WMadonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she is regarded as one of the most influential figures in popular culture. Madonna is noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation. She is also known for pushing the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music while remaining completely in charge of every aspect of her career. Her works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both critical acclaim and controversy. Madonna is often cited as an influence by other artists.
WSince her debut in 1982, Madonna's contributions to music, film, fashion, dance, and popular culture alongside with her attitude has influenced many other artists in the world. Her influence in the entertainment industry has generated extensive commentaries and analysis from critics, the media and public alike.
WAshcombe House, also known as Ashcombe Park, is a Georgian manor house, set in 1,134 acres (4.59 km2) of land on Cranborne Chase in the parish of Berwick St John, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. The house is roughly equidistant between the villages of Berwick St John and Tollard Royal. It is listed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest as a Grade II structure.
WMadonna is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1978, for a career in modern dance. After performing as a member of the pop musical groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her self-titled debut album, Madonna in 1983, by Sire Records. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) for the song "Borderline". Madonna was followed by a series of hit singles from her studio albums Like a Virgin (1984) and True Blue (1986) which gave her global recognition. Madonna became a pop icon for pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. In 1985, she received a number of VMA nominations for her music videos and two nominations in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category of the Grammy Awards. Billboard magazine listed her as the "Top Pop Artist" for 1985, as well as the "Top Pop Singles Artist" for the next two years.
WThe life and work of American singer Madonna have generated various academic works. This is a list containing the different written works about Madonna, including biographies, journals, articles, essays and theses. According to critic Paul Northup who wrote in Third Way magazine, "Eminent authors and academics have pored over her tirelessly since she burst onto the pop scene in the early Eighties."
WMateo Blanco is an American 2D and 3D artist. Blanco uses non-conventional items to create art. Many of Mateo's creations are acquired by Ripley's Believe It or Not. Mateo lives in Orlando, Florida and is also an American tenor. He recorded an album titled Mateo Blanco 7:24.
WBreakfast Club was an American musical group. Their biggest hit single was "Right on Track", which peaked at no. 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was remixed for a commercial release in a 12" version for dance and club play by John "Jellybean" Benitez and became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Magazine Hot Dance Club Play chart.
WAmerican singer Madonna was embroiled with a number of controversies during The MDNA Tour. It was her ninth concert tour, promoting her twelfth studio album, MDNA (2012). The tour has generated many newspaper headlines and news coverage for its use of fake firearms during performances, Madonna's nudity on stage, and her promotion of LGBT rights, freedom of speech and political issues.
WSince the beginning of her career in the early 1980s, American singer and songwriter Madonna has had a social-cultural impact on the world through her recordings, attitude, clothing and lifestyle. Called the "Queen of Pop", Madonna is labeled by international authors as the greatest woman in music, as well as the most influential and iconic female recording artist of all time.
WMadonna has worked in twenty-six feature films, ten short films, three theatrical plays, ten television episodes, and appeared in sixteen commercials. In 1979, she made her acting debut in the low-budget feature A Certain Sacrifice. Its commercial release in 1985 coincided with the success of her second studio album, Like a Virgin. That same year, she made a cameo appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest; she also garnered commercial and critical success for the title role in Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna followed it with a leading role in the adventure drama Shanghai Surprise (1986), with her then-husband, actor Sean Penn. The film was panned by critics, and Madonna received her first Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. Her next films such as Who's That Girl (1987) and Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) were critical and commercial failures. In 1986, she made her theatrical debut in David Rabe's Goose and Tom-Tom and her first commercial for Mitsubishi in Japan. She starred in the 1989 commercial for Pepsi-Cola alongside her song "Like a Prayer". Due to the controversy surrounding the song's music video, the commercial was revoked and her contract with Pepsi-Cola was cancelled.
WHard Candy Fitness was a chain of fitness centres that were a partnership from Madonna, her manager Guy Oseary and Mark Mastrov, the founder and CEO of 24 Hour Fitness. Founded in 2010, the venture had centres in Berlin, Mexico City, Moscow, Rome, Santiago, St. Petersburg, and Sydney. The company's name was a reference to Madonna's 2008 studio album Hard Candy. The German division went into administration in 2016 and closed its studios that year. That same year, the location in Toronto was rebranded as Aura Fitness after the initial media attention didn't translate into gym memberships. The only club remaining in operation as of 2019 was in Santiago, Chile, which rebranded as Energy Sport Club in May 2019.
WI'm Going to Tell You a Secret is a 2005 American documentary film that follows singer Madonna on her 2004 Re-Invention World Tour. Directed by Jonas Åkerlund, the film premiered on MTV on October 21, 2005, and was released on DVD on June 20, 2006, by Warner Bros. Records. The documentary was originally called The Re-Invented Process, referencing the tour and the Steven Klein exhibition titled X-STaTIC Pro=CeSS. It starts with imagery from the exhibition and Madonna auditioning dancers for the tour, continues with her entourage travelling through different cities and performing, the singer's introspection on her life, her marriage, her religion, and her children, and ends with Madonna's visit to Israel in the midst of protests.
WThis is a list of cover versions by notable music artists who have recorded one or more songs written and recorded by American singer Madonna. Madonna is the most successful and best-selling female artist worldwide, and many notable artists began covering her songs since her debut in the 1980s. These covers are in several different languages and genres, and some have received positive reviews from music critics and featured on record charts.
WMadonna is considered a gay icon, and the gay community has embraced her as a pop culture icon. According to The Advocate, Madonna is the greatest gay icon.
WAmerican entertainer Madonna has produced five fashion brands, beginning with a clothing range for fashion store H&M in March 2007. She later created an enterprise, MG Icon LLC, a joint venture with her manager Guy Oseary and Iconix Brand Group which produces her lifestyle brands Material Girl and Truth or Dare by Madonna. She also collaborated with Dolce & Gabbana on a range of sunglasses which marked the first co-branded collaboration that the design duo has ever undertaken.
WMaverick was an American entertainment company founded in 1992 by Madonna, Frederick DeMann, and Veronica "Ronnie" Dashev, and formerly owned and operated by Warner Music Group. It included a recording company, a film production company, book publishing, music publishing, a Latin record division, and a television production company. The first releases for the company were Madonna's 1992 coffee table publication Sex and her studio album Erotica, which were released simultaneously to great controversy as well as success.
WA Monroe piercing is a lip piercing placed off-center, above the upper lip on the left-hand side and is meant to resemble Marilyn Monroe's beauty spot, although Monroe's beauty spot was on her cheek, not her lip. The Madonna piercing is similar but worn on the right-hand side.
WGuy Harley Oseary is an Israeli-American talent manager, investor, writer and businessman. His clients include Madonna and U2.
WThe Punch Bowl, at 41 Farm Street, Mayfair, is a London public house, dating from circa 1750. It is listed as Grade II by English Heritage. It is a Georgian building and, although altered over the years, retains many period features including a dog-leg staircase, internal cornicing and dado panelling.
WThe Radio 1 Madonna controversy was a series of events that occurred as a result of BBC Radio 1's decision not to playlist American singer Madonna's single "Living for Love" in February 2015. Despite receiving moderate airplay from commercial radio in the United Kingdom, the single was not added to Radio 1's playlist, leading to accusations of ageism. The controversy stemmed from an article in the Daily Mail, which quoted an unnamed Radio 1 insider describing Madonna as "old" and "irrelevant". In response, the singer's fans posted numerous requests for the song on BBC's social media accounts, and several artists criticized Radio 1's music policy, prompting the station to release a statement defending their decision not to play the track.
WRaising Malawi is a charity non-profit organization that was founded by Madonna and Michael Berg in 2006. It is dedicated to helping with the extreme poverty and hardship endured by Malawi's one million orphans, primarily through health and education programming. Initially, the "Raising Malawi Academy for Girls" was to be constructed but following an audit by the Global Philanthropy Group, which questioned expenditure on salaries and benefits as well as the management capacity and culture, the charity's school headmistress resigned in October 2010 and the project was scrapped.
WGuy Stuart Ritchie is an English film director, producer, writer, and businessman. His work includes British gangster films and the Sherlock Holmes franchise.
WTruth or Dare by Madonna is a lifestyle brand by American singer Madonna. It is the second enterprise from MG Icon LLC, a joint venture between Madonna, her manager Guy Oseary and Iconix Brand Group. This is the second brand from the venture after Material Girl, which is a fashion line designed by Madonna and her daughter Lourdes and launched in 2010. Initially the line will be launched with handbags, footwear, accessories, intimates and fragrances.
WA Madonna wannabe, or Madonnabe, is a person who dresses like pop star Madonna. The term was popularized by writer John Skow in a May 1985 Time cover story on the singer. Following the disappearance of the trend, critics and journalists refer to female pop stars who emulate Madonna as Madonna wannabes.