Madonna’s first number one was released in 1983. “Holiday”, which was taken from her debut album “Madonna” (released in 1982), hit the top spot in the US club charts and was almost as popular in the United Kingdom, where it climbed to number 6. It seems language was no barrier either, as it also made it to number 4 in the Austrian charts and reached the 9th spot in the German chart.
From 1985 to 1987 Madonna released a string of extremely catchy Top 5 singles; her first UK No.1 was “Into The Groove”, which she co-wrote with Steve Bray. These were immediately followed by “Dress You Up”, “Live to Tell” and “Papa Don’t Preach”. “True Blue”, “Open Your Heart” and “La Isla Bonita” all came shortly after and were included on her second album “True Blue”.
It was the start of a long and successful career by the tiny starlet and since then she has managed to rack up an impressive 150 million sales worldwide, and that’s just counting the singles!
Her 1987 comedy film “Who’s That Girl” was not met with the same warmth that her prior musical efforts received but the sound track did rather better. 1989 then saw the release of “Like a Prayer” and the first real controversy for the singer. Shortly after the release of “Like a Prayer” Pepsi signed a multi-million Dollar endorsement with the star Memorials but after seeing the video for the track, which featured burning crosses and bleeding stigmata the deal was nullified while her critics accused her of linking eroticism and religion.
Overall she is the most successful female artist in the world and a real inspiration to women everywhere, demonstrating that with determination, talent and a bottle of peroxide, anything is possible.
More recently she courted controversy when she adopted a Malawian baby but since then several other stars have pulled similar stunts, demonstrating that once again she has set a trend that others are keen to follow.
A few random Madonna facts:
Madonna has been in 22 films
She beat Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Debbie Reynolds and Barbra Streisand to win Best Actress Golden Globe Award in 1997 for her role in Evita.
Madonna is frightened of thunder
She turned down leading roles in Showgirls and The Fabulous Baker Boys as well as being considered for the part of Cat Woman in the 1992 film Batman
Madonna is reportedly a rubbish cook – “The only thing she can cook is Rice Krispie cakes” according to her brother Christopher
She was a member of the cheerleading team at Rochester Adams High School
Madonna is 5 feet 4 inches tall
Always a trend setter, Madonna was possibly the first pop star to feel the need to only provide one name
Madonna made her London West End debut in 2002 in Up For Grabs
She has had 13 Number One singles to date and made it into the UK Top 40 no less than sixty four times
Her “Confessions…” tour was the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in the history of female artists doing tours
Her fortune was estimated at $650 million by Rolling Stone magazine in 2000
External Links to Madonna’s music videos (hosted at Carpet cleaning london– a very good source of further Madonna information)
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