July 18, 2002).
Madonna Official Website, http://www.madonna.com (July 18, 2002).
—Carol Brennan
Madonna, 1958(?)–
MADONNA, 1958(?)–
(Madonna Louise Ciccone, Madonna Ritchie)
PERSONAL
Full name, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone; later chose the religious name Esther; born August 16, 1958 (some sources cite 1959, 1960, or 1961), in Bay City, MI; daughter of Silvio (an engineer) and Madonna Ciccone; married Sean Penn (an actor, producer, director, and writer), August 16, 1985 (divorced September 14, 1989); married Guy Ritchie (a director, writer, and producer), December 22, 2000; children: (with Carlos Leon, a personal trainer and actor) Lourdes Maria Ciccone "Lola"; (second marriage) Rocco John. Education: Attended University of Michigan; studied dance with Alvin Ailey at American Dance Theater, 1979, and with Pearl Lang. Religion: Kabbalah; raised Roman Catholic.
Addresses:
Agent—Bryan Lourd, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Manager—Caresse Henry, Maverick Films, 9348 Civic Center Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Publicist—Liz Rosenberg, Warner Bros. Records, 3300 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522. Web
Career:
Singer, actress, dancer, lyricist, composer, recording artist, and producer. Alvin Ailey Dance Company, New York City, dancer, 1979; performer with various popular music groups during early 1980s, including Breakfast Club, Emmy, Madonna, Millionaires, and Modern Dance. Maverick Records, owner and cochair until 2004; Madguy Productions, founder, c. 1996; also song producer. Appeared in television commercials and print advertisements.
Member:
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Awards, Honors:
MTV Music Video Vanguard Award (with Zbigniew Rybeznski), 1986; Grammy Award nomination, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, best female pop performance, 1986, for "Crazy for You"; Grammy Award nomination, best female pop vocal, 1986, and MTV Music Video Award, best female video, 1987, both for "Papa Don't Preach"; Film and Television Music Award, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, most performed song from motion pictures, 1987, for "Live to Tell," from the film At Close Range; Pop/Rock Video Award, American Music awards, favorite female video artist, 1987; People's Choice Award, favorite female musical performer, 1987; award from Bravo magazine (Germany), best female singer, 1987; Film and Television Music Award, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, most performed song from motion pictures, Grammy Award nomination, best song written specifically for a motion picture or television, and Golden Globe Award nomination, best original song for a motion picture, all with Patrick Leonard, 1988, for "Who's That Girl?," from the film Who's That Girl; Critics Pick awards, Rolling Stone Magazine Music awards, best video, and MTV Music Video Viewers Choice Award, both 1989, for Like a Prayer; Critics Pick awards, Rolling Stone Music awards, best video, 1990, for Justify My Love; American Music Award, best dance music video, 1990, for "Vogue"; Grammy Award (with others), best long–form music video, 1991, for Blond Ambition World Tour; Saturn Award nomination, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, best actress, 1991, for Dick Tracy; International Rock Award, People's Choice awards, 1991; Film and Television Music Award, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, most performed song from motion pictures, and Golden Globe Award nomination, best original song, both with Shep Pettibone, 1993, for "This Used to Be My Playground," from the film A League of Their Own; MTV Movie Award nomination, most desirable female, 1993, for Body of Evidence; Grammy Award nomination (with Leonard and Richard Page), best song written specifically for a motion picture or for television, Golden Globe Award nomination (with Leonard and Richard Page), best original song, and MTV Movie Award nomination, best movie song, all 1995, for "I'll Remember," from the film With Honors; MTV Video Music Award, best female video, 1995, for "Take a Bow"; Billboard Music Artist Achievement Award, 1996; MTV Movie Award nomination, best movie song, 1997, for "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," from the film Evita; Golden Globe Award, best actress in a comedy or musical film, 1997, MTV Movie Award nomination, best female performer, 1997, and Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination, favorite actress in a drama, 1998, all for Evita; MTV Video Music awards, video of the year, best female video, and best choreography in a video, 1998, for "Ray of Light"; Grammy awards, best dance recording, best pop album, and best short–form music video, 1999, for "Ray of Light" and Ray of Light; MTV Music Video Award, best video from a film, 1999, for "Beautiful Stranger," from the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; named one of the "100 greatest entertainers," Entertainment Weekly, 1999; named one of the "100 greatest women of rock & roll," by VH1, 1999; Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award, best song, 1999, Grammy Award, best song written for a motion picture, television, or other visual media, 2000, Film and Television Music Award, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, most performed song from motion pictures, Golden Globe Award nomination, best original song for a motion picture, and Blimp Award nomination, Kids' Choice awards, favorite song from a movie, all 2000, all with William Orbit, for "Beautiful Stranger," from the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; "Vogue" and "Into the Groove," cited among the "100 greatest dance songs," by VH1, 2000; named to the list of favorite female artists, Rolling Stone Music awards, 2001; named one of the "top twenty entertainers of 2001," E! Entertainment Television, 2001; named one of the "twenty–five most intriguing people" of 2001, People Weekly, 2001; The Immaculate Collection named number one "greatest American album of all time," Blender magazine, 2002; Dance Music Award, "best solo dance artist," 2002; named one of the "100 greatest rockers," Life magazine, 2002; named one of the "twenty–five most powerful people in entertainment," Rank, E! Entertainment Television, 2002; Golden Globe Award nomination (with Mirwais Ahmadzaie), best original song for a motion picture, 2003, for title song to the film Die Another Day; named best solo dance artist, International Dance Music awards, 2004; named honorary member, British Music Hall of Fame, 2004; Dancestar USA Award, "best chart act," 2004; career award, French NRJ awards, 2004; also earned several gold and platinum record certifications, Recording Industry Association of America; named one of the "greatest artists of all time," Rolling Stone magazine; named one of VH1's"greatest women of rock 'n' roll."
CREDITS
Film Appearances:
In Artificial Light (filmed stage play), 1980.
(As Madonna Louise Ciccone) Bruna, A Certain Sacrifice, filmed 1979 and 1981, released 1985.
Nightclub performer, Vision Quest (also known as Crazy for You), Warner Bros., 1985.
Susan, Desperately Seeking Susan, Orion, 1985.
Gloria Tatlock, Shanghai Surprise, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 1986.
Nikki Finn, Who's That Girl?, Warner Bros., 1987.
Hortense Hathaway, Bloodhounds of Broadway, Columbia, 1989.
Breathless Mahoney, Dick Tracy, Buena Vista, 1990.
Truth or Dare (documentary; also known as In Bed with Madonna and Madonna: Truth or Dare), Miramax, 1991.
Herself, Blast 'Em (documentary), Cinema Esperanca International, 1992.
Mae Mordabito, A League of Their Own, Columbia, 1992.
Marie, Shadows and Fog, Orion, 1992.
Rebecca Carlson, Body of Evidence (also known as Deadly Evidence), Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 1993.
Sarah Jennings, Dangerous Game (also known as Snake Eyes), Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 1993.
Elspeth, "The Missing Ingredient" (some sources cite "Strange Brew"), Four Rooms, Miramax, 1995.
Singing telegram girl, Blue in the Face (also known as Brooklyn Boogie), Miramax, 1995.
Boss number three, Girl 6, Fox Searchlight, 1996.
Eva "Evita" Duarte Peron (title role), Evita (musical), Buena Vista/Hollywood Pictures, 1996.
Herself, Junket Whore (documentary), 1998.
Madonna, Torrance Rises (short film), 1999, Palm Pictures, 2003.
Abbie Reynolds, The Next Best Thing, Paramount, 2000.
(Uncredited) Star, The Hire: Star (short film), BMW Films, 2001.
Amber Leighton, Swept Away (also known as Love, Sex, Drugs, & Money and Travolti dal destino), Screen Gems, 2002.
(Uncredited) Verity, Die Another Day (also known as D.A.D.), Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 2002.
Texas Guinan, Hello Suckers (musical), Maverick Entertainment, 2005.
Voice of Princess Selenia, Arthur and the Minimoys (animated), EuropaCorp Distribution, 2006.
Film Work; Executive Producer:
Truth or Dare (documentary; also known as In Bed with Madonna and Madonna: Truth or Dare), Miramax, 1991.
Agent Cody Banks (also known as L'Agent Cody Banks), Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 2003.
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 2004.
Chasing Fate, Maverick Entertainment, 2005.
She Rocks, Maverick Entertainment, 2005.
Film Producer:
(With others) Hello Suckers (musical), Maverick Entertainment, 2005.
This Is America, Maverick Entertainment, 2005.
Television Appearances; Miniseries:
(Uncredited; in archive footage) Fame in the Twentieth Century, 1993.
The 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll, VH1, 1999.
The 100 Greatest Dance Songs, VH1, 2000.
(In archive footage) Walk on by: The Story of Popular Song, ABC, 2001.
(In archive footage) The 100 Greatest Musicals, Channel 4 (England), 2003.
(In archive footage) Herself, Retrosexual: The 80s, VH1, 2004.
Herself, The Ultimate Hollywood Blonde, E! Entertainment Television, 2004.
Television Appearances; Specials:
American Bandstand's 33 1/3 Celebration, ABC, 1985.
Disney's D–TV Valentine, NBC, 1986.
(In archive footage) Rolling Stone Presents Twenty Years of Rock & Roll, ABC, 1987.
Remembering Marilyn, ABC, 1988.
Madonna—Live! Blond Ambition World Tour, HBO, 1990.
Sex in the '90s, CBS, 1990.
Entertainers '91: The Top 20 of the Year, ABC, 1991.
(In archive footage) Everybody Dance Now, PBS, 1991.
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special, ABC, 1991.
HBO's 20th Anniversary—We Hardly Believe It Ourselves, HBO and CBS, 1992.
Rock the Vote, Fox, 1992.
(In archive footage) Madonna: Exposed, syndicated, 1993.
Madonna—Live Down Under: "The Girlie Show" (also known as Madonna: The Girlie Show—Live Down Under), HBO, 1993.
Fox on Ice, Fox, 1994.
Madonna: No Bull! The Making of "Take a Bow," MTV, 1994.
Madonna Raw: The Early Years, MTV, 1995.
(In archive footage) Television's Greatest Performances, ABC, 1995.
Herself, Evita: The Woman behind the Myth, Arts and Entertainment, 1996.
A New Madonna: The Making of "Evita," MTV, 1996.
Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life, ABC, 1997.
Narrator, "The Camel Dances," Rosie O'Donnell's "Kids Are Punny" (also known as Kids Are Punny), HBO, 1998.
(Uncredited; in archive footage) Elmopalooza!, ABC, 1998.
Madonna Rising, VH1, 1998.
Tony Bennett: An All–Star Tribute—Live by Request, Arts and Entertainment, 1998.
Herself, Madonna, Bravo, 1999.
Jarl & Madonna, 1999.
Paris Fashion Collections, ABC, 1999.
Madonna's Music, VH1, 2000.
Madonna Live: Drowned World Tour 2001, HBO, 2001.
The New Royals, 2001.
(In archive footage) There's Only One Madonna, BBC, 2001.
Premiere Bond: Die Another Day, Independent Television, 2002.
Herself, Snoop to the Extreme, MTV, 2003.
American Life, 2003.
(In archive footage) Awesomely Bad Videos, 2003.
(In archive footage) Celebrity Naked Ambition, Channel 5 (England), 2003.
E! 101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment History, E! Entertainment Television, 2003.
50 Sexiest Video Moments, VH1, 2003.
Friday Night with Ross and Madonna, BBC, 2003.
Fromage 2003, 2003.
Inside TV Land: Style and Fashion, TV Land, 2003.
In the Zone, 2003.
Madonna: On Stage & on the Record, MTV, 2003.
Madonna Speaks, VH1, 2003.
MTV Bash: Carson Daly, MTV, 2003.
(In archive footage) Les 40 ans de la 2, France 2, 2004.
(In archive footage) 101 Biggest Celebrity Oops, E! Entertainment Television, 2004.
101 Most Starlicious Makeovers, 2004.
(In archive footage) 101 Most Unforgettable SNL Moments, E! Entertainment Television, 2004.
Herself, New Year's Rockin' Eve 2005, ABC, 2005.
Herself, Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope, multiple networks, 2005.
Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:
MTV First Annual Video Music Awards, MTV, 1984.
The 13th Annual American Music Awards (also known as The American Music Awards), ABC, 1986.
The 42nd Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 1988.
The 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV, 1989.
MTV Video Music Awards 1990, MTV, 1990.
The 63rd Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1991.
The 1993 MTV Music Video Awards, MTV, 1993.
The 66th Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1994.
Presenter, MTV Video Music Awards 1995, MTV, 1995.
The American Music Awards, ABC, 1995.
The 1995 Brit Awards (also known as Brit Awards 1995), ABC, 1995.
The 67th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1995.
The 1996 Billboard Music Awards, Fox, 1996.
The 68th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1996.
The 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV, 1997.
The 69th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1997.
Presenter, The 11th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, Nickelodeon, 1998.
Presenter, The 55th Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 1998.
Presenter, GQ Men of the Year Award, VH1, 1998.
Presenter, The 70th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1998.
The Fifth Annual MTV Europe Music Video Awards (also known as MTV Europe Music Awards 1998), MTV, 1998.
MTV Video Music Awards 1998, MTV, 1998.
The 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards, VH1, 1998.
Presenter, MTV Video Music Awards 1999, MTV, 1999.
Presenter, The VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, VH1, 1999.
The 41st Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1999.
MTV Europe Music Awards 2000, MTV, 2000.
The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 2001.
The 44th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 2002.
(In archive footage) MTV Europe Music Awards, MTV, 2003.
(In archive footage) MTV Europe Awards: 10 of the Best Performances, MTV, 2003.
MTV Video Music Awards 2003, MTV, 2003.
The Second Annual MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, MTV, 2003.
2003 Radio Music Awards, NBC, 2003.
Presenter, The 46th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 2004.
Television Appearances; Episodic:
American Bandstand (also known as Bandstand), ABC, 1984, 1985.
Guest host, Saturday Night Live (also known as NBC's "Saturday Night," Saturday Night, and SNL), NBC, 1985.
Guest, Saturday Night Live (also known as NBC's "Saturday Night," Saturday Night, and SNL), NBC, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993.
Guest, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, NBC, 1987.
Guest, Late Night with David Letterman, NBC, 1988.
Guest, Soul Train, syndicated, 1990.
Guest, The Howard Stern Show, syndicated, 1991.
Guest, Wogan, BBC, 1991.
"Madonna," Biography, Arts and Entertainment, 1993.
Guest, The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS, multiple episodes beginning 1993.
Guest, The Oprah Winfrey Show (also known as Oprah), syndicated, 1996, 1998, 2003.
(In archive footage) "Madonna," Behind the Music, VH1, 1997.
Guest, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, syndicated, 1997, 1998, 2000.
El septimo de caballeria, 1998.
San kvaell med Luuk, 1998.
Guest, "Wetten, dass … ? aus Freiburg," Wetten, dass … ?, 2000.
Guest, Nulle part ailleurs, 2000.
Herself, In the Life, PBS, 2000.
Total Request Live (also known as TRL), MTV, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004.
Guest, Entertainment Tonight (also known as ET), syndicated, 2001.
"How Far Is Too Far?," VH1: All Access, VH1, 2001.
"Die Another Day," Making the Video, MTV, 2002.
"The 25 Most Powerful People in Entertainment," Rank, E! Entertainment Television, 2002.
Guest, Top of the Pops (also known as All New Top of the Pops and TOTP), BBC, 2002, 2003.
Liz, "Dolls and Dolls," Will & Grace, NBC, 2003.
Guest, CD:UK, Independent Television, 2003.
Guest, The Early Show, CBS, 2003.
Guest, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, 2003.
Guest, Good Morning America (also known as GMA), ABC, 2003.
Guest, Live with Regis and Kelly, syndicated, 2003.
Guest, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC, 2003.
"Hollywood," Making the Video, MTV, 2003.
"Me against the Music," Making the Video, MTV, 2003.
Dateline NBC, NBC, 2003.
God kveld Norge, 2003.
MTV News, MTV, 2003.
(In archive footage) On a tout essaye, 2003.
Tinseltown TV, International Channel, 2003.
(In archive footage) Top of the Pops 2, BBC, 2003.
Guest, Access Hollywood, syndicated, 2003, 2004.
(In archive footage) Celebrities Uncensored, E! Entertainment Television, 2003, 2004.
60 Minutes, CBS, 2003, 2004.
Guest, Richard & Judy, Channel 4 (England), 2004.
20/20, ABC, 2004.
Appeared in episodes of other series, including "Becoming … Madonna—Don't Tell Me," Becoming, MTV; and as a judge, Popstars, The WB. Appeared in ABC in Concert, ABC; and Live@Much.
Television Theme Song Performer; Series:
Wonderland, ABC, 2000.
Television Executive Producer; Movies:
30 Days until I'm Famous, VH1, 2004.
Television Executive Producer; Specials:
(With others) MTV's 10th Anniversary Special, ABC, 1991.
Madonna Live: Drowned World Tour 2001, HBO, 2001.
Television Executive Producer; Pilots:
Alyx, ABC, 2003.
Stage Appearances:
Goose & Tomtom, 1986.
Karen, Speed–the–Plow, Royale Theatre, New York City, 1988.
(As Madonna Ritchie) Loren, Up for Grabs, Wyndham's Theatre, London, 2002.
Major Tours; Solo Performer:
The Virgin Tour, international cities, 1985.
Who's That Girl Tour, international cities, 1987.
Blonde Ambition Tour, international cities, 1990.
The Girlie Show, international cities, 1993.
Drowned World Tour, international cities, 2001.
Re–Invention Tour, international cities, 2004.
RECORDINGS
Albums:
Madonna, Sire/Warner Bros., 1983.
Like a Virgin, Sire/Warner Bros., 1984.
Desperately Seeking Susan (soundtrack recording), 1985.
Vision Quest (soundtrack recording), 1985.
True Blue, Sire, 1986.
Who's That Girl? (soundtrack recording), Sire/Warner Bros., 1987.
You Can Dance, Sire/Warner Bros., 1987.
Like a Prayer, Sire/Warner Bros., 1989.
I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film "Dick Tracy" (also known as Dick Tracy: I'm Breathless), Sire/Warner Bros., 1990.
The Immaculate Collection, Sire/Warner Bros., 1990.
Vogue, Warner Bros., 1990.
Erotica, Maverick/Sire/Warner Bros., 1992.
Bedtime Stories, Maverick/Sire/Warner Bros., 1994.
With Honors (soundtrack recording), 1994.
Early Years, Receiver, 1995.
Something to Remember, Maverick/Sire/Warner Bros., 1995.
Evita (soundtrack recording), Warner Bros., 1997.
Frozen, 1998.
Ray of Light, Maverick/Warner Bros., 1998.
Music, Maverick/Warner Bros., 2000.
The Next Best Thing (soundtrack recording), Warner Bros., 2000.
GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2, Maverick/Warner Bros., 2001.
American Life, Maverick/Warner Bros., 2003.
Remixed & Revisited (EP), Maverick/Warner Bros., 2003.
Also contributor to albums by other recording artists.
Singles:
"Everybody," 1982.
"Borderline," 1983.
"Burning Up," 1983.
"Holiday," 1983.
"Lucky Star," 1983.
"Like a Virgin," c. 1984.
"Crazy for You," 1985.
"Gambler," 1985.
"Into the Groove," 1985.
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore," 1985.
"Material Girl," 1985.
"La Isla Bonita," 1986.
"Live to Tell," 1986.
"Open Your Heart," 1986.
"Papa Don't Preach," 1986.
"True Blue," 1986.
"Causing a Commotion," 1987.
"Who's That Girl," 1987.
"Cherish," 1989.
"Dear Jessie," 1989.
"Express Yourself," 1989.
"Like a Prayer," 1989.
"Oh Father," 1989.
"Justify My Love," 1990.
"Vogue," 1990.
"Bad Girl," 1992.
"Deeper and Deeper," 1992.
"Erotica," 1992.
"Fever," 1992.
"Rain," 1992.
"This Used to Be My Playground," 1992.
"Bye Bye Baby," 1993.
"Bedtime Story," 1994.
"Human Nature," 1994.
"I'll Remember," 1994.
"Secret," 1994.
"Take a Bow," 1994.
(With Massive Attack) "I Want You," 1995.
"Veras," 1995.
"You'll See," 1995.
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina," 1996.
"One More Chance," 1996.
"You Must Love Me," 1996.
"Another Suitcase, Another Hall," 1997.
"Drowned World (Substitute for Love)," 1998.
"Frozen," 1998.
"Nothing Really Matters," 1998.
"The Power of Goodbye," 1998.
"Ray of Light," 1998.
"Substitute for Love," 1998.
"Beautiful Stranger," 1999.
"American Pie," 2000.
"Music," Warner Reprise, 2000.
"Don't Tell Me," 2001.
"What It Feels Like for a Girl," Warner Bros., 2001.
"Die Another Day," 2002.
"American Life," 2003.
"Hollywood," 2003.
(With Britney Spears) "Me against the Music," 2003.
"Love Profusion," 2004.
"Nothing Fails," 2004.
Madonna's songs have been featured in films, television broadcasts, and video collections.
Videos:
Playboy Video Magazine, Vol. 1, Abril Video, 1982.
Madonna, Warner Home Video, 1984.
Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour, Warner Home Video, 1985.
Madonna: Who's That Girl—Live in Japan, 1987. Madonna Ciao Italia: Live from Italy, Warner Reprise, 1988.
Like a Prayer, 1989.
Blond Ambition World Tour (also known as Blond Ambition and Madonna: Blond Ambition—Japan Tour 90), 1990.
Justify My Love, 1990.
Madonna: The Immaculate Collection, Warner Bros., 1990.
(In archive footage) Oscar's Greatest Moments, 1992.
The Girlie Show, Warner Home Video, 1993.
(Uncredited) Saturday Night Live: The Best of Mike Myers, National Broadcasting Company, 1998.
Madonna: The Video Collection 93.99, Warner Home Video, 1999.
Madonna Live: Drowned World Tour 2001, Maverick/Warner Bros./Warner Reprise, 2001.
The Work of Director Chris Cunningham, Palm Pictures, 2003.
Music Videos:
"Everybody," 1982.
"Borderline," 1983.
"Burning Up," 1983.
"Holiday," 1983.
"Lucky Star," 1983.
"Like a Virgin" (first version), 1984.
"Crazy for You," 1985.
"Dress You Up" (live version), 1985.
"Gambler" (first version), 1985.
"Into the Groove," 1985.
"Like a Virgin" (live second version), 1985.
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore," 1985.
"Material Girl," 1985.
"Gambler" (live second version), 1986.
"La Isla Bonita," 1986.
"Live to Tell," 1986.
"Open Your Heart," 1986.
"Papa Don't Preach," 1986.
"True Blue" (international first version), 1986.
"True Blue" (American second version), 1986.
"Who's That Girl," 1987.
"Cherish," 1989.
"Dear Jessie," 1989.
"Express Yourself," 1989.
"Like a Prayer," 1989.
"Oh Father," 1989.
"Justify My Love," 1990.
"Vogue," 1990.
"Bad Girl," 1992.
"Deeper and Deeper," 1992.
"Erotica," 1992.
"Fever," 1992.
"Rain," 1992.
"This Used to Be My Playground," 1992.
"Bye Bye Baby," 1993.
"Bedtime Story," 1994.
"Human Nature," 1994.
"I'll Remember," 1994.
"Secret," 1994.
"Take a Bow," 1994.
(With Massive Attack) "I Want You," 1995.
"Veras," 1995.
"You'll See," 1995.
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina," 1996.
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore (Soulpower Mix)," 1996.
"One More Chance," 1996.
"You Must Love Me," 1996.
"Another Suitcase, Another Hall," 1997.
"Drowned World (Substitute for Love)," 1998.
"Frozen," 1998.
"Nothing Really Matters," 1998.
"The Power of Goodbye," 1998.
"Ray of Light," 1998.
"Substitute for Love," 1998.
"Beautiful Stranger," 1999.
"American Pie," 2000.
"Music," Warner Reprise, 2000.
"Don't Tell Me," 2001.
"What It Feels Like for a Girl," Warner Bros., 2001.
"Die Another Day," 2002.
"American Life," 2003.
"Hollywood," 2003.
(With Britney Spears) "Me against the Music," 2003.
"Love Profusion," 2004.
WRITINGS
Film Music; Songs:
"Crazy for You" and "Gambler," Vision Quest (also known as Crazy for You), Warner Bros., 1985.
"Into the Groove," Desperately Seeking Susan, Orion, 1985.
"Live to Tell," At Close Range, Orion, 1986.
(With Patrick Leonard) "Can't Stop," "Causing a Commotion," "The Look of Love," and "Who's That Girl," Who's That Girl, Warner Bros., 1987.
(With Shep Pettibone) "This Used to Be My Playground," A League of Their Own, Columbia, 1992.
(With Leonard and Richard Page) "I'll Remember," With Honors, Warner Bros., 1994.
The Real Blonde, Paramount, 1997.
(With William Orbit) "Beautiful Stranger," Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (also known as Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me), New Line Cinema, 1999.
(With Mirwais Ahmadzaie) Title song, Die Another Day (also known as D.A.D.), Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 2002.
Hello Suckers (musical), Maverick Entertainment, 2005.
Television Composer; Series:
Theme song, Wonderland, ABC, 2000.
Albums:
Madonna, Sire/Warner Bros., 1983.
Like a Virgin, Sire/Warner Bros., 1984.
Desperately Seeking Susan (soundtrack recording), 1985.
Vision Quest (soundtrack recording), 1985.
True Blue, Sire, 1986.
Who's That Girl? (soundtrack recording), Sire/Warner Bros., 1987.
You Can Dance, Sire/Warner Bros., 1987.
Like a Prayer, Sire/Warner Bros., 1989.
I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film "Dick Tracy" (also known as Dick Tracy: I'm Breathless), Sire/Warner Bros., 1990.
The Immaculate Collection, Sire/Warner Bros., 1990.
Vogue, Warner Bros., 1990.
Erotica, Maverick/Sire/Warner Bros., 1992.
Bedtime Stories, Maverick/Sire/Warner Bros., 1994.
With Honors (soundtrack recording), 1994.
Early Years, Receiver, 1995.
Something to Remember, Maverick/Sire/Warner Bros., 1995.
Frozen, 1998.
Ray of Light, Maverick/Warner Bros., 1998.
Music, Maverick/Warner Bros., 2000.
The Next Best Thing (soundtrack recording), Warner Bros., 2000.
GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2, Maverick/Warner Bros., 2001.
American Life, Maverick/Warner Bros., 2003.
Remixed & Revisited (EP), Maverick/Warner Bros., 2003.
Also contributor to albums by other recording artists.
Singles:
"Everybody," 1982.
"Borderline," 1983.
"Burning Up," 1983.
"Holiday," 1983.
"Lucky Star," 1983.
"Like a Virgin," c. 1984.
"Crazy for You," 1985.
"Gambler," 1985.
"Into the Groove," 1985.
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore," 1985.
"Material Girl," 1985.
"La Isla Bonita," 1986.
"Live to Tell," 1986.
"Open Your Heart," 1986.
"Papa Don't Preach," 1986.
"True Blue," 1986.
"Causing a Commotion," 1987.
"Who's That Girl," 1987.
"Cherish," 1989.
"Dear Jessie," 1989.
"Express Yourself," 1989.
"Like a Prayer," 1989.
"Oh Father," 1989.
"Justify My Love," 1990.
"Vogue," 1990.
"Bad Girl," 1992.
"Deeper and Deeper," 1992.
"Erotica," 1992.
"Fever," 1992.
"Rain," 1992.
"This Used to Be My Playground," 1992.
"Bye Bye Baby," 1993.
"Bedtime Story," 1994.
"Human Nature," 1994.
(With Leonard and Richard Page) "I'll Remember," 1994.
"Secret," 1994.
"Take a Bow," 1994.
(With Massive Attack) "I Want You," 1995.
"Veras," 1995.
"You'll See," 1995.
"One More Chance," 1996.
"Drowned World (Substitute for Love)," 1998.
"Frozen," 1998.
"Nothing Really Matters," 1998.
"The Power of Goodbye," 1998.
"Ray of Light," 1998.
"Substitute for Love," 1998.
(With William Orbit) "Beautiful Stranger," 1999.
"Music," Warner Reprise, 2000.
"Don't Tell Me," 2001.
"What It Feels Like for a Girl," Warner Bros., 2001.
(With Mirwais Ahmadzaie) "Die Another Day," 2002.
"American Life," 2003.
"Hollywood," 2003.
(With Britney Spears) "Me against the Music," 2003.
"Love Profusion," 2004.
"Nothing Fails," 2004.
Madonna's songs have been featured in films, television broadcasts, and video collections.
Juvenile Fiction:
The English Roses, illustrated by Jeffrey Fulvimari, Callaway Editions, 2003.
Mr. Peabody's Apples, illustrated by Loren Long, Callaway Editions, 2003.
The Adventures of Abdi, illustrated by Olga Dugina and Andrej Dugin, Callaway Editions, 2004.
Yakov and the Seven Thieves, illustrated by Gennady Spirin, Callaway Editions, 2004.
Photography Books:
Sex, edited by Glenn O'Brien and photographs by Steven Meisel, Warner Books, 1992.
ADAPTATIONS
Subject of the television movie Madonna: Innocence Lost, Fox, 1994.
OTHER SOURCES
Books:
Anderson, Christopher P., Madonna, Simon & Schuster, 1991.
Claro, Nicole, Madonna, Chelsea House Publishing, 1994.
Contemporary Musicians, Volume 38, Gale, 2003.
Contemporary Newsmakers, Volume 2, Gale, 1985.
Faith, Karlene, and Frances Wasserlein, Madonna: Bawdy & Soul, University of Toronto Press, 1997.
Gulbert, Georges–Claude, Madonna as Postmodern Myth: How One Star's Self–Construction Rewrites Sex, Gender, Hollywood, and the American Dream, McFarland and Company, 2002.
King, Norman, Madonna: The Book, William Morrow, 1991.
Koopmans, Andy, Madonna, Lucent Books, 2003.
Metz, Alan, and Carol Benson, Madonna: Two Decades of Commentary, Schirmer, 1999.
Morton, Andrew, Madonna, St. Martin's Press, 2001.
Rettenmund, Matthew, Encyclopedia Madonnica, St. Martin's Press, 1995.
Taraborelli, J. Randy, Madonna: An Intimate Biography, Simon & Schuster, 2001.
Victor, Barbara, Goddess: Inside Madonna, HarperCollins, 2001.
Wheeler, Jill C., Madonna, Abdo and Daughters, 2002.
Periodicals:
Biography, May, 1997, pp. 22–27.
Entertainment Weekly, May 11, 1990; May 25, 1990; February 13, 1998, pp. 8–9; November 1, 1999, p. 32; July 27, 2001, pp. 26–33; May 17, 2002, p. 84; June 4, 2004, pp. 40–41.
Heat, December, 2001, p. 31; February 9, 2002, p. 44.
Hello!, August 27, 2002, pp. 28–29; September 24, 2002, pp. 60–65.
InStyle, March, 2002.
Interview, June, 1993, pp. 96–103; March, 2001, pp. 154–59.
Los Angeles Times, September 20, 2004; September 24, 2004.
Marketing, April 29, 1999, p. 14.
Newsweek, August 28, 2000, p. 51.
Next, July 20, 2001, pp. 16–18, 20, 21; November 9, 2001, pp. 18–21.
People Weekly, March 2, 1998, p. 51; March 13, 2000, p. 104; November 12, 2001, pp. 54–64; December 31, 2001, p. 70; April 28, 2003, p. 94; April 12, 2004; July 5, 2004, p. 20; October 4, 2004, p. 21; December 6, 2004, p. 97.
Red, December, 2000.
Redbook, January, 1997, pp. 58–61, 102.
Rolling Stone, June 13, 1991, pp. 35–40, 120.
TV Guide, April 11, 1998, pp. 20–25, 57; April 12, 2003, p. 4.
US Weekly, October 2, 2000, pp. 64–69.
Vanity Fair, March, 2000, pp. 174–81, 243, 244; October, 2002, pp. 308–13, 360–62.
Madonna 1958-
MADONNA 1958-
Personal
Given name, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone; born August 16, 1958, in Bay City, MI; daughter of Silvio (an engineer) and Madonna Ciccone; married Sean Penn (an actor), August 16, 1985 (divorced, 1989); married Guy Ritchie (a director and screenwriter), December 22, 2000; children: (with Carlos Leon) Lourdes Maria Leon, (with Ritchie) Rocco. Education: Attended University of Michigan, 1976-78.
Addresses
Office— c/o Sire Records, 75 Rockefeller Pl., New York, NY 10019. Agent— Bryan Lourd, ICM, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1934.
Career
Singer, actress, dancer, and musician. Dancer with Alvin Ailey Dance Company, New York, NY, 1979; performer with various popular music groups during early 1980s, including Breakfast Club, Millionaires, Modern Dance, and Emmy; solo performer, 1983—; owner of Maverick Records (a recording label). Actress in films, including (as Bruna) A Certain Sacrifice, Commtron, 1980; (as nightclub performer) Vision Quest (also known as Crazy For You ), Warner Bros., 1985; (as title role) Desperately Seeking Susan, Orion, 1985; (as Gloria Tatlock) Shanghai Surprise, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1986; (as Nikki Finn) Who's That Girl, Warner Bros., 1987; (as Hortense Hathaway) Bloodhounds of Broadway, Columbia, 1989; (as Breathless Mahoney) Dick Tracy, Buena Vista, 1990; Truth or Dare (documentary; also known as Madonna: Truth or Dare and In Bed with Madonna ), Miramax, 1991; (as Mae Mordabito) A League of Their Own, Columbia, 1992; (as Marie) Shadows and Fog, Orion, 1992; (as Rebecca Carlson) Body of Evidence, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1993; (as Sarah Jennings) Dangerous Game (also known as Snake Eyes ), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1993; (as singing telegram girl)Blue in the Face, Miramax, 1995; (as Elspeth) "Strange Brew," Four Rooms, Miramax, 1995; (as Boss Number 3) Girl 6, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 1996; (as Eva [Duarte] Peron) Evita, Buena Vista/Hollywood Pictures, 1996; (as Abbie) The Next Best Thing, Lakeshore Entertainment/Paramount Pictures, 2000; (uncredited; as Star) The Hire: Star, 2001; (as Amber) Swept Away, Columbia, 2002; and (uncredited; as Verity) Die Another Day, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2002.
Executive producer of films, including Truth or Dare (documentary; also known as Madonna: Truth or Dareand In Bed With Madonna ), Miramax, 1991; Agent Cody Banks, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2003; and She Rocks, 2004. Producer of and song performer for films, including A League of Their Own, Columbia, 1992; and With Honors, 1994. Producer of the film Chasing Fate, 2005. Song performer for films, including Gummo, Fine Line Features, 1997; The Real Blonde, Paramount, 1997; Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, New Line Cinema, 1999; Karaoke Verite, 1999; Never Been Kissed, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1999; The Next Big Thing, Lakeshore Entertainment/Paramount Pictures, 2000; Snatch, Sony Pictures, 2000; Swept Away, Columbia, 2002; and Die Another Day, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2002. Song performer for television series, including Wonderland, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 2000, and The Big Arvo, Channel Seven Australia, 2001—. Contributor of a video clip to the film Red Corner, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1997.
Appeared in videos, including Madonna, WEA, 1984; Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour, WEA, 1985; Madonna Ciao Italia: Live from Italy, WEA, 1988; Like a Prayer, 1989; Blond Ambition World Tour (also known as Blond Ambition ), 1990; Justify My Love, 1990; Music, 2000; What It Feels Like for a Girl, 2001; Pepsi More Music: The DVD Volume 1, 2003; The Work of Director Chris Cunningham, 2003; and Star Academy 2: En Concert, 2003. Also appeared in numerous shorter videos.
Appeared in television specials, including American Bandstand's 33 1/3 Celebration, 1985; Disney's D-TV Valentine, 1986; MTV Rewind, Music Television (MTV), 1989; Madonna—Live! Blond Ambition World Tour, Home Box Office (HBO), 1990; Sex in the '90s, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1990; Rock the Vote, Fox, 1992; HBO's Twentieth Anniversary—We Hardly Believe It Ourselves, HBO, 1992; Madonna—Live Down Under: "The Girlie Show," HBO, 1993; Madonna: Exposed, syndicated, 1993; "Madonna," Biography, Arts and Entertainment, 1993; (as song performer) Fox on Ice, Fox, 1994; Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life, 1997; Madonna Rising, 1998; (as narrator) "The Camel Dances," Rosie O'Donnell's Kids Are Punny, 1998; Tony Bennett: An All-Star Tribute—Live by Request, 1998; Madonna, 1999; Paris Fashion Collections, 1999; Jarl & Madonna, 1999; There's Only One Madonna, 2001; Madonna Live: Drowned World Tour 2001, 2001; The New Royals, 2001; Premiere Bond: Die Another Day, 2002; Friday Night with Ross and Madonna, 2003; MTV Bash: Carson Daly, 2003; and MTV Europe Awards: Ten of the Best Performances, 2003. Also appeared in episodes of Behind the Music, VH1, 1997.
Appeared at televised awards presentations, including The Thirteenth Annual American Music Awards, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1986; MTV's 1989 Video Music Awards, MTV, 1989; MTV's 1990 Video Music Awards, MTV, 1990; The Sixty-third Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1991; The 1993 MTV Music Video Awards, MTV, 1993; The Sixty-sixth Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1994; (as presenter) The 1995 MTV Music Video Awards, MTV, 1995; The 1995 BRIT Awards, ABC, 1995; The American Music Awards, ABC, 1995; The Sixty-eighth Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1996; The Sixty-ninth Annual Academy Awards, 1997; The 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, 1998; (as presenter) The Fifty-fifth Golden Globe Awards, 1998; (as presenter) GQ Men of the Year Award, 1998; (as presenter) The Eleventh Annual Kids' Choice Awards, 1998; (as presenter) The 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards, 1998; The Fifth Annual MTV Europe Music Video Awards, 1998; (as presenter) The Seventieth Annual Academy Awards, 1998; (as presenter) The 1999 MTV Music Video Awards, MTV, 1999; The Forty-first Annual Grammy Awards, 1999; MTV Europe Music Awards 2000, MTV, 2000; The Forty-third Annual Grammy Awards, 2001; 2003 Radio Music Awards, 2003; and MTV Europe Music Awards 2003, MTV, 2003.
Actress in Broadway productions, including (as Karen) Speed-the-Plow, Royale Theatre, New York, NY, 1988.
Awards, Honors
Grammy Award nomination for best female pop performance, 1986, for "Crazy for You"; Grammy Award nomination for best female pop vocal, 1986, for "Papa Don't Preach"; People's Choice Award for favorite female musical performer, 1986; "Video Vanguard" Award, MTV Video Music Awards, 1986, for career achievement; Grammy Award nomination, best song written specifically for a motion picture or television, 1987, for "Who's That Girl?"; Pop/Rock Video Award for favorite female video artist, American Music Awards, 1987; Favorite Pop/Rock Video Artist Award, American Music Awards, 1987; Best Female Video Award, MTV Video Music Awards, 1987, for "Papa Don't Preach"; Viewers Choice Award, MTV Video Music Awards, and International Music Award, both 1989, both for Like a Prayer; Artist of the Decade Award, MTV Video Music Awards, 1989, for career achievement; Critics Pick Award for best video, Rolling Stone, 1989, for Like a Prayer, and 1990, for Justify My Love; Grammy Award nomination for best short-form video, 1990, for "Oh Father"; Critics Award for best tour, Rolling Stone, 1991, for the Blonde Ambition Tour; Rolling Stone 's Readers Poll Awards for best single, best video, best dressed female artist, and sexiest female singer, all 1991, first two for "Vogue"; Award of Courage, AmFAR, 1991; MTV Video Music Award for best long-form video, 1991, for The Immaculate Collection; People's Choice Award, Hard Rock Cafe Foundation/International Rock Awards, 1991; American Music Award for best dance single, 1991, for "Vogue"; Academy Award for best original song, 1991, for "Sooner or Later"; Grammy Award for best music video (long-form), 1991, for Blond Ambition World Tour Life; Rolling Stone 's Readers Poll Award for best dressed female artist, 1992; Golden Globe Award nominations, best original song, 1992, for "This Used to Be My Playground," from A League of Their Own (with others); Film and Television Music Award for best songwriting, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), 1993, for "This Used to Be My Playground"; Rolling Stone 's Readers Poll Award for best dressed female artist, 1993; MTV Video Music Award for best female video, 1995, for "Take a Bow"; VH1 Music Fashion Award for most fashionable artist, 1995; Golden Globe Award nomination, best original song, 1995, for "I'll Remember," from With Honors; Grammy nomination for best pop album, 1995, for Bedtime Stories; Pop Award, ASCAP, 1996, for "You'll See"; Artist Achievement Award, Billboard, 1996; Golden Globe Award for best actress in a comedy/musical, American Moviegoers' Awards for most outstanding performance by a female actress, MTV Movie Award nomination for best female performer, and MTV Movie Award nomination for best movie song ("Don't Cry for Me Argentina"), 1997, all for Evita; VH1 Fashion Awards for most fashionable artist, most stylish music artist, and the Versace Award, all 1998; MTV Video Music Awards for video of the year and best female video, both 1998, both for "Ray of Light"; Grammy Award nomination for album of the year and Grammy Award for best pop album, both 1999, both for Ray of Light; Grammy Award nomination for record of the year and Grammy Awards for best dance recording and best short-form music video, all 1999, all for "Ray of Light"; ARTIST-direct Online Music Award for favorite female artist, 1999; Grammy Award nomination for best female pop vocal performance and Grammy Award for best original song from a motion picture, both 2000, both for "Beautiful Stranger"; Billboard Award for best video clip of the year, 2000, for "Music"; Capital FM Award for favorite international solo artist, 2001; International Dance Music Awards for best pop dance 12 inch record, best dance video, and best solo dance artist, all 2001, and for best solo dance artist, 2002; Grammy Award for best recording package, 2001, for "Music"; MVPA Award for video of the year, 2001, for "Don't Tell Me"; Grammy Award nomination for best short-form music video, 2002, for "Don't Tell Me"; Pop Music Award for most performed song, ASCAP, 2002, for "Don't Tell Me"; Grammy Award nomination for best original song, 2003, for "Die Another Day"; Michael Jackson International Artist of the Year Award, American Music Awards, 2003.
Writings
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
The English Roses, illustrated by Jeffrey Fulvimari, Callaway (New York, NY), 2003.
Mr. Peabody's Apples, illustrated by Loren Long, Callaway (New York, NY), 2003.
Yakov and the Seven Thieves, illustrated by Gennady Spirin, Callaway (New York, NY), 2004.
The Adventures of Abdi, Callaway (New York, NY), 2004.
Lotsa de Casha, Callaway (New York, NY), 2004.
ALBUMS
(With Reggie Lucas and others) Madonna, Sire, 1983.
(With Steve Bray and others) Like a Virgin, Sire, 1984.
(With Pat Leonard, Steve Bray, and others) True Blue, Sire, 1986.
(With Pat Leonard, Steve Bray, and others) Who's That Girl?, Sire, 1987.
(With Steve Bray and others) You Can Dance, Sire, 1987.
(With Pat Leonard, Steve Bray, and others) Like a Prayer, Sire, 1989.
(With others) Vogue, Warner Bros., 1990.
(With Pat Leonard and others) I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film "Dick Tracy," Sire, 1990.
(With Shep Pettibone and others) Erotica, Maverick, 1992.
(With others) Bedtime Stories, Maverick, 1994.
(With William Orbit, Pat Leonard, and others) Ray of Light, Warner Bros., 1998.
(With William Orbit, Mirwais Ahmadzai, and others) Music, Warner Bros., 2000.
(With others) GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2, Warner Bros., 2001.
(With Mirwais Ahmadzai and others) American Life, Warner Bros., 2003.
(With others) Remixed and Revisited, Warner Bros., 2003.
Also created The Early Years, 1989; (with others) The Immaculate Collection, 1990; (with others) Something to Remember, 1995; and (with Steve Bray) Pre-Madonna, 1996, released with an extended version of "Ain't No Big Deal" as In the Beginning, 1998.
OTHER
Sex, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1992.
Author of songs used in various films, including Desperately Seeking Susan, Orion, 1985; Vision Quest, Warner Bros., 1985; At Close Range, 1986; Walk Like a Man, 1987; Who's That Girl?, 1987; Dick Tracy, Buena Vista, 1990; Nothing But Trouble, 1991; A League of Their Own, Columbia, 1992; With Honors, 1994; Il Postino, 1994; Gummo, Fine Line Features, 1997; The Real Blonde, Paramount, 1997; The Wedding Singer, 1998; Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, New Line Cinema, 1999; The Next Best Thing, Lakeshore Entertainment/Paramount Pictures, 2000; Iedereen beroemd!, 2000; Snatch, Sony Pictures, 2000; Crossroads, 2002; and Die Another Day, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2002. Also author of songs used in the television series Wonderland, ABC, 2000.
Work in Progress
Work on providing the voice of the fairy godmother for a feature-length animated film adaptation of The English Roses.
Sidelights
In 2003, Madonna added "children's book author" to her already impressive resume, which also includes five Grammys and an Oscar for her musical career and a Golden Globe-winning turn as an actress. On the suggestion of publisher Nicholas Callaway, Madonna wrote five books, inspired by her Kabbalah studies, which teach moral lessons to children. Callaway had witnessed a crowd of teenagers sit and listen intently when Madonna read a children's book to them in the midnineties, while she was promoting her Bedtime Stories album. "I thought then that she had an uncanny ability to tell a story," Callaway told a London Times reporter, "and that's when I first suggested to her that she might make a terrific children's book author."
The five books are promoted as "Stories for Children of All Ages (Even Grown-Up Ones)," and indeed the stories are "sophisticated enough not to embarrass a ten-year-old," Emily Jenkins wrote on Salon.com. Though not entirely enthusiastic about Madonna's first two children's book efforts, Jenkins thought that by appealing to those older readers, Madonna's books may be filling an important, overlooked niche. "Once children begin reading on their own, they generally don't have access to those kinds of full-color pictures," Jenkins wrote, and "even more rarely do they get them in a book about everyday social interactions."
Madonna's first children's book, The English Roses, is about a clique of pretty, popular English schoolgirls who ostracize another girl, Binah, for being even prettier than they are. But when a fairy godmother appears to the girls in a dream and shows them how difficult Binah's life really is—her mother is dead, so Binah has to spend all of her free time cooking, cleaning, and running the house—the English Roses repent and accept her. Although many critics declared that The English Roses would not have gotten nearly as much attention had it not been written by someone as famous as Madonna, reviewers still found merit in the text. "It's a charming book with a deftly told lesson about envy and judging people," thought Palm Beach Post contributor Anne R. Smith. Similarly, wrote Florida Times Union reviewer Brandy Hilboldt Allport, The English Roses has "a worthy message, cleverly delivered."
Madonna had a great deal of input into the selection of illustrator Jeffrey Fulvimari and the composition of his drawings. The English Roses was Fulvimari's first children's book. He had previously worked as a fashion illustrator, and the influence of that career on his work is apparent. His stylish drawings of slim, large-eyed girls with long, thin legs "are hip and fun and will appeal to the target audience of girls in elementary and middle school," thought Buffalo News reviewer Jean Westmoore.
Mr. Peabody's Apples was the second of Madonna's tales to be released. Set in 1949 in a small all-American town called Happville, Mr. Peabody's Apples is about the damage done when a little boy named Tommy spreads a rumor. Tommy plays on a Little League team that is coached by a history teacher named Mr. Peabody. Tommy notices that every Saturday after their games, Mr. Peabody takes an apple from the town market without paying for it, and the story that Mr. Peabody is a thief quickly spreads through the town. However, Mr. Peabody was not stealing the apples at all: every Saturday morning, when he did his shopping, he paid for an apple and had the store keep it for him until after the game. When Mr. Peabody finds out who started the rumor, he has Tommy bring his pillow to the Little League field and cuts it open, spreading feathers far and wide. He then tells Tommy to go pick up all of the feathers, but Tommy protests that this would be impossible. "It would be just as impossible to undo the damage you've done by spreading the rumor that I am a thief," Mr. Peabody replies. Several critics commented that Mr. Peabody's rebuke seemed much harsher than was called for by Tommy's innocent mistake and wondered if it was fair to burden the child with unassuageable guilt. Despite this, Mr. Peabody's Apples still proved popular with audiences, following The English Roses to the top of the New York Times best-seller list.
Biographical and Critical Sources
BOOKS
Contemporary Musicians, Volume 38, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2003.
Contemporary Newsmakers, Volume 2, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1985.
Encyclopedia of World Biography, second edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.
Madonna, Mr. Peabody's Apples, illustrated by Loren Long, Callaway (New York, NY), 2003.
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2000.
PERIODICALS
Atlanta Journal Constitution, November 11, 2003, Richard L. Eldredge, review of Mr. Peabody's Apples, p. E2.
Booklist, October 15, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of The English Roses, p. 420; November 15, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of Mr. Peabody's Apples, p. 601.
Bookseller, June 20, 2003, "Puffin Keeps Madonna Under Wraps," p. 30.
Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY), September 29, 2003, Jean Westmoore, review of The English Roses, p. D1.
Business Wire, November 10, 2003, "Madonna's Second Children's Book, Mr. Peabody's Apples, Released Worldwide Today," p. 5371.
Entertainment Weekly, May 25, 1990; September 26, 2003, Missy Schwartz, review of The English Roses, p. 18.
Europe Intelligence Wire, September 20, 2003, review of The English Roses.
Florida Times Union, September 29, 2003, Brandy Hilboldt Allport, review of The English Roses, p. D-3.
Houston Chronicle (Houston, TX), September 29, 2003, Lana Berkowitz, review of The English Roses, p. 1.
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, November 13, 2003, "Madonna to Be Animated with English Roses, " p. K1629.
New York Times, September 15, 2003, Jesse McKinley, review of The English Roses, p. E3.
Observer (London, England), September 21, 2003, Kate Kellaway, review of The English Roses, p. 15.
Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, FL), September 20, 2003, Anne R. Smith, review of The English Roses, p. 1D.
People Weekly, March 2, 1998, p. 51; September 22, 2003, review of The English Roses, p. 74.
PR Newswire, September 25, 2003, "Madonna's Book, The English Roses, Debuts at No. 1 on the New York Times Children's Best-Seller List"; November 10, 2003, "Madonna—Internationally Best-Selling Children's Book Author—to Release Mr. Peabody's Apples on November 10, 2003"; November 25, 2003, "Madonna Tops the Book Charts—Again!,"
Publishers Weekly, September 22, 2003, Diane Roback, "The English Roses Off to Fast Start," p. 20; October 6, 2003, review of The English Roses, p. 83.
Redbook, January 2, 1997, p. 58.
Rolling Stone, June 13, 1991.
School Library Journal, November, 2003, John Peters, review of The English Roses, p. 108.
Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), March 4, 2003, review of The English Roses, p. 32.
Tennessean (Nashville, TN), October 12, 2003, Robin Smith, review of The English Roses, p. D38.
Times (London, England), September 13, 2002, review of The English Roses, p. 32.
Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2003, Joe Queenan, "Like an Author: Madonna Turns to Kid Lit," p. D10.
ONLINE
AbsoluteMadonna.com, http://www.absolutemadonna.com/ (February 4, 2003), "Madonna's Awards."
Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/ (January 21, 2004), "Madonna."
Madonna.com, http://www.madonna.com/ (October 6, 2003).
Salon.com, http://www.salon.com/ (November 14, 2003), Emily Jenkins, review of Mr. Peabody's Apples.
OTHER
American Decades CD-ROM, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.* MADONNA
Madonna
Madonna
Singer and dancer Madonna (Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, born 1958) was a master marketer and sensational self-promoter who propelled herself to stardom, dominating pop charts, concert halls, film, and music video. She has been called "an outrageous blend of Little Orphan Annie, Margaret Thatcher, and Mae West," and "narcissistic, brazen, comi…. the Goddess of the Nineties."
Born in August 1958, Madonna Ciccone was the third child of six in a Catholic family living in Bay City, Michigan. Her father, Tony, a design engineer for Chrysler/General Dynamics, was a conservative, devout Roman Catholic and a first-generation Italian American. Madonna's mother and namesake was of French-Canadian descent. She died of breast cancer when Madonna was five years old.
Tony Ciccone moved the family to Pontiac, Michigan, and married one of the women hired to care for the Ciccone household. The adjustment was difficult for Madonna as the eldest daughter. She had considered herself the "lady of the house" and had received much of her father's affection and attention.
In her younger school years Madonna acted in school plays. As she entered adolescence, Madonna discovered her love and talent for dancing, an activity she pursued under the direction and leadership of Christopher Flynn, her private ballet instructor. Dedicated and disciplined, Madonna worked hard, but played hard as well, something Flynn made easy by introducing her to the disco nightlife of downtown Detroit.
Despite the glamour and sophistication she developed with Flynn, who was more than 20 years older than she, neither Madonna's extracurricular activities nor her father's disapproval kept her from caring for her younger siblings and working hard in school. She graduated early from high school with mostly "A's" and was awarded a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan. She stayed two years before going to New York City in 1978 with $37 and a wealth of determination and ambition.
An apartment in an East Village tenement building surrounded by crime and drugs was the place from which she began her steady and focused climb to superstardom. Her first jobs included figure modeling for artists and acting in low budget movies. She danced briefly with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, studied for a time with Pearl Lang of the Martha Graham Dance group, and went to Paris as a short-lived singer/dancer with French disco artist Patrick Hernandez.
Talent, Determination, and Unbridled Ambition
Before she left for Paris, Madonna had developed a fascination with the music field. It started with rock and roll, playing drums and singing backup in several small bands. When she returned to New York she spent a lot of time writing songs, making demonstration tapes, and hanging out in such popular lower-Manhattan nightclubs as the Roxy and Danceteria. It was a simple, four-track demo called "Everybody" that earned Madonna a recording contract with Sire Records in October 1982.
The album Madonna sold few copies when it was first released in July 1983. However, repeated club performances and radio air-play of several cuts from the album eventually earned her three huge hits with "Holiday," "Lucky Star," and "Borderline." A flurry of chart-busting hits, videos, concert tours, and films followed. She seemed to have a Midas-like quality with most everything she did. Even a brief singing performance in a largely forgettable film, Vision Quest, resulted in the top-five love ballad "Crazy for You."
Her second album, Like a Virgin, released in late 1984, produced two number one hits—the title track and "Material Girl." Madonna was becoming an accomplished songwriter; she had written five of the songs herself. During the spring of 1985 she embarked on her first concert tour, which was so successful that she had to switch to larger venues as the tour progressed. On the heels of Like a Virgin came the detective/comedy film Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985 (directed by Susan Seidelman and co-starring Madonna and Rosanna Arquette), which spawned another popular single and video, "In the Groove."
The tour had thousands of teenage girls all over the country tying lace bows on top of their heads, wearing underwear as outerwear, and walking the halls of schools and shopping malls as "Madonna wannabees." Madonna had become an icon as much as a singer to her fans.
Controversial Behavior Shared Center Stage
Madonna was married briefly to actor Sean Penn from August 1985 to early 1989; it was a marriage with many well chronicled ups and downs. In 1986 she released her third album, True Blue, from which three singles topped the charts: "Papa Don't Preach," about a pregnant teen who wants to keep her child; the title track, a light "girl loves boy" tune; and "Live to Tell," a soulful ballad from the soundtrack of At Close Range starring Sean Penn. In 1987 a movie starring Madonna called Who's That Girl was largely ignored, unlike the accompanying soundtrack and concert tour.
The release of Like A Prayer coincided with the breakup of her marriage, and included a fare-thee-well written by Madonna entitled "Till Death Do Us Part." However, it was the video of the title song portraying Madonna's confession to a priest followed by engaging in sexually suggestive behavior with him that caused a stir in the Catholic Church. The controversy resulted in a disagreement over a $5 million endorsement contract with the Pepsi company. Controversy again surrounded Madonna in 1990 when she was banned from M-TV before 11 p.m. with the sexually explicit video "Justify My Love."
Other films featuring Madonna include Shanghai Surprise (1986), in which she co-starred with then-husband Sean Penn; Dick Tracy (1989), the film that launched her short-lived affair with Warren Beatty and also was accompanied by a Madonna-sung soundtrack; and Truth or Dare, her own feature-length video/documentary compiled of footage from her Blonde Ambition Tour of 1990-1991. Madonna also appeared in Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992); and she co-starred with Willem Dafoe in Body of Evidence (1993). Each work contained some form of "out-there" sexuality that titillated her fans, and kept the press and critics focused on her.
Created and Cashed In on Era of Voyeurism
By 1992 Madonna had established herself as a worldwide entertainer and a sharp, confident business woman. In April of that year she signed a $60 million contract with Time-Warner, which included a multi-media package with her own record company (under the Maverick label), HBO specials, videos, films, books, merchandise, and more than six albums.
The announcement of the seven-year deal was timed with the combined release of the album Erotica, an extended video, and a coffee table picture book called Sex. The book can only be purchased by adults and comes in a Mylar, vacuum-sealed cover. It has scores of black and white photographs by fashion photographer Steven Meisel. Madonna appears mostly without clothes in compromising positions with everything from men and women (in all combinations, positions, and numbers) to chairs, dogs, and slices of pizza. She was even shown hitch-hiking in Miami wearing nothing but high heels. The book was a sellout across the country.
A perfect example of the paradox represented by the serious and the playful Madonna all in one, Sex was published at the same time as The Madonna Connection, a series of scholarly essays by academics who had been tracking the phenomenon of the Material Girl for several years.
Madonna's career evolved with phases and images distinct and carefully planned. There was her lacy underwear, big hair, and black jewelry phase (her self-described "chubby" phase, as she referred to it in an M-TV anniversary program); then the 1940s and 1950s sultry, sleek glamour phase reminiscent of Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe; the lean dancer; the businesswoman; and the unashamed, uninhibited sex goddess. Each phase seemed to be accompanied by a different lover, including Chicago Bulls' bad boy Dennis Rodman in the spring of 1994.
Madonna Reincarnated
Part of Madonna's genius was to recognize when the mood of her audience changed. In the late 1994 release of Bedtime Stories, written primarily by Madonna, a new image emerged projecting a softer eroticism and more soulful sound. By the mid-1990s she seemed more intent on establishing herself as a serious artist than making headlines with yet another boyfriend. She set her sights on playing the leading role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's movie musical Evita, and after repeated auditions convinced producers that she would bring a unique understanding to the portrayal of Eva Peron. Like Eva Peron, Madonna was a strong, willful woman who mesmerized her followers and also felt misunderstood by her critics.
Madonna was in the midst of personal as well as professional change. In her personal life, she settled into a relationship with Carlos Leon, her personal trainer. Meanwhile, in 1995, she accepted an industry award for Most Fashionable Artist as well as VH1's Viewer's Choice award for Most Fashionable Artist, and in December of 1996, Billboard magazine's Artist Achievement Award.
A New Propriety
Her determination to play the staring role in Evita paid off. While the film—and her performance—received mixed reviews, no one could take away her dedication, hard work, or box office success. In January 1997 Madonna was nominated for and won the Best Actress Award at the 54th Annual Golden Globe Award Ceremony. Later that spring, the song "You Must Love Me" from Evita won the Academy Award for Best Song. The film's premier in late 1995 was upstaged in October when Madonna gave birth to a girl named Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon. Madonna described the event to People magazine as, "the greatest miracle of my life." She even traded in her pink Hollywood mansion for a home in a low key suburb of Los Angeles.
The Material Girl turned serious actress, singer, song writer and mom appeared to have it all in the late 1990s. She accepted it all—including the stress of living a fish-bowl existence—with characteristic calm, as if she were planning the next phase. She told Time magazine, "I never wish I had a different life. I am lucky to be in the position of power that I am in and to be intelligent…. It's not my nature to just kick back."
Further Reading
Most of the published information on Madonna is found in newspapers and magazines. See New York Daily News (May 31, 1985); People (May 13, 1985); The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul (1989); USA Today (April 21, 1992); New Yorker (October 26, 1992); New York Times Book Review (October 25, 1992); Newsweek (November 2, 1992); Nation (December 14, 1992); Entertainment Weekly (April 15, 1994; September 22, 1995); Esquire (August, 1994); People (April 29, 1996; October 28, 1996; December 30, 1996); Billboard (November 16, 1996; December 16, 1995); New York Times (March 24, 1997); and Forbes (September 23, 1996). □
Madonna
MADONNA
Born: Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone; Rochester, Michigan, 16 August 1958
Genre: Rock, Pop
Best-selling album since 1990: Ray of Light (1999)
Hit songs since 1990: "Justify My Love," "Vogue," "Beautiful Stranger"
In the 1990s Madonna consolidated her skills as a performer, producer, and songwriter, and emerged as the most commercially successful female pop artist of all time. Her position in the pop industry owes much to her ability to continually reinvent not only her image but also her musical style, thus remaining fresh and innovative.
At high school and the colleges she briefly attended in Michigan and North Carolina, Madonna did very well in subjects such as drama and dance. The start of her career stretches back to 1977, when she moved from Michigan to New York with aspirations of becoming a professional dancer. While studying with the choreographer Alvin Ailey, she also took up modeling to support herself. By 1979 she had become part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, which she joined on a tour to Paris. There she met Dan Gilroy, with whom she formed the pop-dance group the Breakfast Club. In 1980 she formed the group Emmy with another former boyfriend and drummer, Stephen Bray. They soon started working on more dance-oriented material and sent a demo tape to the New York DJ/producer Mark Kamins, who forwarded the tape to Sire Records, which signed Madonna in 1982. Her first single, "Everybody," was released at the end of 1982 and became an instant club hit. This single launched what has been a phenomenal career, lasting well over twenty years.
Access into the Music Industry
Madonna's rise to fame is connected to the popularity of new dance trends, and it was by grasping these new
technologies of production that her role as singer and producer provided her access into the music industry. Debbie Harry, the lead singer of the group Blondie, had a profound influence on Madonna at the beginning of her career. With a peroxide-blonde, trashy image, Harry marketed pop with a thrift-store appeal that was arty and sophisticated.
At the end of 1984, Madonna's second album, Like a Virgin, was released, and the title hit single became an international success. This record was marketed around a sexy Boy Toy image that catapulted Madonna into global stardom. The music consisted of dance styles of the day set to catchy melodies and glossy production work by Nile Rodgers. In 1986 she started working with Patrick Leonard, a collaboration that led to numerous number one hits. Selling over 5 million records in the United States alone, her third album, True Blue, sustained her commercial momentum.
The same cannot be said for her attempts at dramatic acting. Although she did score a critical success in the title role of a charming independent film directed by Susan Seidelman, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), which featured her single "Into the Groove," the commercial movie comedy that followed, Shanghai Surprise (1986), co-starring her husband actor Sean Penn, was a disaster. It received nothing but poor reviews. On stage on Broadway in 1988 in Speed the Plow by David Mamet she appeared uncomfortable opposite veteran theater actors.
Superstardom
In 1989 one of her most successful albums, Like a Prayer, appeared with several number one hits: "Cherish," "Like a Prayer," and "Keep It Together." In all these hits Madonna delivers a playful, sexy, and polished performance in well-crafted songs. At the end of the year, she released a greatest hits album, The Immaculate Collection, which consisted of a few new songs, including the raunchy hit "Justify My Love," which ignited many debates about her sexually explicit representation in the promo/video. This controversy was compounded in 1992, when she published her book Sex, a glossy, platinum-bound production that featured soft-core pornographic photographs of herself with celebrities like Isabella Rossellini, Naomi Campbell, Big Daddy Kane, and Vanilla Ice.
Although the book was slammed by the critics, it did not detract from her success as a pop star. Her next album, Erotica, was stylish and outrageous in its sexual innuendo, with beautifully written songs such as the two big hits, "Deeper and Deeper" and "Rain." In a more elegant vein, the album Bedtime Stories, released in 1994, perpetuated Madonna's preoccupation with sex in a collection of songs that feature grinding rhythms and groove-based riffs. The production work on this album stands out as a breakthrough in Madonna's musical development, the fruit of her collaboration with a string of established musical producers and artists, such as the Icelandic icon Björk, who co-wrote the hit single "Bedtime Stories."
In 1996 Madonna's ambition to make it in the film industry was realized when her role as Evita Peron in Evita won her the Golden Globe for Best Actress. Before this she released another album, Something to Remember, which was her second greatest hits collection. It mainly features ballads intended to target the same type of audience as Evita. Her performance on all the songs results in a truly mature and professional vocal style with arrangements that are superbly put together. A track that stands out is "I Want You," a cover of Marvin Gaye's song, recorded together in trip-hop style with Massive Attack. In 1998 her album, Ray of Light, produced with William Orbit, was hailed by many music critics as her best album or at least on a par with her top album from the 1980s, Like a Prayer. Ray of Light stands out as another landmark in Madonna's ability to experiment with contemporary styles.
Madonna's keen interest in techno and electronic pop continued into her next album, Music (2000), which involved co-production work with Orbit, Mirwais, and Mark "Spike" Stent. Music is as innovative as Ray of Light, with Madonna turning to the vocoder on the title track. The song relies heavily on an electro-beat funk groove, underpinned by a simple organ and bass riff, all of which transport Madonna's vocal line amid a flurry of synthesized atmospherics. The track winds toward a conclusion that is intense and humorous with Madonna asking the listener, "Would you like to?" over and over again. Co-written with the French producer Mirwais, "Music" brings the entire album alive with its sparkle and freewheeling sensuality.
Spot Light: Madonna's Videos
The power of Madonna's image in her videos has unquestionably contributed to her success. Two of her most famous monochrome videos, "Vogue" and "Justify My Love," both released in 1990, exemplify Madonna's venturesome sensibility and all the playful gestures that accompany it. Rich in its spectacle, the "Vogue" video positions her in line with other iconic female stars such as Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, and Rita Hayworth. In a form of masquerade known as vogueing, Madonna confronts and parodies the artificiality of gender constructions and the showbiz world.
In "Justify My Love," directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Madonna's sexuality is on display at its most explicit. Filmed in black and white, this video explores a range of sexualities and panders to the voyeur. Madonna's seductive look plays on notions of exhibitionism as she lures the viewer into her world of erotic fantasy. Sexual pleasuring is inextricably tied up into the musical sound. The brilliant balancing between sight and sound in this video pushes forward the notions of desire as autoeroticism becomes a political goal. Rhythmically, the groove of this song transports the main musical impulse, while the sparse harmonies in parallel fifths enhance the tension of sensuality. Breathy sounds are mixed into this track as Madonna plays around with various sex scenes through imaginative camera angles.
Throughout her career Madonna's live acts and music videos have been characterized by camped-up, ironic performances. Yet her controversial, ever-shifting image has often overshadowed her music. Only in the late 1990s did the media begin to afford more recognition to her musical output. Madonna's sound draws on a wealth of styles that include disco, hip-hop, house, acid jazz, rock, synth pop, and soul. Spanning more than two decades, her musical expression is traceable through dance trends as much as through the development of digitized musical instruments. In the album American Life (2003), there is further evidence of Madonna's passion for dance-based tracks in the techno-driven, state-of-the-art mixes and song arrangements. Notably, the music video for the title track was withdrawn by Madonna just prior to its release on the grounds that it could have been construed as politically insensitive. In the video Madonna appears in military uniform ironically mugging as a superhero.
With a career that has spanned three decades and that has produced more than fifty Top 10 hits, Madonna stands as the most commercially successful female artist in the history of pop music. Through her videos, songs, PR stunts, and commercials, Madonna has become a controversial political figure while filling the role of the greatest pop diva of all time.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
Madonna (Sire, 1983); Like a Virgin (Sire, 1984); True Blue (Sire, 1986); Who's That Girl (Sire, 1987); You Can Dance (Sire, 1987); Like a Prayer (Sire, 1989); Erotica (Sire, 1992); Bedtime Stories (Maverick, 1994); Something to Remember (Maverick, 1995); Ray of Light (Maverick, 1998); Music (Warner Bros., 2000).
SELECTIVE FILMOGRAPHY:
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985); Shanghai Surprise (1986); Dick Tracy (1990); Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991); A League of Their Own (1992); Evita (1996); The Next Best Thing (2000).
stan hawkins
Madonna
Madonna
Born: August 16, 1958
Bay City, Michigan
American singer, dancer, and actress
Singer, dancer, and actress Madonna is a sensational self-promoter who drove herself to stardom on the pop music charts, in concert halls, on film, and in music videos.
Early life
Born on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was the third of six children in a Catholic family. Her father Sylvio, also known as Tony, was a design engineer for Chrysler/General Dynamics. Madonna's mother was of French Canadian descent. She died of breast cancer when Madonna was five years old. Tony Ciccone moved the family to Pontiac, Michigan, and he married one of the women hired to care for the Ciccone household. The adjustment was difficult for Madonna as the eldest daughter. She had considered herself the "lady of the house" and had received much of her father's affection and attention.
Madonna acted in school plays in her early school years. As a teenager she discovered her love and talent for dancing, an activity she pursued under the direction and leadership of Christopher Flynn, her private ballet instructor. Madonna worked hard and played hard as well, something Flynn made easy by introducing her to the disco nightlife of Detroit, Michigan. Still, she cared for her younger brothers and sisters and worked hard in school. She graduated early from high school and was awarded a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan. She stayed two years before going to New York City in 1978 with thirty-seven dollars and a wealth of determination and ambition.
Pop music breakthrough
Madonna moved into an apartment in New York City's East Village, a poorer neighborhood filled with crime and drug problems. Her first jobs included figure modeling for artists and acting in low-budget movies. She danced briefly with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and studied for a time with choreographer (one who creates and arranges dance performances) Pearl Lang before going to Paris, France, as a singer and dancer with French disco artist Patrick Hernandez. Madonna had developed a fascination with music. She played drums and sang backup in several small bands. When she returned to New York she wrote and recorded songs and hung out in popular Manhattan nightclubs. She was signed to a recording contract with Sire Records in October 1982.
The album Madonna was released in July 1983. Repeat club performances and radio airplay of several cuts from the album eventually earned her three huge hits with "Holiday," "Lucky Star," and "Borderline." A series of hit songs, videos, concert tours, and films followed. A brief performance in the film Vision Quest resulted in the top-five hit "Crazy for You." Her second album, Like a Virgin, released in 1984, produced two number one hits—the title track and "Material Girl." In early 1985 she went on her first concert tour, which was so successful that she had to switch to larger locations to meet the demand for tickets. Thousands of teenage girls all over the country began tying lace bows on top of their heads, wearing underwear as outerwear, and walking the halls of schools and shopping malls as "Madonna wannabees." Madonna's appearance in the film Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985 led to another popular single and video, "In the Groove."
Increasing popularity and criticism
Madonna married actor Sean Penn in 1985. In 1986 she released her third album, True Blue, from which three singles topped the charts: "Papa Don't Preach," "True Blue," and "Live to Tell," which also appeared in At Close Range, a film starring Penn. In 1987 a movie starring Madonna called Who's That Girl was largely ignored, but the accompanying soundtrack and concert tour were successful.
The release of Madonna's album Like A Prayer (1989) came at the same time as the breakup of her marriage. The video of the title song, showing Madonna confessing to a priest and then engaging in suggestive behavior with him, caused a stir in the Catholic Church. The controversy (dispute) resulted in a disagreement over a five million dollar endorsement (paid public support of a company's products) contract with the Pepsi company. Controversy again surrounded Madonna in 1990 when the music video channel MTV refused to play the racy video for "Justify My Love," a new track from her greatest hits album The Immaculate Collection, before 11:00 p.m.
Other films featuring Madonna include Shanghai Surprise (1986), in which she co-starred with then-husband Sean Penn; Dick Tracy (1989), which was accompanied by a soundtrack of Madonna songs; and Truth or Dare, a feature-length collection of footage from her Blonde Ambition Tour of 1990–91. Madonna also appeared in A League of Their Own (1992) and Body of Evidence (1993). Each work kept the press and critics focused on her.
Money machine
By 1992 Madonna's popularity stretched across the world, and she had established herself as a sharp, confident businesswoman. She signed a sixty million dollar contract with Time-Warner, which included her own record company (under the Maverick label) and called for her to make videos, films, books, merchandise, and more than six albums. The announcement of the deal was timed with the release of the album Erotica, an extended video, and an adults-only picture book called Sex, featuring black-and-white photographs in which Madonna appears mostly without clothes with everything from men and women (in all combinations, positions, and numbers) to chairs, dogs, and slices of pizza. She was even shown hitchhiking wearing nothing but high heels. The book was a best-seller across the country.
The 1994 release of Bedtime Stories, written mainly by Madonna, showed her with a softer image and more soulful sound. In the mid-1990s she set her sights on playing the leading role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's (1948–) movie musical Evita, and after repeated tryouts, she convinced producers that she would bring a unique understanding to the lead role of Argentine leader Eva Peron (1919–1952). In her personal life, Madonna settled into a relationship with Carlos Leon, a personal trainer. In 1995 she released her second greatest hits album, Something to Remember.
In 1996 Madonna gave birth to a girl named Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon (Lola for short). Madonna described the event to People magazine as "the greatest miracle of my life." She even traded in her pink Hollywood mansion for a home in a low-key suburb of Los Angeles, California. Meanwhile, her determination to play the starring role in Evita paid off, although her performance received mixed reviews. In 1997 the song "You Must Love Me" from the film's soundtrack won the Academy Award for best song.
Balancing work and family
In 1998 Madonna released Ray of Light. The album reflected her study of the kabbalah (an ancient Jewish teaching) and interest in Far East Indian culture. Its electronic influence also kept Madonna in touch with modern dance culture, proving to critics that she still knew how to stay ahead of the pack. The album received rave reviews and was one of her best-selling records. It also won Grammy Awards for best dance recording, best pop album, and best music video (short form).
That next year, Madonna contributed the single "Beautiful Stranger" to the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack. The single won a Grammy Award for best song written for a motion picture, television or other visual media. Madonna co-starred in the film The Next Best Thing in 2000. While the film got poor reviews, the soundtrack did moderately well. It contained two new Madonna songs, "American Pie" (a remake of the Don McLean classic) and "Time Stood Still." It was Madonna's first record for which she was the executive producer.
In August 2000 Madonna gave birth to a son named Rocco. The child was her son with British film director Guy Ritchie. Shortly after that event, Madonna released Music, which carried on the electronic element she introduced in Ray of Light. The album received mostly good reviews. In December 2000 Madonna and Ritchie had their son baptized in a thirteenth-century cathedral in Dornoch, Scotland. The next day, Madonna and Ritchie were married at Scotland's nineteenth-century Skibo Castle.
Madonna, the Material Girl turned serious actress, singer, songwriter and mom, appears to have it all. She accepts it all—including the constant media attention—with calm, as if she were planning the next phase. She told Time magazine, "I never wish I had a different life. I am lucky to be in the position of power that I am in and to be intelligent.… It's not my nature to just kick back."
For More Information
Morton, Andrew. Madonna. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001.
Sexton, Adam. Desperately Seeking Madonna: In Search of the Meaning of the World's Most Famous Woman. New York: Delta, 1993.
Taraborrelli, J. Randy. Madonna: An Intimate Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001.