The Life Of An Icon

The most successful female singer/songwriter/producer of all time and arguably the most creative artist of the century, 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.
Her first single, "Everybody," became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982; her second single, 1983's "Physical Attraction," was another club hit. In June 1983 she had her third club hit with the bubbly "Holiday," which was written by Jellybean Benitez. Madonna's eponymous debut album was released in the fall of 1983; "Holiday" became her first Top 40 hit the following month. "Borderline" became her first Top 10 hit in March 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top 10 hits. While her single "Lucky Star" was climbing to No. 4, Madonna began working on her first starring role in a feature film, Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan.
Madonna's second album, Like a Virgin, started a frenzy in the United States, fueled by a slew of sexy videos and scores of young minions aping her style called "Madonna wannabes." Her image exploded, selling millions of records on the back of hits like, "Material Girl" and "Crazy For You." In August 1987 she wed actor Sean Penn, however, the brief, tumultuous marriage ended in 1989.
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.
Her work in film also continued to be successful. Madonna landed a co-starring role in Warren Beatty's 1990 remake of Dick Tracy. Truth or Dare, a documentary of the Blonde Ambition tour, was released to positive reviews and strong ticket sales at the end of 1991 and in 1992 Madonna had a feature role in A League of Their Own, the box office blockbuster directed by Penny Marshall.
But her incredible success was bound to have a price. In November of 1992, Madonna put out her seventh album, the controversial and artistic Erotica, which accompanied her first book, the best-seller SEX. But despite critical acclaim for the multi-plantinum album, SEX was torn apart by the critics and what followed turned out to be one of the harshest backlashes ever put upon an artist. Although Madonna-hatred was at an all-time-high, instead of hiding from the public she embarked on a glamorous tour, the theatricaly themed and technically amazing "Girlie Show." Every venue it played sold out.
The slump finally came to an end with Bedtime Stories, released in 1994. The R&B collection was a more subdued affair than Erotica, and depsite being an attack on her critics, it recieved rave reviews. The album produced the Babyface collaboration "Take a Bow," which spent seven weeks at No. 1.
Something to Remember, a collection of Madonna's hit ballads plus three new tracks, was released in November 1995 to more critical praise. The same year, she won for the title role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. She got the best reveiws of her acting career for 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 the highly ambitious (and very personal) Ray of Light in early 1998. The album features 13-tracks of electronica-influenced dance music mixed by British DJ William Orbit. It became one of her biggest successes.
Thus, with a life like Madonna's, only one problem seems to arouse. How will she ever continue to top herself?