Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone was born on August 16, 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. During her more than 20 years as an artist, Madonna has become one of the brightest and most inimitable stars in pop music history.
At the age of 14, Madonna developed a passion for dance, which she practiced extensively during both high school and university. In 1978 she left for New York City, where she began taking dance lessons from the famous choreographer Alvin Ailey and worked part-time as a model. Two years later she moves to France, where she takes part in a show by disco singer Patrick Fernandez. There she meets Dan Gilroy and, back in New York, the couple form the band Breakfast Club. In 1981, Madonna left the band and recorded some dance songs with her boyfriend Steve Bray. With the help of top New York DJ Mark Kamins, Madonna recorded the single "Everybody" in 1982 and signed a record deal with Sire Records. Madonna's debut album is released in 1983. The song "Holiday", presented on this disc, gets a great success and enters the top twenty of American singles, and the next year in the top ten in Europe.
The interest of the masses had to be supported by something, and in 1984 Madonna releases her second album "Like A Virgin". The title track, written by Tom Kelly, took the singer to number 11 in the US charts. The next single "Material Girl" was accompanied by a music video, in which Madonna appeared to the public in her most striking image, mimicking Marilyn Monroe. In 1985 Madonna becomes a national star, thanks in part to her marriage to actor Sean Penn.
Between 1985 and 1987, Madonna becomes a world star, impossible to miss. "Crazy For You" topped the charts in the US and "Into The Groove" reached number one in the UK. The next successful singles were "Dress You Up", "Live To Tell" and the worldwide chart topper "Papa Don't Preach". Then came "True Blue", "Open Your Heart" and "La Isla Bonita", featured on the album True Blue (1986). Madonna's film career began with a small role in A Certain Sacrifice. The next was a role in "Desperately Seeking Susan". However, the picture "Shanghai Surprise", in which she starred with her husband Sean, failed. Madonna divorces Penn in 1988.
In 1989 Madonna continued to cause controversy with her controversial songwriting: the video for "Like A Prayer" received harsh condemnation from the Catholic Church, as a result of which Pepsi cancelled her advertising contract. However, Madonna is not left out as the hype around the album of the same name makes the album an absolute bestseller.
A new round of the singer and actress career was marked by a role in the blockbuster "Dick Tracy", where she played with Warren Beatty. This was followed by the extravagant Blond Ambition world tour, which was a loose mixture of song, sexiness, dance and religion. Among the hits of the early '90s are "Vogue", "Hanky Panky", "Justify My Love" (written with Lenny Kravitz), "Rescue Me" and "This Used To Be My Playground". In '92, Madonna shows herself also a talented businesswoman, when the company Maverick created by her signs a contract with conglomerate Time Warner to release its books, albums and films. The book "Sex" sent Madonna back to the top of the charts and became a bestseller. But the album "Erotica," released in 1992, was the first decline in her career and the first album since her debut to fail to reach number one on the charts.
The star returns with Bedtime Stories, recorded with the help of producer Nellee Hooper, who wrote the title track with Bjork. The single "Take A Bow" takes the singer back to the top of the charts. In her own words, the album consists of a mix of pop, rhythm and blues, hip-hop and... Madonna. The 1995 album Something To Remember stood out mostly because of the song "You'll See". In October '96, after shooting the movie "Evita" directed by Alan Parker, Madonna had a daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon.
The singer returned to music in 1998 with the album "Ray Of Light", which became one of her best works. Collaborating with William Orbit, Madonna was able to find a new sound and push the boundaries of her musical horizon. Such singles as "Frozen", "Ray Of Light", "The Power Of Goodbye" and "Nothing Really Matters" are becoming hits all over the world. Madonna stars in the movie "Best Friend", the soundtrack for which she writes together with William Orbit again. For the next CD, Madonna and Orbit are joined by the French dance producer Mirwais, and together they record the super-successful album "Music". Shortly before the release of the album "Music", August 11, 2000 Madonna had a son Rocco, and December 22, she married British director Guy Ritchie in Scotland. The following summer, the singer embarks on a huge "Drowned World" tour in support of the "Music" album. In 2002, Madonna was named the greatest woman in music history in a poll conducted by VH1.
In Spring 2003, Madonna records "American Life" album, produced by the same Mirve Ahmadzai. Album sells worse than previous Madonna records, in spite of the fact that according to singer's confession it is her most personal work. The singles on the album are "Die Another Day", which was recorded for the James Bond movie of the same name, and "Love Profusion", "American Life", "Hollywood" and "Nothing Fails". In support of the album, in 2004 Madonna embarks on a "Re-Invention" tour of cities in America, as well as Britain, Ireland, France, Holland and Portugal. Concerts, as always, gather full halls and stadiums.
In 2004, Madonna tried her hand in a new capacity - she wrote a children's book titled English Roses, which managed to become the fastest selling debut for a children's author. Since then Madonna has managed to write five more books, with the second and third, Mr. Peabody's Apples and Jacob and the Seven Thieves, coming out less than a year after the release of English Roses. In December of that year, Madonna took part in the "Tsunami Aid: A Concert for Hope" benefit concert organized by NBC in aid of the victims of the tsunami that struck the shores of Southeast Asia. At the concert Madonna performed her cover version of the famous song "Imagine" by John Lennon. In July 2005, Madonna took part in another charity project, the London portion of the "Live 8" concert.
In August 2005, while celebrating her 47th birthday, Madonna fell off a horse and was taken to the hospital with fractured arms, collarbone and five ribs. Despite her rather severe injuries, the singer was released from the hospital the very next day. Shortly after her injury, Madonna had to shoot the music video for "Hung Up," the first single from her new album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," and after the shoot she admitted in interviews that she was in a lot of pain. Her clavicle hadn't healed properly yet, so I had to give myself a novocaine block," the singer said. - It was the only way I could dance. I understand that it was a bit silly to torture myself like that, but on the other hand it was just as silly to do the opposite - how is it that I record a dance song and don't dance in the music video at all? The album "Confessions on a Dance Floor" became one of Madonna's most successful albums - in just a couple of months it sold over five million copies and topped the charts in 40 countries. The main producer of the album was Stuart Price, a musician specializing in disco-dance music and performing under the pseudonym of Jacques Liu Conte, aka Les Rhythmes Digitales. The album opener "Hung Up" featured an instantly recognizable sample from Abba's "Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)," which was unprecedented because rights holders and former Abba members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeis are known for being tough on licensing Abba tracks. "We always say no to such requests," Bjorn Ulvaeis told reporters, "but this time we couldn't refuse. Madonna's assistant came to us in Sweden with the track ready and it was so well done that we immediately agreed." The world tour in support of the album Madonna decided to postpone until mid-2006 - the agenda was to voice one of the roles in the animated adaptation of Luc Besson's book "Arthur and the Invisibles".
