[歌手简介]
Madonna was born on, 16th August in 1958 in Rochester, Michigan. Her family lived in Pontiac, Michigan at the time, but were visiting grandmother in Bay City when Madonna decided to appear in the world. She was christened Madonna Louise Ciccone, but her family used to called her 'Little Nonni'. When she was only five years old the mother she loved died of breast cancer. Madonna learnt to be strong and independent early in life and she carries a clear memory of her mother's courage: "She tried to keep her fear deep down inside and not let us know - she never complained".
When Madonna was small, she loved to hum along to songs on the radio as she helped with the housework. She remembers: "There was always music in our house, either records or the radio or someone singing on the bathtub." Soon her father wanted her to take piano lessons, because most of the family played a musical instrument and his father was really big on that. This was not to be, Madonna was her father's favorite and persuaded him to let her take dance lessons instead!
Madonna was 12 years old, when she entered the local Catholic high school. It was at this school that she learnt a great deal from classes in tap, jazz dancing, Baton twirling and Gymnastics. It was here that she started to display the extrovert Madonna which only her family had experienced. "I wanted to do everything everybody told me I couldn't do, I couldn't wear make up, I couldn't wear nylons, I couldn't cut my hair, I couldn't go on dates, I couldn't even go to the movies with my friends". She craved attention by wearing odd socks, appearing in a friend's home movie with a fried egg on her stomach. She also appeared in a local talent contest where she danced to a record by 'The Who' wearing only a bikini and body paint.
Apart from being a flirtatious rebel, Madonna was very good at her schoolwork. Not so surprisingly Madonna shone in the school's theatre department, where she was given the lead role in several of their productions. After Madonna left school she attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, where she studied under ballet school owner, Chris Flynn.
Pretty soon after studying some time in the university of Michigan Madonna wanted to go to New York to chase her dreams. So there she was, finally in New York, standing in the middle of Times Square, with just thirty five dollars, a satchel full of tights, dance shoes under one arm and a giant doll under the other.
Madonna finally got a deal with Gotham Records, worth one hundred dollars a week. She kept at it and eventually got a record deal with 'Sire Records' for only $5000 and released her first single 'Everybody'. When it was first played on the radio and in clubs, many fans mistook Madonna for an Afro-American disco diva. Record company also didn't put Madonna's picture on this single's cover, they wanted people to think that she was Afro-American, to sell more records. 'Everybody' sold over 250 000 copies and went to No.3 in the dance charts. John 'Jellybean' Benitez found Madonna the song 'Holiday' which was an instant hit, but Madonna first hit the top ten with "Borderline". It's rumored that her vocals were mechanically altered to make her sound more girlie. Her first album 'Madonna', released in 1983 won her wide acclaim and millions of fans, plus invitations to move into films.
Not only was Madonna setting the tone music wise, she was also creating a whole new fashion. In "Lucky Star" music video, she showcased her Boy Toy image. Madonna's style was so popular that world famous lingerie store 'Fredericks of Hollywood' reported a 40 % increase in sales, which they put down to the Material Girl's image.
Her music was about to take a new and controversial turn. The new album 'Like A Virgin' released in 1984 established Madonna as a popular artist and soon nearly everyone had a copy of this album.
It gained 3X platina status in the US charts immediately! Interesting is, that Madonna's first album 'Madonna'(1938) was still doing pretty good at the charts when new album was released. The year 1985 was VERY busy for Madonna. The music video 'Material Girl' came out on the 1st of February, the movie "Vision Quest" on February 15th and the movie "Desperately Seeking Susan" on March 29th. Her role in "Desperately Seeking Susan" added a significant facet to her image. Madonna's singles: "Material Girl" and "Crazy For You "were both top five hits. "Crazy for you" gave Madonna her first Grammy nomination. Madonna's first big tour was named after her album- "The Virgin Tour".
Since year 1985, Madonna is known as a person who can do anything: she is a singer, an actress, a composer, a producer and an executive. Madonna has success everywhere. She has broken every available radio, video sales, and box-office record, racking up no fewer than 29 Top Ten singles, 11 of those reaching No. 1. It's world record! 1994's "Take A Bow," lodged in the top spot for seven consecutive weeks and beat the performance of her 1984 breakthrough, "Like A Virgin," which had a six-week run at the top.
麦当娜1958年出生于美国密歇根州底特律附近的贝城。父亲是一名工程师，母亲是一位家庭主妇，麦当娜是家中8个孩子中最大的女孩。童年时的麦当娜胆子很大，又很有商业头脑。她参加了学校的表演，当过啦啦队长，上过钢琴课，也学习过芭蕾舞。麦当娜的舞技使她获得了密歇根大学的奖学金。1978年，在大学二年级时，麦当娜中断学业，前往纽约发展。富有传奇色彩的她只身带着仅有的35美元和一腔热血跑到纽约安了家。
80年代初，她开始尝试着写歌词，慢慢地又学会了弹吉它和钢琴。麦当娜开始在当地的舞蹈俱乐部中作爵士乐歌手，她的撩人的嗓音、热情和调皮的舞台风格吸引了众多观众的注意。1982年，无线电唱片音乐节目主持马克·卡明斯(Mark Kamins)给她提供了一个机会：以她的一首单曲“Everybody”制作了一部成功的俱乐部舞台剧，并把崭露头角的麦当娜介绍给了华纳唱片公司(Warner Bros.) 的行政官员。这位官员对她的歌非常满意，立即给了麦当娜一个录音合同。
1983年麦当娜出版了首张以她名字命名的专辑——《麦当娜》，但没有引起人们的注意。然而这张唱片的几首歌曲成了纽约夜总会的必放歌曲。不久，专辑中的“Lucky Star”和“Borderline”也走上了她的第一首单曲同样的成功之路。1984年，华纳唱片公司发行了她的唱片集《像个淑女》(Like a Virgin)，其主题曲成了麦当娜第一首荣登排行榜榜首的单曲，这张专辑也登上排行榜第一的位置。1985年，麦当娜单曲和专辑的销售量超过了以往任何一位艺术家。
