Madonna
Madonna was born on August 16, 1958, in the city of Bay City, located in the state of
Michigan. Her real birth name is Madonna Louise Ciccone. However, most people know her
as simply Madonna. She is known as a controversial singer, actress, dancer, songwriter,
and has become one of America's biggest and well-known stars in the late 1980s.
Madonna's assertive behavior, outspoken personality, and aggressive acts of sexuality,
along with her great efforts to push back the borders of the acceptable, have brought her
tremendous commercial success in America and abroad. She has achieved the reputation as
a forefront performer and entertainer.
Before Madonna began her superstar career, she attended school at the University of
Michigan. Before she even attended college, she was already well talented in the field
of dance. She was so good that she won a dance college scholarship in high school. This
was the main reason she continued onto college. In the beginning of her college
education, she enjoyed going to school on a daily basis. In addition, she enjoyed
learning and meeting new friends.
However, she began to get bored with her college education and her stay in college was
brief. Within the next two years she dropped out of the University of Michigan and
decided to pursue a career elsewhere. She knew that she wanted to either continue in the
field of dance or somewhere in the music industry. She believed that she had greater
opportunities in these careers in a large, diversified metropolitan city like New York
City.
Once in New York City, she joined a band and began writing musical notes, lyrics, and
songs. This was the start of her music career. However, she still wanted to pursue her
dance career. She always had two career objectives in mind and believed she would
definitely achieve one or both of them.
She joined Alvin Alley Theater's third company group. She danced with them for a short
time period, however, she felt she could do better by focusing her main efforts and ideas
in the popular music and film industry.
Her first debut album was called Borderline. In addition to the album she also produced
a short musical video to accompany the album. Her music and video were featured on MTV,
a music television channel found on cable television. After heavy airplay of her music
video on the MTV cable channel, her album became very well known. Her first music video
for MTV reached the top of the music video list. The album reached the top tin on the
charts in the year of 1984.
Madonna's subsequent videos grew increasingly more elaborate and sophisticated. Most
of the videos went to the top of the charts, which resulted in her drawing more and more
attention, which in turn carried over to her later music. Musical hits such as the songs
"Like a Virgin," "Angel," "Dress You Up," "Pretender," "Over and Over," "Stay,"
"Shoo-bee-doo," and "Material Girl," from her album titled Madonna, Like A Virgin, in
1984 stayed as the number one album for about six weeks.
As her superstar status grew and became more and more assured, Madonna became more
willing to express her views on different controversial issues. Her music song, "Papa
Don't Preach," which was released in the year 1986, dealt with the controversial issue of
teenage pregnancy. Her song, "Like a Prayer," which was released in the year 1989,
treated the idea of spirituality in a questionable way. Additionally, her song, "Justify
My Love," made in 1990 was accompanied by a video deemed too sexually explicit to be
shown on the MTV channel.
Madonna has broken several popular music sales records. Her song, "Vogue," released in
1990, became one of the top selling singles ever produced. The Immaculate Collection,
including all previously released songs like "Holiday," "Lucky Star," "Borderline," "Like
A Virgin," "Material Girl," "Crazy For You," "Into The Groove," "Live To Tell," "Papa
Don't Preach," "Open Your Heart," "La Isla Bonita," "Like A Prayer," "Express Yourself,"
"Cherish," "Vogue," "Justify My Love," and "Rescue Me," was produced in the following
year and was only the second greatest hits album to make the top ten list.
Furthermore, her album Erotica Madonna, including songs like "Erotica," "Fever," "Bye
Bye Baby," "Deeper and Deeper," "Bad Girl," "Waiting," "Thief of Hearts," "Words,"
"Rain," "Why's It So Hard," "In This Life," "Secret Garden," and "Where Life Begins," was
timed for release with her controversial book entitled Sex, was brought out late in 1992.
The book immediately was a best seller and sold over one million copies. Still, once it
was released, it immediately became and instant hit with her devoted fans.
Madonna also ventured into the area of movie films. She felt her career was so
successful that she could try another area and be even more successful. Highlights of
Madonna's less successful film and movie career include starring roles in Desperately
Seeking Susan, which was filmed in 1986, Shanghai Surprise, also filmed in 1986, Who's
That Girl, produced in 1987, Dick Tracy, filmed in 1990. The revealing documentary,
Truth or Dare, which was filmed during her 1990 Blond Ambition world concert tour, but
released in 1991 showed an explicit side of Madonna that many had never seen. Woody
Allen's film, Shadows and Fog, produced in 1992, and the film, A League of Their Own,
produced in 1992, were also part of her movie career. Her latest movie, Evita, in which
she stars, was given some praise in the box office, and is probably considered her best
work yet.
Madonna is currently trying to gain more control of what is being produced about her.
She has entered the management areas of film, record, and publishing by creating her own
company. At present, she is still working on numerous projects. One of these projects
included that of having a baby, which she just recently completed. One thing is for
sure, whatever Madonna does, she still makes front page headlines. Furthermore, she is
still producing videos, songs, movies, and books that appeal to people world wide. We
will definitely continue to see a lot of her, and her work, in the near future.
Works Cited
Kamins, Mark. Madonna, Madonna. New York, New York: Sire Company, 1989.
Leonard, Patrick. I'm Breathless. New York: Sire Company, 1993.
Pettibone, Shep. Madonna, Erotica. Los Angeles, California: Maveick Company, 1993.
Rodgers, Nile. Madonna, Like A Virgin. New York, New York: Warner Brothers, 1990.
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