Legend: Madonna (Part 1)

Mixed by John Faulkner / Mastermix

featuring:

Like A Prayer

Into The Groove

Holiday

Like A Virgin

Papa Don't Preach

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone [1] (born August 16 , 1958 ) is an American pop singer , dancer , songwriter , producer , actress , and author . Frequently referred to as the "Queen of Pop", Madonna has gained fame and notoriety for her innovative music videos, stage performances, and often controversial use of sexual and religious themes and imagery in her work. She has garnered numerous awards throughout her career and is the holder of many records within the music world.

In 2000, The Guinness Book of Records , credited Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums. [2] Her record label, Warner Bros. , reported in 2005 that she had achieved international sales in excess of 200 million albums. [3]

Early life

Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in Bay City , Michigan . She is the third of six children born to Silvio "Tony" P. Ciccone, a Chrysler engineer of Italian American extraction, and Madonna Louise Fortin, of French Canadian descent. She was raised in a Catholic family in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Rochester Hills . Madonna's mother died of breast cancer at the age of thirty on December 1 , 1963 when Madonna was five years old. Madonna has frequently discussed the impact her mother's death had on her life and career, calling it "one of the hardest things I've faced in my life." [4] Her father later married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and had two children with her.

Growing up Madonna's father required all of his children to take music lessons, however after a few months of piano lessons, Madonna convinced her father to allow her to take ballet classes instead, and she proved to be a gifted dancer. She attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a straight-A student, excelled at sports and was a member of the cheerleading squad. After graduating from high school in 1976, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan , where she met ballet teacher Christopher Flynn. In addition to mentoring Madonna in dance, he provided her first exposure to gay discotheques, a scene that would later have an impact on the singer's music and style. In 1977, at the encouragement of Flynn, Madonna left college at the end of her second year and moved to New York City to pursue a dance career. Looking back at her arrival in New York, Madonna has said: "When I came to New York it was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi-cab, the first time for everything. And I came here with 35 dollars in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done." [5]

Madonna experienced financial difficulties throughout this time, living in squalor and working a series of low-paying jobs, including a stint at Dunkin' Donuts . She also worked as a nude model on occasion. During this time, she studied with Martha Graham and Pearl Lang and later performed with several modern dance companies, including Alvin Ailey and the Walter Nicks dancers . While performing as a dancer for the French disco artist, Patrick Hernandez , on his 1979 world tour, Madonna met and became romantically involved with the musician, Dan Gilroy, with whom she formed her first rock band , the Breakfast Club , in New York. In addition to providing vocals, she played drums and guitar, before forming the band, Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend Stephen Bray . She and Bray wrote and produced a number of solo disco and dance songs that brought her local attention in New York dance clubs, particularly " Danceteria " and "Kansas Kansas". D.J. and record producer Mark Kamins , was sufficiently impressed by the demo to bring it to the attention of Sire Records founder Seymour Stein .

1982-1985: Beginning and rise to fame

In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records in the United States that paid her $5,000 per song. Her first release " Everybody ", produced by Mark Kamins, the New York DJ who had brought Madonna to the attention of Sire Records, became a dance hit in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Chart, but failed to make an impact on the Billboard Hot 100 . It also gained some airplay on U.S. R&B radio stations, leading many to assume that Madonna was a black artist. When "Everybody" was released, Madonna's picture did not appear on the single cover sleeve, because Sire did not want to risk alienating the fans that had assumed Madonna was black. The double-sided 12" vinyl single featuring " Burning Up " and "Physical Attraction" followed in late 1982. It was also a success on the U.S. dance charts and managed to reach number twelve in Australia due in part to an interview on the Australian music show Countdown with Molly Meldrum . Although she had not achieved a success on mainstream pop charts, Sire Records agreed to release a full-length album.

Her debut album Madonna (1983) (later repackaged and retitled Madonna - The First Album for Europe in 1985), a collection of dance songs, reached number eight on the U.S. albums chart and since its release has been certified 5x platinum. It sold over eight million copies worldwide [6] , with most sales occurring in North America and Europe , and it contained five successful singles, which includes the largest success " Holiday ". Madonna was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas , a producer for Warner Bros. Records . Early in the recording process both realized that they could not work well together. After initial production on the album was completed Madonna took the finished but unsatisfactory album to her the-boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez , who remixed and rearranged the entire album.

Madonna's image at the time, a kittenish combination of punk culture with an urban ambiance, and her increasingly elaborate music videos soon made her a regular fixture on the fledgling MTV network. She would join such 1980s stars as Michael Jackson and Prince in using the music video medium to create a new brand of image-conscious multimedia star.

Her follow up album Like a Virgin (1985) was a success in Europe, Australia and the United States and became her first number one album on the U.S. albums chart. Buoyed by the success of its title track (which reached number one across the world, including a six week stay at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart), the album has sold ten million copies worldwide [7] and produced three top-five singles in the U.S.

Her performance at the first annual MTV Video Music Awards , in which she writhed on the stage wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, lacy stockings and garters and her then-trademark "Boy Toy" belt, was the first of several public displays that boosted Madonna's fan base as much as they incensed some critics, who felt that her provocative style attempted to disguise an absence of talent. The performance, meanwhile, is listed at number eleven on VH-1's "Greatest Moments That Rocked TV."

In 1985, Madonna broke out into mainstream film roles — beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest . The soundtrack to the film contained her second number one pop hit, the Grammy -nominated ballad " Crazy for You ." A second Madonna track from the films soundtrack, " Gambler ", was released outside North America. Later that year she apperceived in the commercially and critically successful film Desperately Seeking Susan . The film featured the dance song " Into the Groove " which was released as a B-side to her single " Angel ", which peaked at number five in the U.S. In Europe, "Into the Groove" was released on its own and went to number one for four weeks in the United Kingdom and became her first UK number one single.

She embarked on her first concert tour in the U.S. titled The Virgin Tour . News reports from the tour would highlight the advent of the "Madonna Wannabe " — hordes of teenage girls around the country dressing in spandex, miniskirts , torn t-shirts, and lacy bras, with armfuls of black rubber bangles, teased, bow-tied hair and a stressed mole above the lip to emulate the Madonna.

In July 1985, a number of black and white nude photos of Madonna, taken in the late 1970s, were published in Penthouse and Playboy magazines. The publications caused a swell of publicity and public discussion of Madonna, who remained unapologetic, and coincided with her performance at the Live Aid charity concert. Speaking to a global audience, Madonna made a critical reference to the media, and despite the sweltering heat, vowed that for her performance she would not give her critics that satisfaction of taking off her jacket.

1986-1989: Artistic development

True Blue (1986) presented a more musically and thematically mature album than its predecessors, prompting Rolling Stone to declare, "singing better than ever, Madonna stakes her claim as the pop poet of lower-middle-class America". [8] It reached number one in twenty-eight countries and sold over twenty million copies worldwide, becoming her most successful studio album internationally. [9] True Blue produced five successful singles, including three number one singles in the U.S.

The music videos for True Blue displayed Madonna's continued interest in pushing boundaries of the video medium to a cinematic level, including elaborate art direction , cinematography and film devices such as character and plot. Though Madonna had already made videos expressing her sexuality and overflowing with pop cultural references, she added religious iconography, gender archetypes and social issues to her oeuvre and these concepts would carry through her work for years to come.

In 1987, Madonna starred in modestly successful film Who's That Girl? and contributed four songs to its soundtrack, which became a success, propelled by the Madonna-performed song " Who's That Girl ", which became an international hit and Madonna's sixth number one single in the United States.

In the summer of 1987, she embarked on the successful Who's That Girl World Tour , beginning her long association with backing vocalists and dancers Donna DeLory and Niki Haris and moving closer to the more elaborately-staged theater-inspired concert tour. It also marked her first run-in with the Vatican , with the Pope urging fans not to attend her performances in Italy . The Vatican later also expressed outrage at the unveiling of a racy 13-foot Madonna statue in the Italian town of Pacentro.

Madonna follow-up True Blue with the release of a remix album, You Can Dance (1987). Although it was not a top-ten hit, it is noted for making the concept of remix albums commercially viable, as it was certified platinum in the U.S. The compilation included one new song, Spotlight , which became a top forty airplay hit despite not being released as a retail single except in Japan .

Her fourth album Like a Prayer (1989), featuring personal lyrics and mature vocals, reached number one on the U.S. albums chart and since its release has been certified 4x platinum. It garnered Madonna the strongest reviews of her career and had her being accepted by a more mature audience. All Music Guide described the album as "her best and most consistent" [10] , while Rolling Stone stated that the album 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 Eighties." [11] Like a Prayer produced five singles, including the number one " Like a Prayer ". The music video for the song featured many Catholic symbols, such as stigmata , and was condemned by the Vatican for its " blasphemous " mixture of Catholic symbolism and eroticism. It featured an innocent black man being arrested after coming to the aid of a woman who had been attacked by white assailants, as well as Madonna singing in a field of burning crosses. While the video's symbolism denounced racism , it had a different effect entirely.

In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with soft drink manufacturer Pepsi . Her song "Like a Prayer" would be debuted in a Pepsi commercial in which Madonna would appear. The commercial, which was not controversial in itself, aired — featuring everyone enjoying Pepsi. The next day the music video for "Like a Prayer" premiered on MTV. Looking similar in tone to the commercial — but including more controversial imagery, people confused the two and Pepsi was subsequently bombarded with complaints and threats of boycotts. Pepsi succumbed to pressure, pulled their commercial off the air, and canceled all plans for future commercials with Madonna. Though the deal with Pepsi called for three commercials, Madonna kept her five million dollar advance fee since Pepsi had canceled the contract.

This text is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Madonna".