Madonna

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Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone is a petite Italian/French Canadian from Pontiac, Michigan. With a gap between her two front teeth, badly bleached blonde hair and a mole on her upper lip, she hardly emulates other pop icons of the glamour rock age of the 1980's. However, Madonna exploded onto the pop and dance music scene in 1982 and has remained there to this date, a remarkable feat in the fickle world of popular music. How has this diva of dance emerged into one of the most widely recognized and successful females in the world today?

Madonna has had unprecedented control over her career. Whether by genius or accident, she learned early on how to shock the public by using overt sexuality. Early on, Madonna was just another pop star using sex to sell records. At a certain point, her fortune grew to such astounding proportions that she metamorphosed into an entertainment baroness - no longer the dizzy "Material Girl" but the savvy business woman whose use of sex seems strategic. Throughout her career, she propagandized her image to sell more than just her music. Madonna has become an industry in herself, filled with movies, books and an image that has become an ideal for many young people across the world.

Madonna moved from her native Michigan to New York in 1977, with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey and modeled. 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. 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.

Madonna's Chart-topping Rise to Fame with Club Hits

• Madonna's first single, "Everybody," became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982
• Madonna's second single, 1983's "Physical Attraction," was another club hit
• In June of 1983, she had her third club hit with the bubbly Holiday and it became her first Top 40 hit the following month.
• "Borderline" became her first Top Ten hit in March of 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits.
• 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.