Madonna is nothing else than a multi-talented outstanding woman ahead of her time.
She is the most famous woman in the world and already belongs to the legends of our century, nothing seems to resist her, she is a singer, composer, dancer, producer, actress, executive, humanitarian, director and,now, she is also a mother.
This chameleon, changing her image every time we see her, proves herself to be one of the most shocking, provocative, out spoken, trend-setters of our culture today.

But it isn't simply her extraordinary list of achievements that has earned Madonna her status as one of a handful of the most innovative, influential and inspiring artists of our time. It is more her passionate commitment to excellence, her complete involvement in every essential aspect of her art, her career and her life, and a stubborn refusal to do anything less than all the way.

Ever the shape-shifting provocateur, Madonna has built her career by aggressively strip-mining pop culture, donning a spectrum of usually shocking, always rebellious cultural personae like so many costume changes in her quest for self-realization

Madonna rocketed to stardom so quickly in 1984 that it obscured most of her musical virtues. Appreciating her music became even more difficult as the decade wore on, as discussing her lifestyle became more common than discussing her music. However, one of Madonna's greatest achievements is how she manipulated the media and the public with her music, her videos, her publicity, and her sexuality. Arguably, Madonna was the first female pop star to have complete control of her music and image.

1958-1977: A Lucky Star Was Born ............................................................................................................................

Madonna was born on the 16th of August 1958, at Bay City Mercy Hospital in Bay City, Michigan, in a.lower-middle class Italian-Catholic household, Madonna Louise Ciccone was the third and eldest daughter of Chrysler engineer Sylvio (Tony) Ciccone and French-Canadienne Madonna Fortin, for whom the future superstar was named. "Veronica" was added to her name upon confirmation.

While at a tender age of five, Madonna's world fell apart as her mother succumbed to a long bout of breast cancer on December 1, 1963. Gathering strength from the tragedious loss of her mother, the young Madonna assumed the role as female head of the household. She constantly competed with her other siblings for attention and eventually became her father's endeared one. But Madonna turned bitter when Sylvio married Joan Gustafson, the family housekeeper, three years later. The child resented her father's betrayal and as a nefarious show of rebellion, refused to accept her stepmother's authority and struggled to assert her autonomy.

Madonna was 12 years old when she entered the local Catholic high school. It was oppressive and she recalls "they would hit you across the back with a stapler if you were disobedient". It was at this school though that she learnt a great deal from classes in tap, jazz dancing, Baton twirling and Gymnastics. It was here that she started to display the extrovert Madonna which hitherto only her family had experienced. "I wanted to do everything everybody told me I couldn’t do, I couldn’t wear make up, I couldn’t wear nylons couldn’t cut my hair couldn’t go on dates, I couldn’t even go to the movies with my friends".
She craved attention by wearing odd socks, appearing in a friend's home movie with a fried egg on her stomach. She appeared in a local talent contest where she danced to a record by "The Who' wearing only a bikini and bodypaint. As said before she wanted to do everything she was told she shouldn’t or couldn’t. She’d roll up her uniform skirt until it was short. She'd go into the bathroom and put make-up and nylon stockings on. She was incredibly flirtatious.
Madonna's wild, opulent sexuality soon took precedence. She went on dates with guys, had her first sexual experience at 14 and toyed with the idea of lesbianism .

Madonna was very good at her schoolwork. Madonna remembers "I was really competitive in school with my grades and stuff coz my father used to give us rewards if we got "A" on our report cards. It wasn’t so much that I was interested in learning..... My father gave us 25 cents for every "A" that we got so I wanted to earn the most amount of money". Not so surprisingly Madonna shone in the school's theatre department, where she was given the lead role in several of their productions. It was only high school but already she was the star! After Madonna left school she attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, where she studied under ballet school owner, Chris Flynn. She recalls "I really loved him. He was my mentor, my father, my imaginary lover, everything".

Boasting excellent academic performance in addition to her dancing skills, Madonna graduated early in 1976 with a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan, where she studied poetry and dance. Finally, after spending just five semesters at the U of M, and at the encouragement of Flynn, the nineteen-year-old set off to realize her dream.

1977-1985: The making of "MADONNA superstar" .....................................................................................................

Soon Madonna wanted to go to New York to chase her dreams. Everyone was against the idea but her dance teacher said, "Go for it!" - and luckily for us she did. So there she was finally in New York, Standing in the middle of Times Square (on arriving in the big city she had asked the taxi driver to take her to 'the middle of everything'), with just thirty five dollars, a satchel full of tights, dance shoes under one arm and a giant doll under the other. Madonna remembers:" When I came to New York it was the first time I’d ever taken a plane, the first time I’ve ever gotten a taxi-cab, the first time for everything.
And I came here with 35 dollars in my pocket. It was the bravest thing ‘`d ever done. My goal was to conquer the city and I feel I have." and also "Although I took to New York straight away I was really lonely. I would take whatever I could in a taxicab to wherever I was going to next. I’d take a big breath, grit my teeth, blink back my tears and say, "I’m gonna do it-I have to do it because there was no where else for me to go".
This was the start of hard times for Madonna. She lived in terrible house. She remembers: " When my father came to visit,he was mortified.The place was crawling with cockroaches. There was winos in the hallways,and the entire place smelled like stale beer".

She'd won a scholarship at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, where she spent two years working hard at her classes during the day and even harder at night, holding down a succession of part-time jobs in fast food restaurants to make a little extra money. Some nights she visited a club called the "Blue Frogge" and it there that she first met Steve Bray. He was a talented musician but their relationship then was more on the physical plane. Bray was a black drummer in an R&B band, and Madonna began to attend his gigs. All this time, Madonna's thirst for fame was growing insatiable. After a while Madonna realized that the way to the top for her was not going to be through pure modern dance. It wasn’t the competition that put her off but the lack of work opportunities. There were too many people going after too few jobs.

In 1979, she became part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco outfit who had the hit "Born to Be Alive." She traveled to Paris with Hernandez; it was there that she met Dan Gilroy, who would soon become her boyfriend. Upon returning to New York, the pair formed the Breakfast Club, a pop/dance group. Madonna originally played drums for the band, but she soon became the lead singer. In 1980, she left the band and formed Emmy with her former boyfriend, drummer Stephen Bray. Soon, Bray and Madonna broke off from the group and began working on some dance/disco-oriented tracks. Madonna finally got a deal with Gotham Records, worth one hundred dollars a week. Steve Bray went with her as drummer and songwriter. She kept at it and eventually got a record deal with "Sire Records" for only $5000. A demo tape of these tracks worked its way to Mark Kamins, a New York-based DJ/producer. Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, who signed the singer during 1982.

Kamins produced Madonna's first single, "Everybody," which became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982. When it was first played on the radio and in clubs, many fans mistook Madonna for an Afro-American disco diva. Everybody sold over 250 000 copies and went to No.3 in the dance charts. her second single, 1983's "Physical Attraction," was another club hit. In June of 1983, she had her third club hit with the bubbly "Holiday" (written by Jellybean Benitez) which was an instant hit. "Holiday" became her first Top 40 hit the following month. She was a star!

Madonna first hit the top ten with "Borderline" in March of 1984. It's rumored her vocals were mechanically altered to make her sound more girlie. Madonna's self-titled debut album was released in September of 1983, she won her wide acclaim and millions of fans,it was the beginning of a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits, plus invitations to move into films. While "Lucky Star" was climbing to number four, Madonna began working on her first starring role in a feature film, Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan.. Madonna has done it! Not only was Madonna setting the tone music wise, she was also creating a whole new fashion. In "Lucky Star" music video, she showcased her Boy Toy image. Madonna's style was so popular that world famous lingerie store Fredericks of Hollywood reported a 40 % increase in sales, which they put down to the Material Girl's image. Never letting an opportunity to make a fast buck pass her by, Madonna set up her own "Wazoo" clothing label. Among other things, "Wazoo" manufactured rubber bracelets and Boy Toy belt buckles. It wasn't long before millions of girl fans the world over took on the raggy clothes of their number 1 pop heroine. But it wasn't just the clothes that were developing Madonna's raunchy reputation. Her music was about to take a new and controversial turn.

Madonna's second album, the Niles Rodgers-produced Like a Virgin, was released at the end of 1984. The title track hit number one in December, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks; it was the start of a whirlwind year for the singer. During 1985, Madonna became an international celebrity, selling millions of records on the strength of her stylish, sexy videos and forceful personality. After "Material Girl" became a number two hit in March, Madonna began her first tour, supported by the Beastie Boys.

In the "Material Girl" video shooting she met Sean Penn. Just after saying "I wouldn’t wish being Mr. Madonna on anyone" she married him. Madonna remembers "I was jumping up and down on my bed, performing one of my morning rituals and all of a sudden Sean gets this look in his eye and all of a sudden I knew what he was thinking. I said: whatever you`re thinking I`ll say yes to. That was his chance ,so he popped it."

On the 16th August 1985 they married in a Malibu media circus, 13 helicopters with paparazzi photographers were soaring in circles during the wedding ceremony. Sean Penn tried to beat some paparazzi photographers who were spying there in the bushes. The Bride Madonna was wearing a beautiful and traditional wedding dress.
Madonna remembers: "I didn’t think I was going to be married with 13 helicopters flying over my head. it turned into a circus. At first I was outraged but at the end I was laughing." Sean possessed an uncontrollable tendency to beat up any photographer who came in his way and as such his frequent bouts of scuffles and fisticuffs with the paparazzi over the next few years would prove to be legendary. The local tabloids that dub the couple the "Poison Penns" were hell-bent on breaking their union. Almost simultaneous with the marriage, both Playboy and Penthouse published the nude photos of Madonna that she posed for back in 1977 and even mailed copies of the issue to Sean in a vicious attempt to capsize their loveboat.

"Crazy for You" became her second number one single in May. Desperately Seeking Susan was released in July, becoming a box office hit; it also prompted a planned video release of A Certain Sacrifice, a low-budget erotic drama she filmed in 1979. A Certain Sacrifice wasn't the only embarrassing skeleton in the closet dragged into the light during the summer of 1985. Nevertheless, her popularity continued unabated, with thousands of teenage girls adopting her sexy appearence, being dubbed "Madonna Wannabes."

excerpts from a variety of biographies

PART 2 of the Madonna Biography