Madonna

Madonna

Early Life

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone renowned as one of world's famous pop divas and frequently referred to as the Queen of Pop Music was born in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958. She was raised in a large, devoutly Catholic, Italian American and French Canadian family, in the Detroit suburb of Rochester. Her father is Italian, while her mother is French-Canadian who died of cancer when she was still five years old. Madonna has several siblings, whom among others are Martin (1957), Anthony (1956), Christopher (1960), Paula (1959), Melanie (1962), Mario (1969) and Jennifer (1968). Her brother Christopher Ciccone, to note, designs restaurant interiors. 

During her early age, Madonna took classes for piano and ballet, and was an active participant in a variety of artistic activities at school, like becoming a cheerleader in her high school. Relying on her persistence, she was then handed a dance scholarship and attended the University of Michigan for two years, but quit and moved to Corona, Queens district of New York in 1978 to pursue dance and acting professionally. During this period of time, she danced with several minor modern dance companies, including Ailey II and the Walter Nicks dancers while also doing modeling as well. Moreover, she also appeared in a short film called "A Certain Sacrifice." 

Personal Life

In 1979, she became part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco outfit who had the hit "Born to Be Alive," which traveled her to Paris, where she met Dan Gilroy, who would soon become her boyfriend. Before returning to New York, the couple formed the Breakfast Club, a pop/dance group, with Madonna originally playing drums for the band, but soon became its lead singer. In 1980, she left the band and formed Emmy with her former boyfriend, drummer Stephen Bray. Soon afterwards, Bray and Madonna broke off from the group and began working on some dance/disco-oriented tracks that brought her local fame in gay dance clubs, such as Danceteria. As fate would have it, a demo tape of these tracks brought them to a New York-based DJ/producer, Mark Kamins. 

From that point on, Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, who signed Madonna during the year 1982. Once signed, she performed her demo song "Ain't No Big Deal", which was written by her frequent collaborator Stephen Bray, but was shelved for several years since it had just been recorded and released by the Epic Records group Barracuda. Five years later, Madonna's version finally surfaced on the B-side of the "True Blue" single, though it has never appeared on any of her albums. Shortly thereafter, her single dubbed "Everybody" produced by Mark Kamins, was released and became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982. Along with the success of the single, Madonna also became a trendsetter, in which her appearance reflecting a playful and sexy combination of punk and pop culture, made her a quick fixture on the network. Subsequent to this, her bleached blonde hair, sexy lace gloves, lingerie on the outside and "Boy Toy" belt buckle soon became all the rage in malls and schoolyards across America. 

Career

In 1983, Madonna released her another single titled "Physical Attraction," which quickly became another hit. In September that same year, she also released her self-titled debut album "Madonna," which first hit "Holiday," written by Jellybean Benitez, became her first Top 40 hit the following month, topping the charts around the world. In addition, the album also spawned several other hits, including "Borderline" that became her first Top 10 hit in March of 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits; and "Lucky Star" that was climbing to number four. Subsequently, the album itself was also a smash hit, and catapulted Madonna into instant stardom. Garnering success for her early music work, the singer bravely decided to begin working on her first starring role in a feature film, joining the cast of Susan Seidelman's "Desperately Seeking Susan" (1985). 

Upon the release of the film, Madonna's second album, the Niles Rodgers-production "Like a Virgin", was released in the end of 1984. This album's title track hit number one in December, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks; a time during which it was the start of a whirlwind year for Madonna. In succession, during the year of 1985, the singer became an international celebrity, selling millions of records on the strength of her stylish, sexy videos, and forceful personality. Despite her rapid success, Madonna provoked further controversy when she appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards, singing "Like A Virgin" while at the same time wore a combination of wedding dress/bustier, writhing on the floor and revealing her underwear. Notwithstanding that, the track favorably topped the US charts for six weeks with three more additional Top 5.

source:aceshowbiz.com