|
This material girl has been in the spotlight for more than 15 years now, and she shows no signs of fading away just yet. Media-savvier than most, she has managed to keep both her music and her image under her control, an achievement in itself.
Madonna was born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone on August 16 1958. She studied dance in high school, and left her home state of Michigan for New York in 1978. She has had to struggle long and hard on her winding journey to stardom.
Apart from a little modelling, she studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey before joining up with the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco group. That did not take her anywhere, and Madonna soon shifted focus. She started playing the drums(!) for a group called The Breakfast Club, formed with boyfriend Dan Gilroy. Her vocal abilities soon made it clear that she ought to be the singer. Looking for greener pastures, she began working with another ex-boyfriend, Stephen Bray. A demo of their work found its way to New York DJ/producer Mark Kamins. He apparently liked what he heard, for Madonna was soon signed on by Sire Records.
Kamins also produced her first club hit Everybody, and Madonna soon began to work with hotshot DJ Jellybean Benitez, with whom she had her third hit Holiday. A series of top ten hits followed, but Madonna obviously wanted more.
Freddie DeMann, the shrewd producer of the Jacksons' Thriller, was soon hired and two slickly produced, titillating videos followed. Public opinion was, as it would be for many years to come, divided. Some called her the new sex-goddess, the siren with more style than substance. Others claimed to see through the façade and proclaimed her the new voice of the era.
The title track of her 1984 album, Like A Virgin hit the charts at the No.1 spot and stayed there for a staggering six weeks. Her video success inspired DeMann to land her some roles in the movies, and Hollywood was only too glad to oblige. She had a small role in Vision Quest and the title role in Desperately Seeking Susan.
By 1985, the songs Crazy For You, Material Girl, Angel and Dress You Up were all in the top five and her Virgin tour was the hottest thing to happen in the beginning of that year.
The same year, she married actor Sean Penn, with whom she appeared in Shanghai Surprise, which bombed badly at the box office. Her other efforts on the screen achieved similar results; not so with her songs, however. Papa Don't Preach, True Blue and La Isla Bonita all reached the top five spots. She was also making more headway with the critics who were finding more substance in her lyrics.
1988 found her acting in a Broadway production, David Mamet's Speed The Plow. The next year, she divorced Penn and burst back onto the music scene with Like A Prayer, and the song's video launched the biggest controversy of her career, with its stark, pseudo-catholic imagery.
From controversy to corporate boardrooms, she knew her way around. A multimillion dollar-deal with Time Warner guaranteeing release of her creative output under her Maverick production label followed. Projecting her sexuality seemed to be tops on her agenda, and the coffee-table pornography of Sex (a book) and the album Erotica (1992), spawned more controversy plus the inimitable hits, Bad Girl and Rain.
More innuendos surfaced with 1994's Bedtime Stories, which contained the top 5 singles Secret and Take A Bow.
A subtle image makeover began in 1995, and with her role as Eva Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, she was now the classy socialite and no more the brazen hussy.
Her latest offering is Ray Of Light, released in 1998, along with the award winning video for the song Frozen. Madonna has survived the upheavals of the music market and the barbs of controversy, emerging into the 21st century as a mature, highly individual musician, respected by the industry and loved by fans.
|
|
|
