Professional career

1980–1985: Rise to fame

Madonna in her first music video for 1982's "Everybody."

In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records (a new wave label belonging to Warner Bros. Records) in the United States that paid her $5,000 per song. Her first release (April 24, 1982), "Everybody", a self-written song produced by Mark Kamins, became a hit on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Chart but failed to make the Billboard Hot 100. It also gained airplay on U.S. R&B radio stations, leading many to assume that Madonna was a black artist. The double-sided 12" vinyl single featuring "Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction" followed in 1983, and was a success on the U.S. dance charts. These results convinced Sire Records' executives to finance an album.

Her debut album, Madonna, a collection of dance songs, was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, but in the process both realized they could not work well together. After initial production on the album was completed, Madonna took the record to her then boyfriend, John "Jellybean" Benitez, who remixed and rearranged it. It reached number eight on the U.S. albums chart and contained three successful Hot 100 singles, "Holiday", "Borderline", and "Lucky Star". At the time of its release, Madonna sold three million copies worldwide, one million of those in the U.S. It has since been certified with current sales of 8 million worldwide.

As Madonna rose to fame, several young females became increasingly influenced by and dressed in her fashions portrayed in photographs, live performances and music videos. Defined by lace tops, skirts over Capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the Christian cross, and bleached hair, this distinctive style became an iconic female fashion trend in the 1980s.

Her follow up album, Like a Virgin, was an international success, and became her first number one album on the U.S. albums chart. Buoyed by the success of its title track, Like a Virgin, which reached number one in the U.S. (with a six week stay at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart as well as hit singles with "Material Girl" (#2 US, kept out of the number one spot by USA for Africa's "We Are the World" single), "Angel", and "Dress You Up", the album sold twelve million copies at its time of release and currently stands at 19 million copies worldwide and produced four top-five singles in the U.S. and the UK. Her performance of the song at the first MTV Video Music Awards, during which she writhed on the stage (on top of a wedding cake) wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, lacy stockings, garters, and her then-trademark "Boy Toy" belt, as well as the first of several public displays that boosted Madonna's fan base as much as they incensed some critics, who felt that her provocative style attempted to disguise an absence of talent.

In 1985, Madonna entered mainstream films, beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest. The soundtrack to the film contained her second number one pop hit, the Grammy-nominated ballad "Crazy for You", as well as the UK hit "Gambler". Later that year she appeared in the commercially and critically successful film Desperately Seeking Susan, with her comedic performance winning her positive reviews. The film introduced the dance song "Into the Groove", which was released as a B-side to her single "Angel", peaking at number five in the U.S. and becoming a major hit internationally, and her first number one in the UK. Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in the U.S. in 1985 titled The Virgin Tour, with opening act The Beastie Boys.

In July 1985, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of black and white nude photos of Madonna taken in the late 1970s. The publications caused a swell of public discussion of Madonna, who at first tried to block them from being published, but later remained unapologetic and defiant. Speaking to a global audience at the outdoor Live Aid charity concert at the height of the controversy, Madonna made a critical reference to the media and stated she would not take her jacket off, despite the heat, because "they might hold it against me ten years from now". Madonna later appeared on the cover of the NY Post newspaper quoted saying about the photographs "I'm NOT ashamed."

1986–1991: Artistic development

Madonna's 1986 album True Blue presented a more musically and thematically mature album than its predecessors, prompting Rolling Stone to declare, "singing better than ever, Madonna stakes her claim as the pop poet of lower-middle-class America." The album included the soulful ballad "Live to Tell", which she wrote for the film At Close Range, starring then-husband Sean Penn. The album was also the first to credit her as producer. She collaborated with composer Patrick Leonard, who would become a long-time collaborator and friend. True Blue reached #1 in various countries and sold over eleven million copies worldwide at its time of release. It spawned five successful singles, which all reached the top five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Live to Tell”, “Papa Don't Preach”, “Open Your Heart”, “True Blue” and “La Isla Bonita”.

The music videos for the album displayed Madonna’s continued interest in pushing the boundaries of the video medium to a cinematic level, including elaborate art direction, cinematography, and film devices such as character and plot. Though Madonna had already made videos expressing her sexuality, she added religious iconography, gender archetypes, and social issues to her oeuvre, and these concepts would carry through her work for years to come. One notable example was the "Open Your Heart" video, her first collaboration with French photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

In 1987, Madonna starred in the box office failure Who's That Girl, and contributed four songs to its soundtrack, including the film's title track, which became a hit and Madonna's sixth #1 single in the U.S. The albums second single, "Causing a Commotion" also entered the top five.

Madonna embarked on the Who's That Girl World Tour the same year, at the time the highest-grossing tour in music history, beginning her long association with backing vocalists and dancers Donna DeLory and Niki Haris, and moving closer to the more elaborately staged theater-inspired concert tour. It also marked her first run-in with the Vatican, with the Pope urging fans not to attend her performances in Italy.

Later that year, Madonna released a remix album of past hits, You Can Dance, which included one new song, "Spotlight." The album sold over one million copies in the U.S. and 5 million worldwide.

In 1988, city officials in the town of Pacentro, Italy, planned to construct a 13-foot statue of Madonna in a bustier. The statue was intended to commemorate the fact that some of Madonna's ancestors had lived in Pacentro.

Madonna's fourth album, Like a Prayer, released in 1989, presented more personal lyrics, a more mature vocal style, and solidified her standing as a pop artist. The album was co-written and co-produced with Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray. She teamed up with Prince on a duet, and he also played guitar on two songs. Like a Prayer garnered Madonna the strongest reviews of her career and attracted a more mature audience. All Music Guide described the album as "her best and most consistent", while Rolling Stone hailed the album as "..as close to art as pop music gets". Like a Prayer peaked at number one on the US album chart and sold 13 million copies worldwide, with 4 million copies alone sold in the U.S. The album produced five hit singles: the title track, “Express Yourself,” “Cherish,” “Oh Father,” and “Keep It Together.” “Like a Prayer” itself hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Like a Prayer" (1989) caused controversy as it was condemned by the Vatican for its 'blasphemous' mixture of Catholic symbolism and eroticism.

In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, which would debut her new song, “Like a Prayer,” in a Pepsi commercial that Madonna would also appear in. Madonna would make a separate music video which Pepsi would have nothing to do with. Although the commercial itself was not controversial, the video for “Like a Prayer” caused an uproar. The video premiered on MTV and featured many Catholic symbols, such as stigmata. The video depicted a black man who comes to the aid of a white woman being murdered by white men and he is falsely arrested for the crime. Madonna, who has witnessed the crime, secures his release. Although the video's intent was to denounce racism, Madonna was criticized for her use of burning crosses and "making out" with Jesus. Pepsi was bombarded with complaints and boycotts. Since the commercial and music video were nearly identical in visual terms, the soft drink manufacturer was unable to convince the public that their commercial actually had nothing that could be deemed inappropriate. Pepsi pulled the commercial but Madonna kept her five million dollar fee, as Pepsi had nullified the contract, not she.

In 1990, Madonna starred as Breathless Mahoney in a film adaptation of the popular comic book series Dick Tracy. To accompany the launching of the film, in May 1990 she released I'm Breathless, which included songs from and inspired by the film's 1930s setting. It featured the #1 house music anthem "Vogue" (which was an homage to the Hollywood stars), the Gershwin-esque "Something to Remember", and three songs by Stephen Sondheim, including "Sooner or Later", which won an Academy Award for 'Best Original Song', I'm Breathless was a success in Europe, Australia and the United States, and sold 5 million copies worldwide (2x platinum in the U.S.).

From April until August 1990, Madonna toured Japan, North America, and Europe on her highly successful Blond Ambition World Tour, which the singer likened to musical theatre. Featuring religious and sexual themes and symbolism, the tour drew controversy from Madonna's performance of "Like a Virgin", during which she allowed two male dancers to caress her body before she simulated masturbation. Despite the controversy, however, the tour is now considered to have changed the look and feel of concert tours, and remains one of the singer's most popular tours amongst her fans.

In November 1990, Madonna released her first greatest hits compilation album, The Immaculate Collection, which included two new songs: “Justify My Love” and “Rescue Me.” "Rescue Me," became the highest-debuting single by a female artist in U.S. chart history, entering the charts at number 15. The music video for “Justify My Love,” again directed by Mondino, showed Madonna at the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris, in suggestive scenes with her then-lover, model/actor Tony Ward, as well as scenes of S&M, bondage with gay and lesbian characters, and brief nudity. It was deemed too sexually explicit for MTV, and was subsequently banned from the station. Warner Bros Records released the video as a video single — the first of its kind—and it became the highest-selling video single of all time. The album went on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide.

In 1991, Madonna starred in her first documentary film, Truth or Dare (also known as In Bed with Madonna outside North America), which chronicled her successful 1990 Blond Ambition Tour, as well as her personal life. The following year, she appeared in the baseball film A League of Their Own with a mostly critically praised (one of her few film honors) portrayal of Italian American Mae Mordabito and recorded the film's theme song, "This Used to Be My Playground", which became her tenth #1 single in the United States.

1992–1997: "Sex" controversy and "Evita"

The controversial music video for "Erotica" (1992) was aired only three times on MTV due to its highly charged sexual content.

Erotica, produced primarily with Shep Pettibone, was labeled a "porn" album, many assuming that all of the album's tracks contained sexual themes, though in reality the album only featured three (out of fourteen) overtly sexual songs: "Erotica", "Where Life Begins", and "Did You Do It?". The album peaked at number two in the U.S. and produced six singles, with its most successful being its title track “Erotica,” which became the highest-debuting (number two) single in the history of the U.S. Hot 100 Airplay chart. The controversial music video that accompanied the song only aired three times on MTV due to its highly charged sexual content. The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993 was Madonna's most explicit and controversial concert tour to date and featured Madonna dressed as a whip-cracking dominatrix, surrounded by topless dancers, including Luca Tommassini and Carrie Ann Inaba. The controversy caused by the tour followed Madonna when she caused uproar in Puerto Rico by rubbing the island's flag between her legs on stage, while Orthodox Jews protested against her first-ever show in Israel. Madonna would later comment that this period of her life was designed to give the world every single morsel of what they seemed to be demanding in their invasion of her private life. She hoped that once it was all out in the open, people could settle down and focus on her work.

Credited as one of Madonna's most experimental videos, "Bedtime Story" (1995) directed by Mark Romanek featured images inspired by paintings by artists Frida Kahlo and Remedios Varo.

Madonna later released her sixth studio album, Bedtime Stories, co-produced by Nellee Hooper and Dallas Austin. Madonna at the time was inspired by R&B/rock singer Joi's debut album Pendulum Vibe, and was so in love with it that she recruited producer Dallas Austin to help with her project. The album features Madonna turning to a more R&B-flavored sound. It was a success in Europe, Australia, and the United States, where it peaked at number three and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Vocal Album category. With its title track partially written by Björk, the album gave a hint of what would come musically a few years later. It produced four singles, including "Take a Bow", co-written and produced with Babyface. The song was a success on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number one for seven consecutive weeks, but became the first Madonna song not to chart in the UK Top 10, charting at number 16. The Michael Haussman Spanish-themed video, meanwhile, would later help her win the lead role in Evita.

On 7 November 1995, Madonna released Something to Remember, a collection of her best ballads, which featured three new tracks, including a cover of the Marvin Gaye classic “I Want You,” which she recorded with British band Massive Attack, and the top ten hit “You'll See.” The album just missed the top five on the U.S. charts; it has since been certified triple platinum.

In 1996, Madonna’s most critically successful film, Evita, was released. The film's soundtrack became her twelfth platinum album and produced two hit singles, “Don't Cry for Me Argentina” and “You Must Love Me”, the latter of which was written specifically for the film. “You Must Love Me” won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song From a Motion Picture the following year. Madonna herself also won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy but failed to receive an Academy Award nomination.

1998–2002: Return to prominence

Madonna's seventh studio album, 1998's Ray of Light, blended personal and introspective lyrics with Eastern sounds, down-tempo, electronic instrumentation, strings by Craig Armstrong and a strong rave flavor. The album reached number two on the U.S. albums chart and since its release has been certified 4x platinum. It earned Madonna the strongest reviews of her career since Like a Prayer and has been widely considered by critics to be one of her greatest artistic achievements. Madonna's pronunciation, in her recital of Sanskrit shlokas taken from the opening hymn of yoga taravali for her album Ray of Light, had been declared incorrect by Sanskrit pandits of Benares and, the material girl learnt the basics of the correct pronunciation of Sanskrit words from an eminent scholar, Dr B P T Vagish Shastri through telephonic chats arranged by the BBC, London.

Amazon.com described the album as "her richest, most accomplished record yet", while Rolling Stone credited Madonna and her co-producer William Orbit for "creating the first mainstream pop album that successfully embraces techno", stating that musically Ray of Light is her "most adventurous record" yet. Ray of Light produced five singles, including the European number one "Frozen" . The album won three awards at the 1999 Grammy Awards and has been ranked #363 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Microsoft used the Ray of Light title track in its 2001 advertising campaign to introduce Windows XP.

In 1998, Madonna was signed to play the role of violin teacher Roberta Guaspari Demetras in the film Music of the Heart, but left the project before filming began, citing "creative differences" with director Wes Craven. She has already studied for many months to play the violin. The children of Opus 118 - Harlem School of Music, led by Roberta Guaspari, performed with Madonna twice in 1998: "Frozen" at the Annual Rain Forest Benefit at Carnegie Hall, New York and at the 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards performing "The Power of Good-Bye".

Madonna followed the success of Ray of Light with the top-twenty single "Beautiful Stranger", a late 60s psyche-pop song she wrote with William Orbit and recorded for the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack (1999).

In 2000, Madonna released her follow-up film to Evita. The Next Best Thing was a disappointment at the box office and was panned by critics. Madonna contributed two songs to the film's soundtrack, namely "Time Stood Still" and European number one "American Pie", a dance cover version of the 1970s Don McLean single.

Music, her eighth studio album, had Madonna slightly step away from the exploration of spirituality and fame to get back to the "party" spirit of dance, pop, and house music. However, she retained the introspective poignancy of Ray of Light in songs such as "Paradise (Not for Me)" and introduced guitars for a more folk-like note, notably in “Don't Tell Me” or ballads such as “Gone.” Music debuted at number one on the U.S. albums chart and became her first number one album release since her 1989 Like a Prayer. Mainly co-written and produced with French house musician Mirwais Ahmadzai, the album produced three singles, including the worldwide number one "Music".^] The album's third single, “What It Feels Like for a Girl,” featured a controversial music video, directed by Madonna's husband, Guy Ritchie, and was banned by MTV and VH1 after just one airing due to its graphic violence.

In 2001, Madonna embarked on the Drowned World Tour, her first tour in eight years. The concert tour was successful, was the subject of a television special in the US, and was released on DVD in November 2001 to coincide with the release of her second greatest hits album, GHV2. Unlike her previous compilation, GHV2 did not include any new songs, although clubs did receive multiple mega-mixes for promotional play only. In 2002, she wrote and performed the theme song to the James Bond film Die Another Day. The song reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for both a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and a Golden Raspberry for Worst Song.

2003–present: Commercial ups and downs

The original video for "American Life" (2003) was widely seen as controversial and was revoked on the day of its release due to its graphic images and antiwar message.

Madonna's ninth studio album, American Life, in which her lyrics were themed on the aspects of the American dream, fame, fortune and society, received mixed reviews. Arguably her most daring and musically extreme album, American Life presented a darker and more serious side of the singer.

The music video for the first single, "American Life", caused controversy in the U.S., as it contained visceral scenes depicting war, explosions, and blood. The day before the video was to air on European television, Madonna pulled it and released instead an edited version, which showed her singing in front of flags from around the world. The song failed to perform well on the U.S. singles chart, peaking at thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, it reached number two on the charts.

Having sold five million copies, American Life became the lowest selling album of her career. The album produced three more singles, all failing to chart in the U.S., but enjoying Top 10 success in various European countries.

Later that year, Madonna performed the song "Hollywood" with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott at the MTV Video Music Awards. Madonna kissed Spears and Aguilera during the performance, resulting in tabloid press frenzy. That fall, Madonna provided guest vocals on Spears's single "Me Against the Music".

During the Christmas season of 2003, Madonna released Remixed & Revisited, a remix EP that included rock versions of songs from American Life, as well as "Your Honesty", a left-over from 1994's Bedtime Stories album. The collection failed to chart in the Billboard top 100.

In 2004, Madonna embarked on The Re-Invention World Tour, which featured fifty-six dates in the U.S., Canada, and Europe and became the highest-grossing tour of 2004, earning $125 million. She made a documentary about the tour named I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, which debuted on MTV and was directed by Jonas Akerlund. Also in 2004, Madonna was involved in a brief legal battle with Warner Music Group, with whom she co-owned record label Maverick. The legal dispute ended with Warner Music Group buying Madonna's shares in the record label. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her #36 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In January 2005, Madonna performed a cover version of the John Lennon song "Imagine" on the televised U.S. aid concert "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope", which raised money for the tsunami victims in Asia.

Madonna's tenth studio album, the Grammy-winning Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005) which sold more than 8 million copies, was built as a continuous mix of dance songs, with musical elements borrowed from the '70s, and current dance music. The album received the most positive reviews since 1998's Ray of Light and was considered a return to form after the negative reception to American Life. It has produced four singles: "Hung Up", became one of the most successful singles of all time, reaching number one in a record breaking 41 countries. Madonna opened the 2006 Grammy Awards with "Hung Up", alongside the nominated computer-generated band, Gorillaz. "Sorry" then became Madonna's twelfth number one in the UK, making her the female artist with the most Number One singles in the UK charts. A third single, "Get Together", reached the UK Top 10 and became her thirty-sixth number one dance hit in the U.S. (the most for any artist in Billboard history), but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The fourth and final single was "Jump", charting at number nine in the UK.

In the summer of 2006, Madonna signed on to become the worldwide face of H&M. Included in the deal was a specially designed track suit, created by Madonna. The next year M by Madonna, launched in the United States, and internationally. In its first week, the line took in $15 million dollars. It became so successful that the company has ordered a second and third line for late 2007.

Madonna's Confessions Tour kicked off in late May 2006. The tour grossed a reported $260.1 million and was one of the top-grossing tours ever by a female artist in history, with a global audience of 1.2 million. The tour sparked controversy when she used religious symbols such as the crucifix and crown of thorns in her performance of "Live to Tell". The tour ended its 60-date run on September 21, 2006, in Tokyo. A CD+DVD of "The Confessions Tour - Live from London" special was released on January 29, 2007 internationally and January 30, 2007 in the US.

In October 2006, Madonna flew to Malawi to help build an orphanage, which she also funded, as part of the Raising Malawi initiative. While there, she adopted a baby boy, named David.

On 16 May, 2007, a song was released by Madonna called "Hey You", released in anticipation for Live Earth. Madonna is currently directing her first film, Filth and Wisdom and has started production on her next album, which is expected to be released by November 2007. A box set containing three CDs and two DVDs marking the 25th anniversary, is said to be released sometime in October 2007. Madonna is also working on a documentary on the problems and difficulties faced by people in Malawi. Madonna performed 'Hey You' amongst other songs at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London on July 7, 2007.