Madonna | Artist
Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress born 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. Regarded as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in dance/pop music production, songwriting and visual presentation. As a kid, Madonna's father put her in classical piano lessons, but she switched to ballet lessons where her ballet teacher persuaded her to pursue a career in dance. At Rochester Adams High School she was a straight-A student and a member of its cheerleading squad. After graduating in January 1976, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan and studied over the summer at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC. In 1978, Madonna dropped out of college and relocated to NYC to take classes at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. To support herself she worked as a hatcheck girl for the Russian Tea Room, and an elevator operator at Terrace on the Park. Her break into music came in 1979 when she began dating Dan Gilroy, lead singer of the group Breakfast Club. She soon became a member of the band, singing and playing drums and guitar. She also briefly performed in Paris with French disco artist Patrick Hernandez as his backup singer and dancer. She left Breakfast Club with drummer Stephen Bray, who was her boyfriend in Michigan, and they formed the band Emmy and the Emmys. The two began writing songs and recorded a four-song demo in November 1980, but Madonna soon decided to promote herself as a solo artist. While frequenting nightclubs to get DJ's to play her demo, she met DJ Mark Kamins at Danceteria who took an interest in her music. Kamins arranged a meeting for her with Seymour Stein, president of Sire Records, and signed a deal for a total of three singles, with an option for an album. Kamins produced her debut single "Everybody" which was released in October 1982. In December she performed the song live for the first time at Danceteria, and made her first television appearance performing "Everybody" on Dancin' On Air in January 1983. Following the success of the singles, Sire/Warner hired Reggie Lucas to produce her self-titled debut album. Madonna asked John "Jellybean" Benitez, resident DJ at Fun House, to help finish the production and Benitez remixed most of the tracks and produced "Holiday", which was her first international top-ten song. The album was released in July 1983, and peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200. It yielded two top-ten singles "Borderline" and "Lucky Star." Between her debut and 2019's Madame X, Madonna went on to release 17 studio albums, 6 live albums, 16 EP's, and 182 Singles. Standout albums include Madonna (1983), True Blue (1986), Like a Prayer (1989), Erotica (1992), Ray of Light (1998), and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). Madonna determinedly pursued her career, starting in New York with virtually nothing, continually reinventing herself to become a cultural icon spanning both the 20th and 21st centuries. Madonna's works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame called her one of the most "well-documented figures of the modern age." Various scholarly reviews, literature, and art works have been created about her along with an academic discipline devoted to her called Madonna studies. Forbes has named Madonna the world's highest-paid female musician a record 11 times across four decades. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and ranked as the greatest woman in music by VH1, and as the greatest music video artist ever by MTV and Billboard. She was also listed among Rolling Stone's greatest artists and greatest songwriters of all time.
Artist Website: madonna.com
Featured Albums: Madonna
Related Artists: Breakfast Club
Collections: Women of Note, Music Visionaries
