A pop diva of the 1980s, Madonna created a raunchy blonde bombshell persona that propelled such music-video hits as “Like a Virgin” (1984), “Material Girl” (1985), “Like a Prayer” (1989), “Vogue” (1990) and “Justify My Love” (1991). A high-energy performer of aggressively sexual and irreverent material who has been called “the queen of bimbo rock” and a “punk Mae West”, Madonna has outraged many with her messages of assertiveness and kinky sexuality as well as her outrageously suggestive costuming. Her champions, however, have praised her catchy, danceable music (most of which she co-writes and produces), her iconoclastic humor, her bravado in expressing female desire, her provocative assaults on such sacred cows as interracial relationships, homophobia and ignorance about birth control, her shrewd business sense and her post-modern performance style, ideally suited to the end of the 20th century.

The working-class Midwesterner moved to New York in 1978 to become a dancer, but after several false starts as a model and actress (in an underground soft-core feature, “A Certain Sacrifice”, 1979), she hit the clubs and made her name as a high-energy singer. Vibrantly ambitious, Madonna propelled herself Continue Reading »