Madonna

Early life

Madonna Louise Veronica 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 Americanextraction, whose parents originated from Pacentro, in the region of Abruzzo, Italy, and Madonna Louise Fortin, a French Canadian. She was raised in a Catholicfamily in the Detroitsuburbs of Pontiacand Rochester Hills. Madonna's mother died of breast cancerat the age of thirty on December 1, 1963, and 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."^[3] Her father later married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and had two children with her.

Tony Ciccone required his children to take music lessons, however, after a few months of pianolessons, Madonna convinced him to allow her to take balletclasses instead. Madonna's ballet teacher was a man named Christopher Flynn. In addition to mentoring Madonna in dance, Flynn provided Madonna with her first exposure to gay discotheques, a scene that would later have an impact on her music and style. She attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a straight-A student, excelled at sports and was a member of the cheerleadingsquad. After graduating from high school in 1976, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan, In 1977, with Flynn's encouragement, Madonna left college at the end of her second year and moved to New York Cityto 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."^[4]

Madonna experienced financial difficulties, and for some time lived in squalor and worked a series of low-paying jobs, including a stint at Dunkin' Donuts. She also worked as a nude model on occasion. She studied with Martha Grahamand Pearl Langand later performed with several modern dancecompanies, including Alvin Aileyand the Walter Nicks dancers. While performing as a dancer for the Frenchdisco artist, Patrick Hernandez, on his 1979 world tour, Madonna met and became romantically involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she later 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. D.J.and record producer Mark Kaminswas sufficiently impressed by her demo recordingsto bring them to the attention of Sire Recordsfounder Seymour Stein.

1982-1985: Beginning and rise to fame

Madonna in her first music videofor "Everybody," a low-budget video that featured Madonna and her dancers in a rather dark New York club.

In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Recordsin the United Statesthat paid her $5,000 per song. Her first release "Everybody," a self written song produced by Mark Kamins, 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 airplay on U.S. R&B radio stations, leading many to assume that Madonna was a black artist. The double-sided 12" vinyl single featuring "Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction" followed in late 1982, and was also a success on the U.S. dance charts. These results convinced Sire Records executives to finance a full-length album.

Her debut albumMadonna (1983), a collection of dance songs, was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, but 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 then-boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez, who remixed and rearranged it. It reached number eight on the U.S. albums chart and contained five successful singles, including her first world-wide hit, "Holiday", and has been certified 5x platinum with world sales in excess of eight million copies. ^[5]

Her follow up album Like a Virgin (1984) was an international success 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 nineteen million copies worldwide^[6] and produced four top-five singles in the U.S. and the UK.

Madonna's image, which evolved from a combination of punk culture with an urban ambiance, to a more overtly sexual persona, along with her increasingly elaborate music videos, made her a regular fixture on the fledgling MTVnetwork.

Her performance at the first MTV Video Music Awards, during 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.

"Like a Virgin" (1984), directed by Mary Lambert, was shot in Venice, Italyand featured Madonna dancing on a gondola and in a wedding dress.

In 1985, Madonna entered mainstream films, 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." Later that year she appeared in the commercially and critically successful film Desperately Seeking Susan, with her comedic performance winning her positive reviews. The film introduced the dance song "Into the Groove" which was released as a B-sideto her single "Angel", peaking at number five in the U.S. In Europe, "Into the Groove" became a major hit and her first U.K.number one.

She embarked on her first concert tour in the U.S. titled The Virgin Tour. News reports from the tour highlighted 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 moleabove the lip to emulate Madonna.

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