Tuesday, August 27, 2013

MADONNA: STILL IN VOGUE




MADONNA burst on to the pop scene 30 years ago but few realised back then that she would go on to dominate quite as she has, despite her sound, sex appeal and stunning look.

The newcomer’s photograph wasn’t even on the cover of her first hit single, Holiday, released in the US on September 7, 1983, which was instead promoted with a picture of a train leaving a station.

Madonna’s label, Sire, was trying to make listeners think that she was black in the hope of getting the song played on R&B radio stations.

Holiday not only got airplay but became the breakout hit from her debut album, Madonna, which entered the lower reaches of the charts in late August 1983 and stayed in the LP charts for 168 weeks. That eight-track album would eventually sell 10 million copies and still holds up well today as an infectious dance pop classic.

Yet it was her look that won attention before her music with the lace tops, ripped jeans, studded bracelets and bleached hair being hard to miss. That was certainly the case when the starry-eyed wannabe made a fateful trip to Danceteria, the hot New York nightclub of the time.

The disco on four floors on 21st Street was a real future star factory as British singer Sade worked behind the bar, rapper LL Cool J was the lift operator and the Beastie Boys cleared away glasses.

On this night, Sire Records executive Michael Rosenblatt was at the second floor bar chatting to his guests, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley from hot new group Wham!, when he suddenly noticed a striking girl sashaying across the dancefloor and asking the DJ to play her demo tape.

Rosenblatt recalls: “She radiated star power. I introduced myself, asked her what she was looking for and Madonna’s answer was, ‘I want to rule the world’.” A few months later she was recording the debut album that would put her on the path to world domination.

On the recommendation of Rosenblatt, his chief talent spotter, Sire Records founder Seymour Stein listened to her demo tape and signed Madonna to his label.

On shaking hands with the singer and looking into her eyes, the label boss instantly knew he would not regret it. He remembered: “I saw a young woman who was so determined to be a star.”

That determination showed itself when she worked hard in the studio, spending long hours perfecting the debut album, and rehearsing endlessly ahead of live performances.

Stein added: “I never saw anybody work this hard in my life and I thought, ‘There’s no stopping this girl’.”

Needing one more song to complete the album, her producer boyfriend Jellybean Benitez found her Holiday, a catchy number that had been rejected by Mary Wilson of the Supremes.

Madonna sprinkled her magic on the song, and even played one of the instruments used in recording it… a cowbell! A few years ago she revealed that Holiday was the favourite of all her songs. It was her first hit but clearly wouldn’t be her last.

Follow up singles Borderline and Lucky Star also became big successes from that first album and further smashes came thick and fast.

Madonna’s reign as the queen of pop was just beginning and fully justified her decision, five years earlier, to drop out of college and move from Michigan to New York. She would later say of that big move: “It was the first time I’d ever taken a plane, the first time I’d ever gotten a taxi cab.

I came to New York with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I’d ever done, but New York was the centre of everything.”

Before finding fame she scraped a living there as a waitress at Dunkin’ Donuts, as a dancer and an artists’ model.

She also performed in two pop bands, Breakfast Club and Emmy, failed an audition for a Martin Scorsese film, acted in a stage play (In Artificial Light) and posed for nude photos.

Her story is that of the classic starving artist. She was living in a tiny flat, claimed to be eating out of rubbish bins and grew frustrated that most men she approached in showbusiness wanted to sleep with her rather than work with her.

Yet she took control of her destiny by making a four-track demo tape at a Times Square studio, a tape that proved to be a passport to the big time when she persuaded DJs to play it in clubs and momentum began to build.

Madonna modelled herself on pop queens Debbie Harry, Grace Jones and Chrissie Hynde but would swiftly go on to eclipse them all. Childhood influences clearly had a big impact on her success.

She was raised in Detroit, home of Motown, and those dance-orientated records shaped her pop sound.

Watching countless Hollywood films and Broadway musicals inspired her stage persona. It was part of a relentless search for attention and affection that was fuelled by the loss of her mother to cancer when Madonna was five.

The debut album was a lot tamer than what would pour out of Madonna in later years as sexuality and spirituality took a controversial hold on her career and things got both steamy and scandalous.

This was just sunny pop with catchy hooks and irresistible dance beats. The critics loved it but none were predicting she would stay around the pop scene long term. That seemed impossible to imagine. But with drive and talent she certainly managed it.

Madonna, now 55, has sold more than 300 million records and is the best selling female recording artist in history with a net worth of more than a billion dollars.

Yet it all started with that first album 30 years ago, one that would change pop music forever.

Happy anniversary Your Madgesty.

by Sandro Monetti
express.co.uk

Monday, August 26, 2013

Madonna tops Forbes’ most prestigious list of 2013! Biggest Moneymaker!




American business magazine Forbes just published their 2013 list of the top-earning celebrities. Although the article is filled with negative criticism towards Madonna, they had to acknowledge that the Queen of Pop is the highest-earning musician of the past 12 months thanks to her incredible MDNA Tour.

We won’t post a link to Forbes’ article as we don’t want to give them any form of publicity, so here is the full list…

1. Madonna – $125 million
2. Steven Spielberg – $100 million
3. Simon Cowell – $95 million
4. Howard Stern – $95 million
5. E.L. James – $95 million
6. James Patterson – $91 million
7. Glenn Beck – $90 million
8. Michael Bay – $82 million
9. Jerry Bruckheimer – $80 million
10. Lady Caca – $80 million
11. Tyler Perry – $78 million
12. Tiger Woods – $78 million
13. Oprah Winfrey – $77 million
14. Robert Downey Jr – $75 million
15. Dr. Phil McGraw – $72 million
16. Roger Federer – $71 million
17. Dick Wolf – $70 million
18. Rush Limbaugh – $66 million
19. Toby Keith – $65 million
20. Mark Burnett – $63 million


Sunday, August 18, 2013

Friday, August 16, 2013

Happy Birthday Madonna!!!!







Wishing the best ever!!!! You deserve the world!!!! Big hugs and kisses!

Friday, August 9, 2013

MDNA Tour DVD Press Release and Cover!







The highly anticipated and groundbreaking Madonna MDNA World Tour concert film will be released September 10th on DVD, Blu-ray and as a digital album on Live Nation and Interscope Records. Pre-order the DVD and Blu-ray now.
The two hour nonstop performance includes songs from Madonna’s MDNA album such as “Girl Gone Wild” and “Gang Bang,” as well as fan favorites including exhilarating versions of “Hung Up,” “Express Yourself,” “Vogue,” “Open Your Heart,” “Like A Prayer” and “Celebration.”

The MDNA Tour extravaganza was the most successful single tour of 2012 and was launched in conjunction with Madonna’s MDNA album which debuted in the #1 spot in 35 countries. Presented by Live Nation Global Touring, the MDNA World Tour included 88 sold out shows in 29 countries. Madonna and her ten member band lead by musical director Kevin Antunes and troupe of 27 dancers performed a wild two hour spectacle which included state of the art visuals and sound, hundreds of costume changes that fascinated, enthralled and entertained over 2.2 million fans. “I left my heart on that stage every night,” commented Madonna who personally spent six months editing the footage to perfection for the dvd release in order for fans to have a total in concert experience in their own homes.

“My show is a journey.. the journey of a soul from darkness to light. It is part cinematic musical theatre, part spectacle and sometimes intimate performance art. I know people can relate to it. It’s very important to me as an artist that my show not be taken out of context. It must be watched with an open heart from beginning to end.. I am sure if it is viewed this way, the viewer will walk away feeling inspired, invigorated and will want to make the world a better place.. And this of course is my intention,” commented Madonna in a tour manifesto she released to her fans around the globe.

Rave reviews included The Dallas Morning News: “The Material Girl proceeds to take us through a song cycle that examined sex, liberation, sin, empowerment, love, addiction, rebellion and finally redemption.. She did it all in classic Madonna Style – controversial and eye-popping.”

The MDNA World Tour DVD was directed by Danny B. Tull and Stephane Sennour and was produced by Madonna..Executive producers: Arthur Fogel , Guy Oseary and Sara Zambreno. Tour wardrobe was created by Arianne Phillips. Supervising Editor Danny B. Tull. Director of Photography Mark Ritchie.

www.madonna.com
source: Interscope Records

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

SEYMOUR STEIN ON MADONNA (TABLET MAGAZINE)




Seymour Stein, Record Company Man Who Signed the Ramones and Madonna

It may be hard to believe, but it’s been 30 years since Madonna released her debut self-titled album. The man responsible for signing the then-unknown twenty-something singer is chairman and co-founder of Sire Records, Seymour Stein. If you’re into popular music, odds are that you’ve heard of him. Even before Madonna, he was responsible for signing the kind of bands that changed people’s lives, like The Ramones, Talking Heads, and The Pretenders. He is popularly believed to have coined the term New Wave as a musical genre and is credited for breaking British bands such as Depeche Mode and The Smiths into the U.S. market. He is even responsible for bringing the original Fleetwood Mac to America in the 1970s, so no wonder he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

It’s been 30 years since Madonna’s first album, which of course you were responsible for. How did that happen?
This wasn’t at the beginning of my career. I already had Sire Records, which was moderately successful. I already had some very important bands before I signed her—The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Pretenders. I had another company that had all the original Fleetwood Mac recordings, so Madonna wasn’t my first big artist. I got involved with her through a club DJ named Mark Kamins, who I liked and I thought had a lot of talent. I gave him some work remixing records. He wanted to be a producer and he wanted me to give him one of my artists to produce. I told him, “I don’t give my artists to anybody. Usually they pick the producer. I try to give my artists as much artistic freedom as possible, within reason. I couldn’t recommend you because you have no track record. If you want to be a producer you have to find an artist and bring him or her or it—if it’s a band—to me. Then if I like the artist you can produce them.” He brought me a couple of things that were very good but not good enough to sign. The third artist he brought me was Madonna. I was in the hospital at the time. I had to be there for a month, I had an infection. The Walkman had just recently come out, so I had the demo sent right over to me. I loved it and being a little naturally paranoid, in a very Jewish way, I said, “I want to see her right away, I want to sign her.” So, she came to the hospital, we agreed to make a record together and the rest is history.

Did you ever think she’d be calling herself Esther one day?
Esther meine schwester? Ahh … no. I believed she would be a star. People ask me, “Did you know then, in the hospital, that she would be one of the biggest female singers of the 20th century?” I would love to be able to say, “Of course I did!” But that’s not true and I couldn’t say that. But I always believed in her, because not only did she have talent, but she had a burning desire, drive, ambition, and a work ethic that is incredible. So, she had everything and I saw that in my hospital room.

Are you still in touch with her today?
Yes. I was at one of her gigs of the last tour. Warner Bros. bought my company and if it were up to me she’d still be where she was. But she couldn’t make a new deal with Warner on the terms that she wanted and she left. It had nothing to do with me. I don’t see her that much but I’m in close contact with her manager, Guy Oseary, who is Israeli and living in L.A. and a very smart young man. Well, he’s not that young anymore. He’s certainly quite young, but when I met him he was just out of high school. He wasn’t managing her then, but he became involved with her record company and he did an excellent job. It’s been a very good working relationship between the two of them.

What do you think about Madonna’s interest in Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism?
I think it’s tremendous. I learned a bit of Kabbalah when I was young, not very much, and I didn’t take to it that well. But Kabbalah is not just for Jews. I think Madonna has done a lot for Kabbalah because she’s a spokesperson for it and I find it wonderful.

You don’t find it a bit strange?
Not at all. She was in it before the trend. She didn’t do it because it was trendy, just like she doesn’t help little children in Africa because it’s a trendy thing to do. She does it because she wants to. She’s not very interested in her own religion, the Catholic religion. I shouldn’t say this because I don’t really know, but from knowing her and being close with her my interpretation is that a lot of it had to do with her schooling at Catholic school and also with the fact that both of her parents were very religious Catholic and her mother was taken away from her at such an early age. Her mother died of cancer and she never got over it. That’s it. And then she just found the Kabbalah. I have several Jewish friends who have found Buddhism. Is that any less strange?

by Dana Kessler
tabletmag.com

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Rumour: Madonna to direct ‘The Impossible Lives Of Greta Wells’?




Author Andrew Sean Greer has revealed that Madonna has snapped up the rights to his book “The Impossible Lives Of Greta Wells,” though it’s not yet clear if she’ll just produce, or take on a bigger role in the production. “I got a phone call last week…I think it’s fine. No one’s asked me about this… from a celebrity who read the book and loved it so much she called me up personally to talk to me about it,” he told Litseen. “I thought it was going to be one of her assistants who was like, loved your book, she’s interested. Right. She didn’t read it. But oh no no no. She called me. She read it. She totally got it. There were a couple other people interested and they sort of all made a deal together, and she’s optioned the rights to it. We’ll see what happens. But it’s fun because it was Madonna.”
And it’s easy to see why Madonna might be curious about this one as movie material. Like “W.E.,” the story here is also split between a couple of a time periods, with another romance at its core. Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:
From the critically acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller The Confessions of Max Tivoli comes The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, a rapturously romantic story of a woman who finds herself transported to the “other lives” she might have lived.
After the death of her beloved twin brother and the abandonment of her long-time lover, Greta Wells undergoes electroshock therapy. Over the course of the treatment, Greta finds herself repeatedly sent to 1918, 1941, and back to the present. Whisked from the gas-lit streets and horse-drawn carriages of the West Village to a martini-fueled lunch at the Oak Room, in these other worlds, Greta finds her brother alive and well—though fearfully masking his true personality. And her former lover is now her devoted husband…but will he be unfaithful to her in this life as well? Greta Wells is fascinated by her alter egos: in 1941, she is a devoted mother; in 1918, she is a bohemian adulteress.
In this spellbinding novel by Andrew Sean Greer, each reality has its own losses, its own rewards; each extracts a different price. Which life will she choose as she wrestles with the unpredictability of love and the consequences of even her most carefully considered choices?
IndieWire