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Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie (born
August 16, 1958), known as Madonna, is an American
dance-pop singer-songwriter, record and film producer,
dancer, actress, author and fashion icon. She is noted
for her ambitious music videos and stage performances as
well as using political, sexual, and religious themes in
her work.
In 2000, Guinness World Records listed Madonna as the
most successful female recording artist of all time,
with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums; in
2005, her record company credited her as having sold
over 200 million albums worldwide. Madonna is the
highest earning female singer of all time according to
both the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, and Billboard
Magazine. Forbes magazine has estimated her net worth at
$325 million. In addition, Madonna holds the record for
the top-grossing concert tour by a female artist.
Early life: Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in
Bay City, Michigan. She was the third of six children
born to Silvio "Tony" Ciccone, an
Italian-American Chrysler engineer whose parents
originated from Pacentro, and Madonna Louise Fortin, who
was of Québécois descent.
She was raised in a Catholic family in the Detroit
suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester
Hills). Madonna's mother died of breast cancer at age 30
on December 1, 1963. Her father later married the family
housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children
together.
Madonna convinced her father to allow her to take ballet
classes. Her ballet teacher, Christopher Flynn, exposed
Madonna to gay discotheques. She attended Rochester
Adams High School, where she was a straight-A student
and a member of the cheerleading squad. Madonna received
a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan.
She left at the end of her sophomore year in 1978 and
moved to New York City to pursue a dance career. 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 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever
done." ”
She had little money and for some time lived in squalor,
working low-paying jobs including a stint at Dunkin'
Donuts. She also worked as a nude model. 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 became
involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she
later formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club. In
it, she sang and played drums and guitar before forming
the band Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend
Stephen Bray. She and Bray wrote and produced dance
songs that brought her local attention in New York dance
clubs. DJ and record producer Mark Kamins was impressed
by her demo recordings, so he brought them to the
attention of Sire Records founder Seymour Stein.
Professional career, 1980–1985: Rise to fame:
In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records
(a new wave label belonging to Warner Bros. Records) in
the United States that paid her $5,000 per song. Her
first release (April 24, 1982), "Everybody", a
self-written song produced by Mark Kamins, became a hit
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 1983,
and was a success on the U.S. dance charts. These
results convinced Sire Records' executives to finance an
album.
Her debut album, Madonna, a collection of dance songs,
was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, but in the
process both realized they could not work well together.
After initial production on the album was completed,
Madonna took the record to her then boyfriend, John
"Jellybean" Benitez, who remixed and
rearranged it. It reached number eight on the U.S.
albums chart and contained three successful Hot 100
singles, "Holiday", "Borderline",
and "Lucky Star". At the time of its release,
Madonna sold three million copies worldwide, one million
of those in the U.S. It has since been certified with
current sales of thirteen million worldwide.
As Madonna rose to fame, teenage girls became
increasingly influenced by her fashions portrayed in
photographs, live performances and music videos. Defined
by lace tops, skirts over Capri pants, fishnet
stockings, jewelry bearing the Christian cross, and
bleached hair, this distinctive style became a popular
female fashion trend in the 1980's.
Her follow up album, Like a Virgin, 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 in the U.S. (with a six
week stay at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles
Chart) as well as hit singles with "Material
Girl" (#2 US, kept out of the number one spot by
USA for Africa's "We Are the World" single),
"Angel", and "Dress You Up", the
album sold twelve million copies at its time of release
and currently stands at seventeen million copies
worldwide and produced four top-five singles in the U.S.
and the UK Her performance of the song at the first MTV
Video Music Awards, during which she writhed on the
stage (on top of a wedding cake) wearing a combination
bustier/wedding gown, lacy stockings, 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.
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", as well as the UK hit
"Gambler". 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-side to her single "Angel", peaking at
number five in the US and becoming a major hit
internationally, and her first number one in the UK.
Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in the U.S.
in 1985 titled The Virgin Tour, with opening act The
Beastie Boys.
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
public discussion of Madonna, who at first tried to
block them from being published, but later remained
unapologetic and defiant. Speaking to a global audience
at the outdoor Live Aid charity concert at the height of
the controversy, Madonna made a critical reference to
the media and stated she would not take her jacket off,
despite the heat, because "they might hold it
against me ten years from now". Madonna later
appeared on the cover of the NY Post newspaper quoted
saying about the photographs "I'm NOT
ashamed."
1986–1991: Artistic development: Madonna's 1986
album True Blue 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." The album included the
soulful ballad "Live to Tell", which she wrote
for the film At Close Range, starring then-husband Sean
Penn. The album was also the first to credit her as
producer. She collaborated with composer Patrick
Leonard, who would become a long-time collaborator and
friend. True Blue reached #1 in various countries and
sold over eleven million copies worldwide at its time of
release It spawned five successful singles: “Live to
Tell,” “Papa Don't Preach,” “Open Your Heart,”
“True Blue” and “La Isla Bonita.” All going top
five in the U.S., the first three hitting number one.
The music videos for the album displayed Madonna’s
continued interest in pushing the 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, she added religious
iconography, gender archetypes, and social issues to her
oeuvre, and these concepts would carry through her work
for years to come. One notable example was the
"Open Your Heart" video, her first
collaboration with French photographer Jean-Baptiste
Mondino.
In 1987, Madonna starred in the box office failure Who's
That Girl, and contributed four songs to its soundtrack,
including the film's title track, which became a hit and
Madonna's sixth #1 single in the U.S. The albums second
single, "Causing a Commotion" also went top
five.
In 1987, Madonna 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
expressed outrage at the unveiling of a racy 13-foot
tall statue of Madonna in the Italian town of Pacentro,
from where her father's family hailed.
Later that year, Madonna released a remix album of past
hits, You Can Dance, which included one new song,
"Spotlight." The album sold nearly two million
copies in the U.S. upon release.
Madonna's fourth album, released in 1989, Like a Prayer,
presented more personal lyrics and a more mature vocal
style. Co-written and co-produced with Patrick Leonard
and Stephen Bray, it settled her as a serious pop
artist. She teamed up with Prince on a duet, and he also
played guitar on two songs. Like a Prayer garnered
Madonna the strongest reviews of her career and
attracted a more mature audience. All Music Guide
described the album as "her best and most
consistent", while Rolling Stone hailed the album
as "..as close to art as pop music gets". Like
a Prayer produced five hit singles, the title track,
“Express Yourself,” “Cherish,” “Oh Father,”
and “Keep It Together.” “Like a Prayer,” itself,
hit number one on the Hot 100.
In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with
soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, which would debut her new
song, “Like a Prayer,” in a Pepsi commercial that
Madonna would also appear in. Madonna would make a
separate music video which Pepsi would have nothing to
do with. Although the commercial itself was not
controversial, the video for “Like a Prayer” caused
an uproar. The video premiered on MTV and featured many
Catholic symbols, such as stigmata, and was condemned by
the Vatican for its "blasphemous" mixture of
Catholic symbolism and eroticism. The video depicted a
black man who comes to the aid of a white woman being
murdered by white men and he is falsely arrested for the
crime. Madonna, who has witnessed the crime, secures his
release.
Although the video's intent was to
denounce racism, Madonna was criticized for her use of
burning crosses and "making out" with Jesus,
even though it was St. Martín de Porres. Pepsi was
bombarded with complaints and boycotts. Since the
commercial and music video were nearly identical in
visual terms, the soft drink manufacturer was unable to
convince the public that their commercial actually had
nothing that could be deemed inappropriate. Pepsi pulled
the commercial but Madonna kept her five million dollar
fee, as Pepsi had nullified the contract, not she. The
album went to number one on the US album chart and it
sold six million copies worldwide at that time (three
million of those in the US).
In 1990, Madonna starred as Breathless Mahoney in a film
adaptation of the popular comic book series Dick Tracy.
To accompany the launching of the film, in May 1990 she
released I'm Breathless, which included songs from and
inspired by the film's 1930s setting. It featured the #1
house music anthem "Vogue" (which was an
homage to the Hollywood stars), the Gershwin-esque
"Something to Remember", and three songs by
Stephen Sondheim, including "Sooner or Later",
which won an Academy Award for 'Best Original Song.' I'm
Breathless was a success in Europe, Australia and the
United States, and sold four million copies worldwide
(2x platinum in the US) at its time of release.
From April until August 1990, Madonna toured Japan,
North America, and Europe on her highly successful Blond
Ambition World Tour, which the singer likened to musical
theatre. Featuring religious and sexual themes and
symbolism, the tour drew controversy from Madonna's
performance of "Like a Virgin", during which
she allowed two male dancers to caress her body before
she simulated masturbation. Despite the controversy,
however, the tour is now considered to have changed the
look and feel of concert tours, and remains one of the
singer's most popular tours amongst her fans.
In November 1990, Madonna released her first greatest
hits compilation album, The Immaculate Collection, which
included two new songs: “Justify My Love” and
“Rescue Me.” The music video for “Justify My
Love,” again directed by Mondino, showed Madonna at
the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris, in suggestive scenes
with her then-lover, model/actor Tony Ward, as well as
scenes of S&M, bondage with gay and lesbian
characters, and brief nudity. It was deemed too sexually
explicit for MTV, and was subsequently banned from the
station. Warner Bros. Records released the video as a
video single—the first of its kind—and it became the
highest-selling video single of all time.
In 1991, Madonna starred in her first documentary film,
Truth or Dare (also known as In Bed with Madonna outside
North America), which chronicled her successful 1990
Blond Ambition Tour, as well as her personal life. The
following year, she appeared in the baseball film A
League of Their Own with a critically praised (one of
her few film honors) portrayal of Italian American Mae
Mordabito and recorded the film's theme song, "This
Used to Be My Playground", which became her tenth
#1 single in the United States.
1992–1997: Sex controversy and Evita: Erotica,
produced primarily with Shep Pettibone, was disregarded
as simply being a "porn" album, with most
believing that all the album tracks were about sex; but
in truth the album only featured three (out of fourteen)
overtly sexual songs: "Erotica", "Where
Life Begins", and "Did You Do It?". The
album peaked at number two in the U.S. and produced six
singles, with its most successful being its title track
“Erotica,” which became the highest-debuting (number
two) single in the history of the U.S. Hot 100 Airplay
chart. The controversial music video that accompanied
the song only aired three times on MTV due to its highly
charged sexual content.
The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993 was Madonna's most
explicit and controversial concert tour to date and
featured Madonna dressed as a whip-cracking dominatrix,
surrounded by topless dancers, including Luca Tommassini
and Carrie Ann Inaba. The controversy caused by the tour
followed Madonna when she caused uproar in Puerto Rico
by rubbing the island's flag between her legs on stage,
while Orthodox Jews protested against her first-ever
show in Israel. Madonna would later comment that this
period of her life was designed to give the world every
single morsel of what they seemed to be demanding in
their invasion of her private life. She hoped that once
it was all out in the open, people could settle down and
focus on her work.
After the raunchy sex period, Madonna released her sixth
studio album, Bedtime Stories, co-produced by Nellee
Hooper and Dallas Austin. Madonna at the time was
inspired by R&B/rock singer Joi's debut album
Pendulum Vibe, and was so in love with it that she
recruited producer Dallas Austin to help with her
project. The album features Madonna turning to a more
R&B-flavored sound. It was a success in Europe,
Australia, and the United States, where it peaked at
number three and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best
Pop Vocal Album category. With its title track partially
written by Björk, the album gave a hint of what would
come musically a few years later. It produced four
singles, including "Take a Bow", co-written
and produced with Babyface. The song was a success on
the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number one for seven
consecutive weeks, but became the first Madonna song not
to chart in the UK Top 10, charting at number 16. The
Michael Haussman Spanish-themed video, meanwhile, would
later help her win the lead role in Evita.
On 7 November 1995, Madonna released Something to
Remember, a collection of her best ballads, which
featured three new tracks, including a cover of the
Marvin Gaye classic “I Want You,” which she recorded
with British band Massive Attack, and the top ten hit
“You'll See.” The album just missed the top five on
the U.S. charts; it has since been certified triple
platinum.
In 1996, Madonna’s most critically successful film,
Evita, was released. The film's soundtrack became her
twelfth platinum album and produced two hit singles,
“Don't Cry for Me Argentina” and “You Must Love
Me,” the latter of which was written specifically for
the film. “You Must Love Me” won an Academy Award
and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song From a Motion
Picture the following year. Madonna herself also won a
Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Musical or
Comedy but failed to receive an Academy Award
nomination.
1998–2002: Return to prominence: Madonna's
seventh studio album, 1998's Ray of Light, blended
personal and introspective lyrics with Eastern sounds,
down-tempo, electronic instrumentation, strings by Craig
Armstrong and a strong rave flavor. The album reached
number two on the U.S. albums chart and since its
release has been certified 4x platinum. It earned
Madonna the strongest reviews of her career since Like a
Prayer and has been widely considered by critics to be
one of her greatest artistic achievements.
Madonna's pronunciation, in her recital of sanskrit
shlokas taken from the opening hymn of yoga taravali for
her album Ray of Light, had been declared incorrect by
Sanskrit pandits of Benares and, the material girl
learnt the basics of the correct pronunciation of
Sanskrit words from a eminent scholar, Dr B P T Vagish
Shastri through telephonic chats arranged by the BBC,
London.
Amazon.com described the album as "her richest,
most accomplished record yet", while Rolling Stone
credited Madonna and her co-producer William Orbit for
"creating the first mainstream pop album that
successfully embraces techno", stating that
musically Ray of Light is her "most adventurous
record" yet. Ray of Light produced five singles,
including the European number one "Frozen".
The album won four awards at the 1999 Grammy Awards and
has been ranked #363 on Rolling Stone's list of 500
Greatest Albums of All Time. The Ray of Light title
track was even used as the Microsoft® Windows® XP
theme song in its TV commercial when it launched in
2001.
Madonna followed the success of Ray of Light with the
top-ten single "Beautiful Stranger", a late
60s psyche-pop song she wrote with William Orbit and
recorded for the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
soundtrack (1999).
In 2000, Madonna released her follow-up film to Evita.
The Next Best Thing was a disappointment at the box
office and was panned by critics. Madonna contributed
two songs to the film's soundtrack, namely "Time
Stood Still" and European number one "American
Pie", a dance cover version of the 1970s Don McLean
single.
Music, her eighth studio album, had Madonna slightly
step away from the exploration of spirituality and fame
to get back to the "party" spirit of dance,
pop, and house music. However, she retained the
introspective poignancy of Ray of Light in songs such as
"Paradise (Not for Me)" and introduced guitars
for a more folk-like note, notably in “Don't Tell
Me” or ballads such as “Gone.” Music debuted at
number one on the U.S. albums chart and became her first
number one album release since her 1989 Like a Prayer.
Mainly co-written and produced with French house
musician Mirwais Ahmadzai, the album produced three
singles, including the worldwide number one
"Music." The album's third single, “What It
Feels Like for a Girl,” featured a controversial music
video, directed by Madonna's husband, Guy Ritchie, and
was banned by MTV and VH1 after just one airing due to
its graphic violence.
In 2001, Madonna embarked on the Drowned World Tour, her
first tour in eight years. The concert tour was
successful, was the subject of a television special in
the US, and was released on DVD in November 2001 to
coincide with the release of her second greatest hits
album, GHV2. Unlike her previous compilation, GHV2 did
not include any new songs, although clubs did receive
multiple mega-mixes for promotional play only. In 2002,
she wrote and performed the theme song to the James Bond
film Die Another Day. The song reached number eight on
the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for both a
Golden Globe for Best Original Song and a Golden
Raspberry for Worst Song.
2003–present: Commercial ups and downs:
Madonna's ninth studio album, American Life, in which
her lyrics were themed on the aspects of the American
dream, fame, fortune and society, received mixed
reviews. Arguably her most daring and musically extreme
album, American Life presented a darker and more serious
side of the singer.
The music video for the first single, "American
Life", caused controversy in the U.S., as it
contained visceral scenes depicting war, explosions, and
blood. The day before the video was to air on European
television, Madonna pulled it and released instead an
edited version, which showed her singing in front of
flags from around the world. The song failed to perform
well on the U.S. singles chart, peaking at thirty-seven
on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, it rose
to number two.
Having sold five million copies, American Life became
the lowest selling album of her career. The album
produced three more singles, all failing to chart in the
U.S., but enjoying Top 10 success in various European
countries.
Later that year, Madonna performed the song
"Hollywood" with Britney Spears, Christina
Aguilera and Missy Elliott at the MTV Video Music
Awards. Madonna kissed Spears and Aguilera during the
performance, resulting in tabloid press frenzy. That
fall, Madonna provided guest vocals on Spears's single
"Me Against the Music".
During the Christmas season of 2003, Madonna released
Remixed & Revisited, a remix EP that included rock
versions of songs from American Life, as well as
"Your Honesty", a left-over from 1994's
Bedtime Stories album. The collection failed to chart in
the Billboard top 100.
In 2004, Madonna embarked on The Re-Invention World
Tour, which featured fifty-six dates in the U.S.,
Canada, and Europe and became the highest-grossing tour
of 2004, earning $125 million. She made a documentary
about the tour named I'm Going to Tell You a Secret,
which debuted on MTV and was directed by Jonas Akerlund.
Also in 2004, Madonna was involved in a brief legal
battle with Warner Music Group, with whom she co-owned
record label Maverick. The legal dispute ended with
Warner Music Group buying Madonna's shares in the record
label. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her #36 on
their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In January 2005, Madonna performed a cover version of
the John Lennon song "Imagine" on the
televised U.S. aid concert "Tsunami Aid: A Concert
of Hope", which raised money for the tsunami
victims in Asia.
Madonna's tenth studio album, the Grammy-winning
Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005) which sold more than
10 million copies, was built as a continuous mix of
dance songs, with musical elements borrowed from the
'70s, and current dance music. The album received the
most positive reviews since 1998's Ray of Light and was
considered a return to form after the negative reception
to American Life. It has produced four singles:
"Hung Up", became one of the most successful
singles of all time, reaching number one in a record
breaking 41 countries. Madonna opened the 2006 Grammy
Awards with "Hung Up", alongside the nominated
computer-generated band, Gorillaz. "Sorry"
then became Madonna's twelfth number one in the UK. A
third single, "Get Together", reached the UK
Top 10 and became her thirty-sixth number one dance hit
in the U.S. (the most for any artist in Billboard
history), but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100
charts. The fourth and final single was
"Jump", charting at number nine in the UK, by
the end of 2006, Madonna became the most played
international artist in Ibero-America.
In the summer of 2006, Madonna signed on to become the
worldwide face of H&M. Included in the deal was a
specially designed track suit, created by Madonna. The
next year M by Madonna, launched in the United States,
and internationally. In its first week, the line took in
$15 million dollars. It became so successful that the
company has ordered a second and third line for late
2007.
Madonna's Confessions Tour kicked off in late May 2006.
The tour grossed a reported $260.1 million and set the
record for the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist
in history, with a global audience of 1.2 million. The
tour sparked controversy when she used religious symbols
such as the crucifix and crown of thorns in her
performance of "Live to Tell". The tour ended
its 60-date run on September 21, 2006, in Tokyo. A
CD+DVD of "The Confessions Tour - Live from
London" special was released on January 29, 2007
internationally and January 30, 2007 in the US.
In October 2006, Madonna flew to Malawi to help build an
orphanage, which she also funded, as part of the Raising
Malawi initiative. While there, she adopted a baby boy,
named David.
In January 2007, Forbes Magazine reported that Madonna
was the 4th wealthiest woman with an active career in
entertainment with a net worth Forbes conservatively
estimated at $325 million. Her "Confessions
Tour" in 2006, netted her with a paycheck of $65
million dollars. The tour itself cost $100 million and
netted $260 million.
Madonna has started production on her next album, and is
expected to be released by November 2007. A box set
containing three CDs and two DVDs marking the 25th
anniversary, is said to be released sometime in October
2007. Madonna is confirmed to be performing at the UK
leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London in 2007.
Besides recording, Madonna "is indeed going to
Africa to continue her work with the Raising Malawi
organization," says her rep Liz Rosenberg in April
2007. "She is overseeing the building of a
children's health care center." Madonna is
currently directing her first film, Filth and Wisdom.
On May 16th, 2007, a song was released by Madonna called
"Hey You" written by Madonna and Pharrell
Williams (with whom she is collaborating on her future
album). Released in anticipation for Live Earth,
"Hey You" was made available to be downloaded
in MP3 format on MSN. Microsoft has pledged to donate
$0.25 per download to the Alliance for Climate
Protection for the first million downloads of the track.
Madonna is scheduled to perform "Hey You" live
at the Wembley Stadium Live Earth concert in London.
This was confirmed by her record label, Warner Bros.
Records, who have also announced that they will be
releasing a live CD/DVD of the Live Earth Concert
Series.
Influences: Madonna has cited her Catholic
background is a major influence in her life and career.
She has also noted on various occasions that her
mother's premature death left a lasting emotional
impression throughout her adolescence and adulthood.
The name "Madonna" is Catholic and references
The Virgin Mary, who in the Roman Catholic Church is
often referred to as "The Madonna". In a 1988
interview with Smash Hits magazine, Madonna said that
Madonna is, in reality, her real name. She also
described the name as being "very Italian",
despite the fact that she was named after her French
Canadian mother. The name "Madonna" is a
combination of the two Italian words "ma", a
variation on the Italian "mia" (the contextual
form for the adjective "my"), and
"donna", which literally translates to
"my lady".
Madonna's Catholic background and relationship with her
parents were reflected in the 1989 album Like a Prayer,
which featured songs about her parents and Catholic
upbringing. The video for the title track contained
Catholic symbolism, such as the stigmata. Madonna used
the crucifix as a notable religious accessory in the
church setting of the video, and was also included in
the stage design of her "Confessions" tour.
"Promise to Try" told of her sadness at the
memory of her mother, while "Oh Father" told
of a strict father who elicited fear in his child. In
the The Virgin Tour, she wore the rosary around her
neck. In the music video for "La Isla Bonita",
she prays the rosary.
Madonna's Italian heritage has also been referenced in
her work. The video for Like a Virgin, filmed in Venice,
Italy, features her in Venetian settings. The "Open
Your Heart" sees her boss yelling at her in
Italian. In the "Papa Don't Preach" video,
Madonna wears a shirt with the slogan, "Italians Do
It Better".
The video release of her Who's That Girl Tour, titled
Ciao Italia! - Live From Italy, was filmed mainly in
Turin, Italy. In it, Madonna performs the song Papa
Don't Preach while a portrait of the Pope appears on the
screen behind her. "Papa" is the Italian word
for "Pope".) In her 2005 documentary I'm Going
To Tell You a Secret, she jokingly states that she has
"big, fat, Italian thighs."
In 1988, city officials in the town of Pacentro, Italy,
planned to construct a 13-foot statue of Madonna in a
bustier. The statue was intended to commemorate the fact
that some of Madonna's ancestors had lived in Pacentro.
The mayor of the city and the Pope intervened and
prevented the project from coming to fruition, citing
concerns that a statue of Madonna in their city would
corrupt the morals of their youth.
Musical influences: In 1985, Madonna commented
that the first song to ever make a strong impression on
her was "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by
Nancy Sinatra and that it summed up her take-charge
attitude. As a young woman, she attempted to broaden her
taste in literature, art, and music, and during this
time became interested in classical music. She noted
that her favorite style was baroque, and loved Chopin
because she liked his "feminine quality". She
has also acknowledged the impact of Debbie Harry and
Chrissie Hynde saying they "paved the way" for
her. In an interview with the Observer on October 29,
2006, Madonna professed a love for fellow Detroit
natives The Raconteurs and The White Stripes, as well as
New York band "The Jett Set". Madonna has also
commented that she enjoys Frank Sinatra, and especially
likes to sing, "My Way" in the shower.
Film stars: During her childhood, Madonna became
fascinated by films and film stars, later saying,
"I loved Carole Lombard and Judy Holliday and
Marilyn Monroe. They were all incredibly funny...and I
saw myself in them...my girlishness, my knowingness and
my innocence". Her "Material Girl" music
video recreated Monroe's "Diamonds Are A Girl's
Best Friend" number from the film Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes, and she later studied the screwball comedies of
the 1930s, particularly those of Lombard, in preparation
for the Who's That Girl? film.
The video for "Express
Yourself" placed a femme fatale character alongside
an androgynous figure in male attire, which was compared
to Marlene Dietrich and was inspired by Fritz Lang's
Metropolis movie. The video for "Vogue"
recreated the style of Hollywood glamour photographers,
in particular Horst P. Horst, and imitated the poses of
Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and Rita Hayworth,
while the lyrics referenced many of the stars who had
inspired her. Among those mentioned was Bette Davis,
described by Madonna in a Rolling Stone interview as an
idol, along with Louise Brooks and Dita Parlo.
Personal life, Relationships and family: Early
relationships and first marriage, In the late 1970s and
early 1980s, Madonna dated Dan Gilroy, with whom she
formed the band Breakfast Club. In the early 1980s, she
also dated musician Stephen Bray, who later co-produced
songs such as "Into the Groove" and
"Express Yourself", artist Jean-Michel
Basquiat, DJ and record producer Mark Kamins, and
musician Jellybean Benitez, who produced tracks and
remixed her debut album Madonna.
While filming the music video for "Material
Girl" in 1985, Madonna began dating actor Sean
Penn. The two were married later that year on Madonna's
twenty-seventh birthday. Their relationship was marred
by Penn's frequent outbursts against the press, leading
the couple to be dubbed the “Poison Penns.” After
filing and withdrawing divorce papers in December 1987,
Madonna and Penn separated on New Year's Eve of 1988
after allegations of abuse on Penn's part, and were
officially divorced in September 1989. Of her marriage
to Penn, Madonna later told Tatler, "I was
completely obsessed with my career and not ready to be
generous in any shape or form."
Post-divorce relationships, motherhood, and
remarriage: After the divorce from Penn was made
official in 1989, Madonna began a highly publicized
relationship with Warren Beatty while working on the
film Dick Tracy early in 1989. Despite rumors that the
two had become engaged in May 1990, the couple's
relationship seemed to have ended by the summer. In a
1991 interview with Vanity Fair, Madonna said, "I'd
go, 'Warren, did you really chase that girl for a
year?!?' And he’d say, 'Nah, it's all lies.' I should
have known better. I was unrealistic, but then, you
always think you're going to be the one."
In late 1990, Madonna dated Tony Ward, a young model and
porn star who starred in her music videos for
"Cherish" (1989) and "Justify My
Love" (1990). Their relationship ended by early
1991, and Madonna later began an eight-month
relationship with rapper Vanilla Ice, who appeared later
in her Sex book.
In 1992; Madonna dated actor John Enos, her bodyguard
James Albright, and in 1994 went out with basketball
player Dennis Rodman for four months.
In September 1994, while walking in Central Park,
Madonna met fitness trainer Carlos Leon who became her
personal trainer and lover. On October 14, 1996, Madonna
gave birth to the couple's child, Lourdes Maria Ciccone
Leon. The couple ended their relationship in 1997.
Madonna then began dating Andy Bird, who sold his story
to the newspapers in a tell-all about their
eighteen-month relationship in late 2000/early 2001.
On August 11, 2000, Madonna gave birth to a son, Rocco
John Ritchie, with Guy Ritchie, whom she had met in 1999
through mutual friends Sting and his wife, Trudie
Styler. On December 22, 2000, Madonna and Ritchie were
married in Scotland. As of 2007, Madonna resides in
London and her country estate in Wiltshire, with Ritchie
and their children.
In March, 2007 Crown Publishing canceled a tell-all book
deal, thought to be worth 5 million dollars, with
Madonna and Ritchie's former nanny Melissa Dumas. The
book claims that Madonna and Ritchie have a cold and
distant relationship and that they are both fixated on
money and restrictive dietary habits.
Over the span of her lengthy career, Madonna also has
been rumored to be romantically linked to numerous men
and women including John F. Kennedy, Jr., Sandra
Bernhard, Prince and Esai Morales in 1988; Lenny Kravitz
in 1990; Michael Jackson in 1991; José Canseco, Ingrid
Casares and Big Daddy Kane in 1992; Mark Wahlberg and
Anthony Kiedis in 1993; Charles Barkley and Tupac Shakur
in 1994; Chris Paciello in 1997; Billy Zane in 1998;
David Blaine and Jenny Shimizu in 1999 before her
marriage with Ritchie. But most of these affairs are
unconfirmed so far.
David Banda adoption: On October 10, 2006,
Madonna filed adoption papers for a Malawian baby boy
named David Banda, whom her family renamed David Banda
Mwale Ciccone Ritchie, born September 24, 2005, during
her trip to an orphanage in Malawi.
After a passport and visa were issued for the child,
Banda was flown out of Malawi on October 16. The
adoption raised public controversy about whether special
treatment was given to Madonna considering the fact that
Malawian law normally requires one year of residence for
potential adoptive parents. However, adoption rights
groups pointed out that only three visas were issued in
2005 for adopted children to leave Malawi.
Madonna appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October
25, 2006, to refute the allegations. During the
half-hour interview, the singer claimed that there are
no written adoption laws in Malawi that regulate foreign
adoption and that she had been planning to adopt for two
years. She also claimed that Banda had been in critical
condition and was suffering from pneumonia after
surviving malaria and tuberculosis when she had found
him in the orphanage. In addition, Madonna blamed the
media for "doing a great disservice to all the
orphans of Africa, period, not just the orphans of
Malawi", by discouraging people from adopting
children from African nations. She stated, "I
wanted to go into a Third World country—I wasn't sure
where—and give a life to a child who might not
otherwise have had one."
On October 22, 2006, it was reported that Yohane Banda,
David Banda's birth father, did not understand what
"adoption" meant and that he had not realized
that he was giving up his son "for good." He
had assumed that this arrangement was more like a
fostering agreement. A few days later, after the Winfrey
interview, he said, "These so-called human rights
activists are harassing me every day, threatening me
that I am not aware of what I am doing." He was
also reported to say, "They want me to support
their court case, a thing I cannot do for I know what I
agreed with Madonna and her husband." On November
1, 2006, Madonna responded to Banda's comments on an
Dateline NBC interview with Meredith Vieira by saying
that Yohane Banda had known what he was doing, having
refused to accept her offer to financially support him
and the child without adopting the child. Because of
Malawi laws, Madonna and Guy Ritchie remain David
Banda's foster parents for the required eighteen-month
period.
Kabbalah Center: Since the late-1990s, Madonna
has become a devotee of the Kabbalah Centre and a
disciple of its controversial head Rabbi Philip Berg and
his wife Karen. Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie attend
Kabbalah classes and have been reported to have adopted
a number of aspects of the movement associated with
Judaism. The media has reported that Madonna has taken
on the Biblical name of Esther and has donated millions
of dollars to Kabbalah Centres in London, New York, and
Los Angeles. She no longer performs on Friday nights
because this is the time when the Jewish Sabbath begins.
Madonna wears a red string and has visited Israel with
members of the Kabbalah Centre to celebrate some of the
Jewish holidays. She also studies personally with her
own private-tutor, Rabbi Eitan Yardeni, whose wife Sarah
Yardeni runs Madonna's favorite charitable project,
"Spirituality for Kids", a subsidiary of the
Kabbalah Centre. Madonna reportedly donated $21 million
towards a new Kabbalah school for children.
Controversy erupted again well before the release of her
most recent album Confessions on a Dance Floor. Many
Israeli rabbis condemned Madonna and the forthcoming
song "Isaac" (tenth on its track listing)
because they believed the song to be a tribute to Rabbi
Isaac Luria, also known as Yitzhak Luria (1534–1572),
one of the greatest Kabbalists of all time, and claimed
that Jewish law forbids using a holy rabbi's name for
profit. In interviews, Madonna had called this song:
"The Binding of Isaac" and rumors spread that
it was based on the major episode in the life of the
Hebrew patriarch Isaac. Despite continued accusations
that the song is about Isaac Luria, Madonna has
repeatedly denied such accusations, claiming she could
not think of a title for the song and, therefore, named
it after Yitzhak (Isaac) Sinwani. In the song, Madonna
sings with Sinwani, an Israeli singer, who is chanting a
Yemenite Jewish song. Said Madonna: "The album
isn't even out, so how could Jewish scholars in Israel
know what my song is about? I don't know enough about
Isaac Luria to write a song, though I've learned a bit
in my studies."
Madonna has openly defended her Kabbalah studies by
stating, for example: “ I wouldn't say studying
Kabbalah for eight years goes under the category or
falls under the category of being a fad or a trend. Now
there might be people who are interested in it because
they think it's trendy, but I can assure you that
studying Kabbalah is actually a very challenging thing
to do. It requires a lot of work, a lot of reading, a
lot of time, a lot of commitment and a lot of
discipline.”
Furthermore, Madonna said in a BBC interview that she
believes Christianity is intolerant of questioning,
whereas Kabbalah is not. Madonna has also defended
Kabbalah against detractors who claim it is a cult
designed to extort money from followers.
Political views: Madonna does not support United
States President George W. Bush. She endorsed Wesley
Clark's Democratic nomination for the 2004 United States
presidential election in an impassioned letter to her
fans, saying at the time that "the future I wish
for my children is at risk." In the autumn of 2006,
she expressed her support for Hillary Clinton in the
2008 election Most recently she stated that she would be
behind Al Gore if he decided to run for the 2008
elections after seeing his documentary on global
warming, An Inconvenient Truth. She also urged her fans
to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.
Criticism: Despite her career achievements,[65]
Madonna has been the target of criticism since the
beginning of her career. Reviews about her body of work
have generally been mixed and many music critics have
put her artistry in doubt, while some have proclaimed
her the "Queen of Pop".
A common criticism against Madonna regards her singing
voice and vocal range, which some consider to be weak,
limited and mannered. She has also been criticized for
egocentrism, publicity stunts and a tendency to generate
controversy. Joni Mitchell once declared, "She has
knocked the importance of talent out of the arena. She's
manufactured. She's made a lot of money and become the
biggest star in the world by hiring the right
people". Other popular entertainers like Janet
Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey[citation
needed] have expressed disapproval of her artistic
abilities, disdain, or criticism against her image and
work.
Moments of her career in which Madonna has been heavily
criticized include her 1989 music video for "Like a
Prayer", the publication of the book Sex and album
Erotica in 1992, her 2006 performance of "Live to
Tell" during the Confessions Tour, and her adoption
of Malawian infant David Banda in 2006.
Much of her career has seen rebellion against the Roman
Catholic Church, which has generated criticism in the
past. In 1990, when Madonna toured Italy with the Blond
Ambition Tour, the Pope encouraged citizens not to
attend the concert. The Pope accused Madonna of
blasphemy against the Catholic Church (a crime in
Italy), and attempted to have her banned from stepping
foot on Italian soil. A private association of devout
Roman Catholics, called Famiglia Domani, also boycotted
the show for many of the same displays of sexual
innuendos and eroticism the Pope had denounced.
In response, in a 1990 press conference in Italy,
Madonna declared, "I am Italian American and proud
of it." In an interview with Rolling Stone
magazine, Madonna said that the Pope's reaction hurt,
"because I'm Italian, you know", but in
another interview the same year stated that she had
ceased to practice Catholicism because the Church
"completely frowns on sex... except for
procreation". In the summer of 2006, Madonna drew
criticism from Vatican officials when she took her
Confessions Tour to Rome. Vatican officials claimed that
Madonna's performance while hanging off a cross and
wearing a crown of thorns was an open attack on
Catholicism and should not be performed in the same city
as the pope's residence.
In the documentary Italians in America - Our
Contribution, author Gay Talese relates Madonna's
rebellion against the Catholic Church to her Italian
ancestry. Talese claims that Madonna's paternal
ancestors come from a region of Southern Italy with a
long tradition of rebellion against the Catholic Church.
Despite her alleged rebellion, Madonna had both of her
biological children baptized in a Roman Catholic Church.
Madonna has received criticism from animal rights groups
for wearing fur coats and in the past, was criticized
for renting out her house for hunting parties. Madonna's
lyrics have also been panned as simple or even dull by
some.
Many critics, however, see Madonna as a talented
vocalist and songwriter. She received good reviews for
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" cover on which
her performance was described as a "heartfelt
vocal". Her vocals on "Live to Tell" were
considered her best at the time by some, and the song's
lyrics have been described as "poignant". |
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