Madonna Biography
Madonna (16 August, 1958 – ) is an American singer, actress, dancer and
movie star. She has sold over 300 million records worldwide, making her the best selling female
artist of all time. She has had a profound influence on pop culture often courting controversy for
upsetting religious and moral sensibilities.
Short Bio of Madonna
Madonna, born Louis Cicconi, on 16 August 1958, was brought up in Rochester Hills Michigan.
Her mother died, from breast cancer, when she was only five; she was brought up by her
grandparents. She was raised a Roman Catholic, though from an early age she displayed a
rebellious streak. In 1978, she dropped out of college and moved to New York, with barely the
clothes she was standing in. She got a job as a waitress at Dunking Donuts, and in her spare time
learnt modern dance. She temporarily joined a rock band ‘ The Breakfast Club’ but tried to make
a solo career and gaining the favourable impression with Sire Records, she was given a recording
contract.
In 1982 she released her first single ‘Everybody‘ and in 1983, she launched her first album
‘Madonna‘ It sold very well, but it was her next album ‘Like a Virgin‘ which made her into an
international superstar. The album sold over 12 million copies, helped by the hit single ‘Like a
Virgin‘ which stayed at number one for 6 weeks.
As well as being a successful music recording artist, Madonna was very influential in influencing
fashion and attitudes to life. Her trademark looks included fish net stockings, a Christian cross,
bleached hair and Capri skirts.
Throughout her career, Madonna has
courted controversy for her mix of sexuality and religious imagery. Her attitudes sparked
criticism from the Vatican and the Vatican discouraged people from attending her concerts
because of the eroticism. Madonna, generally, remained unapologetic and continued to perform
her routines.
“A lot of people are just really confused by me; they don’t know what to think of me, so they try
to compartmentalize me or diminish me. Maybe they just feel unsafe. But any time you have an
overtly emotional or irrational, negative reaction to something, you’re fearing something that it’s
bringing up in you.”
– Madonna
After forming her own company – Madonna, produced a book titled ‘Sex’. It featured nude
photography and was quite controversial, especially in US; but it sold over half a million copies.
She has launched several business enterprises, such as fashion lines – Material Girl (1980s) and
‘Truth or Dare by Madonna'(2011)
She has acted in a couple of films, without much commercial success – though her appearance in
Evita about Eva Peron, the famous Argentinian wife of the President received good reviews.
She has now produced over 10 albums and remains a very influential artist still capable of hitting
the top of the album charts. According to Billboard magazine, she is second only to the Beatles
in terms of all-time best selling artist.
Her early Catholic roots influenced her music and videos, but, in the early 1990s she embraced
Kabbalah a Jewish mystical sect. In 2004, she adopted the Kabbalah name ‘Esther’ which in
Persian means star. Talking about the meaning of Kabbalah, Madonna stated:
“That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are
responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put
out. I know these things for sure.”
– Madonna
In recent years, Madonna has continued to tour, release albums and engage in humanitarian
work. In 2013, she realised a short film entitled Secretprojectrevolution – launched at the Art for
Freedom initiative, which states it is seeking to promote “art and free speech as a means to
address persecution and injustice across the globe”. She also supports an organisation ‘Raising
Malawi’ a humanitarian organisation co-founded by Madonna and committed to building schools
in an effort to end the extreme poverty of Malawi orphans.
Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of Madonna”, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net,
updated 4th February 2015