she's a phenomenon. Since
the start of her music career
20 years ago, she has released
one hit album after another. Her
album, Music, released in 2000,
was Number One in 24 countries,
including the USA and the UK.
Madonna has total control over
Her career: her music, her videos
and her image - she changes her
look with every new album. "I never
want to repeat myself. When you
do a show, you should offer some-
thing fantastic. It's not enough
just to sing a song on stage. It's all
about theatre and drama, surprise
and suspense", she says.
Her fist single, holiday, came
out in 1983 and was popular in
New York nightclubs. In 1984, like
a Virgin was an international hit: it
sold 19 million copies. Suddenly
girls all over the world were wear-
ing Madonna's punky style clothes
and religious accessories.
In 1985 she got a role in the film
Desperately Seeking Susan, but
her music was much more success-
ful. Her 1989 album, Like a Prayer,
shocked many people, Pepsi, for
example, stopped its sponsorship
of her tour and decided not to do
a TV commercial with her.
Madonna learned an important
lesson: scandal sells. So in 1990 she
startes wearing conical bras made
Blonde Ambition tour, she made a
documentary of the tour called
Truth or Dare and she released the
album "Erotica. She was sexy, sacri
- ligious... and very successful.
Businesswoman
Madonna is also a good business- woman. In 1992, she got her own record company, called Maverick. She has good instincts about other musicians: her label produces Alanis Morrisette and TV produc- tion company. After the contraversy in the mid- 1990s, Madonna disappeared for a few years. When she came back, it was as a mother (her daughter Lourdes was born in 1996) and a serious actress. Evite, which she
Glode film award.
She takes her role as a mother
seriously. She refuses to let her
daughter Lourdes watch TV! "My
creative life is really important to
me, but being a mother and having
friends and a husband is important
too. You never know what's going
to happen with a career," she says.
Her album Ray of light (1998) was
the start of a more introspective,
calmer Madonna
2000 was a big year for Madon-
na. After the film the Next Best
Thing, she released her hit album,
Music, and introduced her new
cowgirl image. And last Christmas
she married British diretor Guy
Ritchie in a very traditional wed-
ding in Scotland. Rocco, their son,
was born in August.
A rebel forever
Now that she's a wife and mother has the blonde rebel calmed down? "No," she says. "But I think I'm more subtle about how Irebel. I'm still anti-establishment. Thant's just my nature. I don't know why."