 Madonna is one of those rare musicians whose music and
personal lifestyle are indiscernible. Through an astute manipulation of the
media and the public with her music, her videos, her publicity and her
sexuality, Madonna has retained complete control of her career.
Madonna began with aspirations to be a ballerina. She moved
from Michigan to New York in 1977 and began studying under acclaimed
choreographer Alvin Ailey. After performing in a number of pop/dance outfits
including the Patrick Hernandez Revue, The Breakfast Club and Emmy, she was
signed to Sire in 1982 as a solo performer. At the beginning of 1987, she had
her fifth No.1 single with "Open Your Heart," her third No.1 song from the album
True Blue alone. Like a Prayer, released in the spring of 1989, was her most
ambitious album, incorporating elements of pop, rock and dance. Later that year,
Madonna put out her seventh album, the controversial Erotica, which accompanied
her first book, Sex. The album sold more than two million copies. Bedtime
Stories, released in 1994, was a more subdued affair than Erotica. The album
produced the Babyface collaboration "Take a Bow," which spent seven weeks at No.
1. In 1995 Madonna began lobbying for the title role in the film adaptation of
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. She won the coveted role of Evita Peron and
received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her
work in the film. The Evita soundtrack featured a dance remix of "Don't Cry for
Me Argentina" and the newly-written "You Must Love Me," which both became hits.
In 1996 Madonna gave birth to her first child, a daughter
named Lourdes. But she proved that maternity did not slow her down with the
release of Ray of Light in early 1998. The album featured 13-tracks of
electronica-influenced dance music mixed by British DJ William Orbit. 2000
turned out to be a banner year for Madonna. In August, she announced the birth
of her son, Rocco Ritchie, fathered by her current flame, English film director
Guy Ritchie. The next month, "Music," the debut single from her album of the
same name (released in late September), became her 12th number one single in the
U.S. On December 22, Ritchie and Madonna married at Skibo Castle in Scotland.
With Ritchie as director and Madonna as star, the pair released a remake of the
film Swept Away in 2002. It tanked at the box office, failing to crack seven
digits, making it one of the least profitable films of the year. Her sober 2003
album, American Life, fared a little better but was hardly a huge success. That
same year Madonna released a successful children's book, The English Roses,
which was followed by four more over the coming years. The album Confessions on
a Dance Floor from 2005 was her return to music and to the dance-oriented
material that had made her a star.
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