Madonna
Born August 16, 1958 in Bay City, Michigan to a
lower-middle class
Italian-Catholic household, Madonna Louise Ciccone was the
third eldest daughter
born. Her father Chrysler engineer Sylvio (Tony)
Ciccone and French-Canadienne
Madonna Fortin, for whom the future superstar
was named "Veronica" was added
to her name for confirmation. While at a young
age of five, Madonna’s world
fell apart as her mother struggled to a long
process of breast cancer on
December 1, 1963.
Gathering strength from
the tragedious loss of her mother,
Madonna took a role of the head female of
the house. She constantly competed
with her other siblings for attention and
eventually became her father’s loved
one. Madonna turned her perfect self
into a bitter one when Sylvio married Joan
Gustafson, the family’s
housekeeper, three years after his wife’s death.
Thechild resented her
father’s betrayal and wouldn’t accept her step-mother
authority. While going
through tough times, Ms Ciccone developed a passion for
the arts. Madonna
acted in high school productions, but ultimately dance became
her interest in
her childhood life. In addition to being a cheerleader, Madonna
took up
ballet classes while attending Rochester Adams High School. She found
a
mentor in dance instructor Christopher Flynn, who introduced her to the
world of
spunkiness and sophistication at Detroit gay clubs. Madonna’s wild
sexuality
made her fly sky high! She went on dates with guys, had her first
rape encounter
at 14 and toyed with the idea of lesbianism and practiced
mutual things with her
female classmate. Having excellent academic
performance in addition to her
dancing skills, Madonna graduated early in
1976 with a dance scholarship to the
University of Michigan, where she
studied poetry and dance. There, she had her
first acquaintance with Steven
Bray. Bray was a black drummer in an R&b band
, and she began to attend
his gigs. Finally, after spending just five semesters
at U of M and the
encouragement of Flynn, the nineteen-year-old set off to
realize her dream.
Despite her fathers dreams, Madonna began her world wide
adventure, looking
for roles where she could not only dance but sing also. Later
on back in
Queens, the Gilroys started The Breakfast Club in the fall of 1979
with
Madonna on drums. That failed when the lead guitarist stopped the
band.
Madonna went to write and record dance/disco-oriented tracks with
Bray and
performed them at downtown clubs. She was quickly spotted by DJ Mark
Kamins at
the latter club. Madonna presented a four-track demo to him, he
immediately made
a deal and signed contracts. Madonna’s self titled debut
album was a mixture
of sexy attitude, and streetwise sass. Her bare midriff,
weird costume jewelry,
and her I-don’t-care attitude helped to make her
unique personality that the
world would get to know her as. Her first version
of Everybody, released as
Madonna’s first single at the end of 1982. Her
second single camde from the
debut album, Physical Attraction also proved to
be a club favorite. In June
1983, Madonna had her 3rd club hit with the
outstanding, Holiday, which was
produced by her new boyfriend, dance pop
mix-master John Benitez. The following
month, Holiday became her first
billboard Top 40 hit. After that happened,
Madonna had been certified
quadruple-platinum with sales 4.4 million units in
the US and 3.3 million
units internationally. By the end of 1884, Madonnas
second studio album, Like
A Virgin was ready to be released. This album featured
her songs Material
Girl and Dress You Up. The album scored her first #1 hit and
gold single in
Dec of "84". To date, Like A Virgin has achieved 10
platinum certifications
for sales exceeding 10 million units in the US. Late in
1984, Madonna
began working on her first starring role in a film, Susan
Seidelman’s
Desperately Seeking Susan, where she played a naive housewife. It
was success
in 1985 and brought out her musical talent to the world. In February
of of
1985, Madonna made a brief appearance in Vision Quest as a nightclub
singer,
which scored her the second #1 hit and gold single for her career for
the
song Crazy For You, which also topped the charts in May. One of
Madonna’s
highlights was meeting Sean Penn in 1985 shooting the video for
Material Girl.
After the song hit #2, Madonna kicked off the Virgin Tour
in Seattle. It was her
first set of 35 US concert dates, with Patrick Leonard
as musical director and
the Beastie Boys as openers. Not only did Madonna
have a wonderful voice and
performance but she didn’t stop her trademark of,
rubber bracelets crucifixes,
and colorful lacy lingerie. On August 16,1985,
Sean Penn gave what Madonna
thought was her best birthday present ever-his
mind, body and soul. Seven Months
after there first date, He proposed to her.
Almost right after the marriage,
both Playboy, and Penthouse published the
nude pictures she posed for in 1977
and sent them to Sean to brake there
marriage. Nevertheless, Madonna’s
popularity continued with countless teenage
girls adopting her sexy appearance,
being nicknamed "The Madonna wannabes".
She created the third record True
Blue. The album was released in June of
1986 it was #1 in both the UK and US.
She now wanted to start excelling
in the acting limelight. In early 1987, she
got a part in Who’s That Girl.
She starred as Nikki Finn (a main character).
Soon after her singles in
the movie ran up to spots #1 & #2. At the end of
1987, Madonna shot
Bloodhounds of Broadway, a low-budget gangster comedy. She
played a sexy,
black haired, chorus girl Hortense Hathaway. The film crashed and
it was
doomed. It now seemed that Madonna’s film career was in trouble at the
time,
she did not want to perform on stage for a while. She decided now to focus
on
her marriage. Madonna’s marriage with Sean was turning into a very
bumpy
ride. In the winter of 1987, Madonna filed for divorce from Sean saying
it was
all about differences, later the papers were taken back. Thirteen
months later
she put in a complaint of assault against her husband after a
violent dispute.
After trying to save there marriage after 3 years it
failed.. Like a Prayer, had
a lot to do with her life. The death of her
mother (Promise to Try), Her
experience with Sean (Till Death Do Us Part),
(Oh Father), the mystery of
Catholicism, all of these titles had to do
with her life experiences. Express
Yourself and Oh father hit the charts
in 1990. She decided to go back to acting
so in 1990 , Madonna began shooting
Dick Tracy, a US $$23 million Walt Disney
production released on June 15th,
1990. The movie was based on a newspaper comic
strip, starred her diva self
singing Mahoney. Dick Tracey turned out to be
another box-office bomb.
Madonna made out good because her album was produced
through Dick Tracy, and
later became #1. To end up the decade Madonna released
The Immaculate
Collection on November 13, 1990. The album was dedicated to the
Pope, it
was a 17-song collection of her greatest hits from Holiday to Vogue
and
including the first time release for Crazy For You. Over 2 million copies
were
sold. It was her eight top #1 single she had produced. In the beginning
of 1992
she signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Time Warner, guaranteeing
release of
all albums, films, and books under her Maverick production
corporation. The
album Erotica which was #2, and produced the five Top Hits
in "92".
Madonna continued her success throughout her years being a diva
till this day.
She had many appearances on Late shows and on talk show
host Oprah. She’s
became a Multi Millionaire and is formally Best Friends
with talk show host
Roise O’Donnell. From "93", and on she’s been in
various movies such
as Evita and created some of her many Top hit’s listed
below, She also gave
birth on October 14th 1996 in Los Angeles to a baby girl
Lourdes Maria Ciccone.
Top Hits "Deeper and Deeper" "Bad Girl" "Rain"
"I’ll remember"
"Bedtime Stories" "Secret" "Take a Bow" " A New
Argentina"
Madonna has become important in our decade, cause she showed
spunk and a new
type a style to many generations. She’s opened up and showed
even the unique
and spunky can fly high like her. Madonna has become a role
model for many
different age groups around the world. Her amazing voice and
sense of style has
shocked the world, and changed music in the 80's- till
now.