Born: August 16, 1958
City and Country of Origin: Bay City, Michigan
Music Training: studied dance at the University of Michigan; studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey
Awards: 1995 Golden Globe for Best Actress "Evita"
Top Recordings: "Holiday," "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl" "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," "Vogue," "Justify My Love"
Madonna Biography: Many people claim that the defining event of her life was the death of her mother also named Madonna at the tender age of 5. In high school she was a cheerleader and became so obsessed with dance that she would win a scholarship in that discipline to the University of Michigan. She dropped out after her first year and moved to New York, in 1977, to pursue her dream as a performer. She took up residence in the "East Village" or should I more accuratley say the Lower Eastside often referred to as the Alphabet Jungle where the avenues are defined by letters rather than numbers. Here she led the bohemian lifestyle of a young starving artist for a couple of years. It was at this time that she found work as an artist's model and even posed for nude photos which would eventually wind up in Playboy and Penthouse magazines. Although she lacks an incredible singing voice, she more than makes up for it with ability to market herself and manipulate the media. For years I have run in Central Park and would often see her out in the park jogging with her entourage in either the late morning or early afternoon. I run around the park counterclockwise and she would run clockwise making it all the more likely that we would pass one another. At one point early in her career I even ran with her around the Central Park reservoir. She joined the disco group Patrick Hernandez Revue and travelled to Paris with them. There she met Dan Gilroy who became her boyfriend. After returning to New York, they formed The Breakfast Club a pop dance group. She started as the drummer for the group, but eventually became the lead singer. She left the band to form a new group Emmy with former boyfriend Stephen Bray. The group cut some tracks which worked their way to the desk of Mark Kamins a DJ/record producer who got them into the hands of Sire Records who signed her to a recording contract. Her first 2 recordings "Everybody" and "Physical Attraction" became dance hall hits as did her third release "Holiday" which also marked her first entry into the top 40. "Borderline" would become her first top ten seller and "Lucky Star" would also make the top ten. It was at this time that Madonna embarked on her first movie role starring in Desparately Seeking Susan. At the end of 1984 she released her second album Like A Virgin from which the title track "Like A Virgin" went all the way to the top of the charts in December. If Madonna had come along earlier she may not have achieved the same level of success for it was her often racy and controversial videos which created a stir in the media. Her next hit, a song some say she wished she had never recorded, "Material Girl" made it all the way to number 2 on the charts. The reason they say that is because the monniker "Material Girl" has stuck with her through the years. In 1988 she starred in the play David Mamet's Speed the Plow on Broadway. Her rocky 4 year marriage to actor Sean Penn ended in divorce in 1989, a year in which she also turned out 3 more hit records "Express Yourself," "Cherish," and "Keep It Together." In 1990 she launched her Blonde Ambition Tour which ran throughout the year, while her latest release "Vogue" made it to the top of the charts. This set the stage for her next successful movie Dick Tracy in which she co-starred with Warren Beatty. Her next album release The Immaculate Collection netted her 2 new hits including the number 1 "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me" the highest debuting female release in recording history at 15. In 1995 she began campaigning for the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's upcoming movie Evita for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Music by the Decade:

Sounds of the Fifties

Sounds of the Sixties

Sounds of the Seventies

Sounds of the Eighties

Sounds of the Nineties