\\ larger than life \\ madonna

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mmmiaiiini

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miaiiiniimi

. .

Madonna is the most media-savvy American pop star since Bob Dylan and the most consistently controversial since Elvis Presley. In the minds of her supporters, her sassy approach to dance music and in-your-face videos gave feminism a much-needed makeover throughout the Eighties, smashing sexual boundaries, redefining the nature of eroticism, and challenging social and religious mores. To her detractors, she merely reinforced the notion of "woman as plaything," turning the clock back on conventional feminism two decades. One thing is rarely disputed: At nearly every turn, she has maintained firm control over her career and image.

In late 1984, Like a Virgin, shot to the Top Ten upon its release; it eventually sold more than seven million copies. Throughout 1985 Madonna was ubiquitous, appearing in both movies, with hit songs on three albums. By March "Crazy for You" (#1), from the Vision Quest soundtrack, and "Material Girl" (#2), from Like a Virgin, were in the Top Five simultaneously.

She returned to music in 1989 with Like a Prayer, and the title song’s video -- complete with burning crosses and an eroticized black Jesus -- launched Madonna’s biggest and costliest controversy yet. The ordeal made Madonna a worldwide phenomenon. Like a Prayer spawned four other Top Twenty hits: "Express Yourself" (#2), "Cherish" (#2), "Oh Father" (#20), and "Keep It Together" (#8).

Madonna hit her megastar stride in 1990 when she appeared as Breathless Mahoney with then-boyfriend Warren Beatty in Dick Tracy. In 1991 she scored hits with "Rescue Me" (#9) and "Justify My Love" (#1); the video for the latter fanned the flames of controversy yet again. She then oversaw the film Truth or Dare, a documentary of her Blond Ambition Tour dressed up to look like D. A. Pennebaker’s Dylan movie, Don‘t Look Back.

The singer affirmed her business acumen in 1992 when she signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Time Warner, guaranteeing release of all albums, films, and books under her Maverick production corporation. Her first Maverick project was a highly controversial 128-page coffee-table photo book, Sex, which had Madonna posing nude and wearing S&M gear. Sex was followed by the album Erotica, which peaked at #2 and produced Top Five hits in 1992: the title track and "Deeper and Deeper." "Bad Girl" and "Rain" were both Top Forty hits in 1993. She also returned to the pop chart that year with the #2 single "I’ll Remember," from the 1994 film With Honors. Her late 1994 album, Bedtime Stories (#3), presented a fairly traditional R&B sound and yielded the hit singles "Secret" (#4,1994) and "Take a Bow" (#1, 1995).

On October 14, 1996, she and then boyfriend Carlos Leon welcomed daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon—whom mama Madonna calls Lola—into the world. In addition, the lambasted star appeared as the titular heroine of Evita (1996). It was a role she seemed born to play. At least the Hollywood Foreign Press Association thought so — it honored Madonna with a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.