Madonna
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Most important to my research was the Advocate’s two-part interview with Madonna, May 7, 1991, and May 21, 1991, “The Saint, the Slut, the Sensation . . . Madonna” and “The Gospel According to St. Madonna,” both by Don Shewey.
I culled quotes from many published interviews, as well as previously unpublished radio broadcasts and television interviews, with Madonna. Most helpful were: Madonna’s interview with Simon Bates, BBC, December 1987; Glamour, February 1985, “Meet Madonna, Multimedia Star” by Charla Krupp; Rolling Stone, September 10, 1987, “Madonna on Being a Star/The Madonna Mystique” by Mikal Gilmore; Time, May 16, 1988, “Madonna Comes to Broadway,” by William A. Henry III and Elizabeth L. Brand; Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, April 30, 1985, “Madonna: Everywoman or Versatile Vamp?” by Mikal Gilmore; Rolling Stone, May 9, 1985, “Madonna and Rosanna: Lucky Stars” by Fred Schruers; Rolling Stone, June 5, 1986, “Can’t Stop the Girl” by Fred Schruers; The New York Times, April 14, 1985, “‘Susan’ Draws Spirit from the Sidewalks of New York” by Lindsey Grudson; Vanity Fair, April 1990, “White Heat” by Kevin Sessums; Detroit Free Press, August 7, 1987, “Madonna: She Breaks Rules, Sheds Images, Hides Her Real Self” by Gary Graff; Time , July 27, 1987, “How Artists Respond to AIDS” by Richard Corliss, Mary Cronin and Dennis Wyss; Time, March 14, 1988, People page item; The New York Times, March 19, 1989, “Madonna Re-Creates Herself — Again” by Stephen Holden; Desperately Seeking Susan press kit, 1985, by Reid Rosefelt for Orion Pictures; You, April 21, 1985, “Madonna: I Was Born to Flirt” by Nancy Mills; Star , July 30, 1985, “Why Madonna Posed for All Those Nude Photographs” by Brian Haugh; New York Post, June 3, 1985, “Prima Madonna” by Pat Wadsley; Record, March 1985, “The Fifty Most Powerful Women in America” by Richard Price; USA Today, March 9, 1989, “Boycott and Pepsi/Madonna ‘Ridicules Christianity’” by James Cox; USA Today, January 11, 1989, “The Empress’s New Clothes” by Michael Gross; The Warhol Diaries by Andy Warhol, edited by Pat Hackett (Warner Books, 1989); Boston Herald, July 3, 1987, “Madonna on Madonna: I Do It My Way” by Simon Bates; Penthouse, September 1991, “Truth or Bare: Madonna — The Lost Nudes” by Nick Tosches; Daily Variety, April 21, 1992, “Madonna’s Material Deal” by Bruce Haring; Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1992, “The Madonna Deal: Truth or Ego” by Chuck Philips; USA Today , October 21, 1992, “The Naked Truth” by Deirdre Donahue.
Among the volumes I consulted: Madonna in Her Own Words by Mick St. Michael (Omnibus Press, 1990); Madonna: The Rolling Stone Files (Rolling Stone Press, 1997) by the editors of Rolling Stone; The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary by Allan Metz and Carol Benson (Schirmer Books, 1999).
The Nineties and 2000
For this and other sections of this book, I referred to my research in: Daily Mail, March 27, 1999, “In Bed with Madonna” by J. Randy Taraborrelli; Daily Mail, March 30, 1999, “The Truth About Madonna” by J. Randy Taraborrelli; Daily Mail, March 29, 1999, “Madonna . . . Prince . . . Michael Jackson” by J. Randy Taraborrelli.
My thanks to Theresa Lomax for all of the hours of interviews (1999, 2000) relating to Madonna and Warner Bros. Records.
I referred to and am grateful for my interviews with Deidra Evans-Jackson, Doris Jenkins, Mark White, Joe Mantegna (1990); Ron Silver (1993); André Crouch (1995); Jean-Paul Gaultier, Diane Demitri, Sallim “Slam” Gauwloos (1990); Gabriel Trupin (1990); Kevin Stea (1990) and Oliver Crumes (1990); Peter Cetara (1990); Raynoma Gordy Singleton (1991); Neal Hitchens (1998); Judith Regan (2000); Rob Van Winkle (1995); Rocky Santiago (1995); Paul Shaffer (1997); James Lucas (2000); Vinnie Zuffante (1991) and Camille Paglia (2000).
Other miscellaneous material consulted for this section:
Throughout this section, I relied on Larry King’s television interview with Madonna on January 18, 1988 for certain quotes and other background information.
The Arts & Entertainment Biography series was invaluable to my research. My thanks to the staff of A&E who assisted me in my research, providing me with tapes, transcripts and other materials having to do with Madonna’s life.
Thanks also to Eileen Faith, Nancy Wood-Furnell and Laura Cruz for their insight.
I am also indebted to the staff of the Department of Special Collections of the University of Southern California, which provided me with much material relating to Madonna’s career.
Many published accounts and videos of television appearances were consulted. Most helpful were: USA Today, December 11, 1996, “Face to Face with Madonna” by Edna Gunderson; USA Weekend, June 8-10, 1990, “Totally Outrageous” by Richard Price; Cosmopolitan, May 1990, “Madonna — Magnificent Maverick” by David Ansen; Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1990, “Evolution of an Entertainer” by Robert Hilburn; Ladies Home Journal, November 1990, “Maybe She’s Good: 10 Theories of How Madonna Got ‘It’” by Laura Fissinger; Los Angeles Times, June 30, 1991, “$8-M Villa for ‘Material Girl’” by Ruth Ryon; Billboard, February 21, 1998; New York Post, “Curse of the Material Girl — Talks Blue Streak on Letterman” by Michele Greppi; The New York Times , March 1, 1998, “New Tune for the Material Girl” by Ann Powers; Entertainment Weekly, May 10, 1991, “Justifying Madonna” by Owen Gleiberman; Madonna’s appearance on Nightline, December 3, 1990; Madonna’s appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, May 1, 1990; The New York Times, May 5, 1991, “Madonna’s Love Affair with the Lens” by Stephen Holden; Spin, April 1998, “Madonna Chooses to Dare” by Barry Walters and Victoria DeSilverio; Vanity Fair , March 1998, “Madonna and Child” by Ingrid Sischy; Madonna’s appearances on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, May 13 and 14, 1991; MLC: The Madonna Fanzine, Fall 1990, “Madonna Quote/Unquote” by Linda Perez; MLC: The Madonna Fanzine, Spring 1990, “Madonna Strikes a New Pose” by Ron Givens; Los Angeles Times October 23, 1994, “The Madonna Complex” by Sheryl Garratt; New York Post, April 16, 1998, “Keepin’ Her Baby . . . Family Values” by Liz Smith; Spin, January 1996, “Live to Tell” by Bob Guccione Jr.; People, January 15, 1996, “Material Witness” by Steve Dougherty; Entertainment Weekly, December 14, 1990, “Some Like It Hot . . .” by Benjamin Svetkey; New Musical Express, March 1998, “Living in a Material World” by Sylvia Patterson; New York Newsday, October 23, 1994, “Madonna: A ‘Secret’ Chat” by Sheryl Garratt; Redbook, January 1997, “Madonna in Life Before and After Motherhood” by Peter Wilkinson; Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1991, “Madonna As She Likes It” by Patrick Goldstein; Face, February 1991, “Madonna and That Video: Breathless” by Sheryl Garratt; Entertainment Weekly, May 17, 1991, “Madonna: The Naked Truth” by James Kaplan; Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1996, “Madonna Tells of Fears About Alleged Stalker” by Andrea Ford; USA Today, March 7, 1991, “Madonna Justified” by David Landis; Vanity Fair, March 2000, “Madonna and Rupert Everett: Just Great Friends” by Ned Zeman; Entertainment Weekly, October 28, 1994, “Swinging a New Jack” by Jim Faber; Working Woman, December 1991, “Madonna and Oprah — The Companies They Keep” by Fred Goodman; TV Guide, November 23-29, 1991; “Madonna on TV” by Kurt Loder; American Vogue, October 1996, “Madonna’s Moment As Evita, Mother and Fashion Force” by Julie Salamon; US Weekly , February 1993, “The Madonna Machine” by Jeffrey Ressner; Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1990, “Thoroughly Modern Madonna” by Barbara Foley; Life, December 1986, “An Affair to Remember” by Robert Hofler; USA Today, October 21, 1994, Los Angeles Times , October 16, 1996, “Madonna and Child” by Jeannine Stein and Bill Higgins; USA Today, February 1, 2000, “Madonna Serves Upper-Crust ‘American Pie’” by Edna Gunderson; TV Guide, April 11, 1998, “Madonna — Confidential” by Mary Murphy; USA Today, March 1, 2000, “Madonna Role Isn’t Much of a Stretch” by Elizabeth Sead; Los Angeles Times, November 25, 1997, “Another Make-Over?” by Steve Hochman; Entertainment Weekly, May 17, 1991, “Madonna — The Naked Truth” by James Kaplan; Billboard , July 11, 1998, “With ‘Light’ Madonna’s Life Begins at 40” by Fred Bronson; Billboard, March 14, 1998, “Ray of Light” album review; People, January 18, 1999, “The New Pop Divas” by Tom Gliatto; Entertainment Weekly, March 6, 1998
, “Ethereal Girl” by David Browne; Star, September 15, 1998, “Madonna Flips for Chicago Hope Doc” September 15, 1998; Globe, September 15, 1998, “Madonna Getting TLC from Chicago Hope Doc” by Carole Glines; Time, March 16, 1998, “Heading for the Light” by Christopher John Farley; Time Out, August 16, 2000, “Warren Beatty” by Todd Gold; US Weekly, September 22, 2000, “Outta the Groove” by David Browne; Daily Mail , September 21, 2000, “Looking Swell, But Not Swollen . . .” by James Morrison; New York Post, January 11, 2000; Jane, March 2000, “My Friend Madonna” by Juliette Hohnen; New York Post, March 2, 2000, “The Best Thing” by Liz Smith; US Weekly June 19, 2000, “Madonna’s Candy Crackdown” by Marc S. Malkin and Marcus Baram; Los Angeles Times, January 29, 2000, “Madonna’s Brand New Recipe” by Geoff Boucher; Rolling Stone , September 28, 2000, “Madonna Can’t Stop the Music” by Jancee Dunn; People, March 13, 2000, “Lady Madonna” by Jim Jerome; Vanity Fair, November 2000, “Like an Artist” by Steven Daly.
Among the volumes I consulted: Madonna by Rikky Rooksby (Omnibus Press, 1998); Madonna, Superstar (Schirmer’s Visual Library) (Schirmer/Mosel GmbH, 1998); Madonna by David James (Publications International Ltd., 1991).
Special thanks to Matthew Rettenmund for his comprehensive work, The Madonna Encyclopedia (St. Martin’s Press, 1995). Wow.
Thank you to Debbie Monroe Thompson for her time, boundless energy and astute observations, and for ten hours’ worth of interviews in the year 2000. Also to Betty Trundle, Debra Stradella, Marjorie Hyde, and others who provided me with audiotapes of rehearsals and concerts, and all of those outtakes from the Sex book. Thanks also to Steven Bishop, who had so much backstage footage of the “Blonde Ambition” tour; it took me weeks to view it all.
Thanks to David McClintock and Terrence Donahue for all of their notes, personal papers and other documents relating to Madonna’s most recent recording career.
Thanks also to the following people for enlightening me on Madonna’s current life: Buddy Adler, Diane Phipps, Mary Jenkins, Monica Hallstead, Beatrice King, Allan Melnick, Nelson Richards, Jessica Morgan, Paula DeLeon, Thomas Calabrino, Ethel Anniston, Bob Anthony, Patrice Mallard, Ida Banks, Josephine Barbone, Marjorie Nassatier, Joseph Langford, John Parker, Steve Capiello, Carl Rick, James McClintock, Harold Chapman, Paul Clemens, Doris Corrado, Andrew Wyatt, Joseph Godfrey, William Godfrey, Shirley Jones, Thomas Lawford, Marilyn Lowry, Marion Bush, Elliot Schreiber, James Silvani, Steve Tamburro, Johnathan Treddy, Betty Wilkinson and Douglas Prestine.
Finally, thanks to Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone for inspiring so many people with her life and career. Whatever one thinks of her, one fact remains: her success is the result not only of extraordinary talent but also many years of hard work, dedication and persistence.
“If I’m going to make it,” she told me in 1983, “it’s not going to be because anyone ever handed me anything, already I can see that. I’ll probably have to fight my way to the top.”
I asked her, “In the end, what do you want to achieve?”
She answered quickly. “Not much. Just the best of everything there is to have.”
And so it is.
1 Christopher Flynn died of AIDS at the age of sixty on October 27, 1990, in Los Angeles. In a statement, Madonna said, “I really loved him. He was my mentor, my father, my imaginative lover, my brother, everything, because he understood me.”
2 Lewicki’s film, A Certain Sacrifice, was actually filmed in parts, the first in October 1979, the second in November 1981. A twenty-four-second outtake of A Certain Sacrifice features Madonna singing the song “Let the Sunshine In” from the musical Hair. A short audio clip of this performance has, for years, been circulating on CD in the collectors’ bootleg market. Also, the film itself contains an ensemble chant, “Raymond Hall Must Die.” “Sunshine” and “Raymond Hall” are considered by Madonna historians to be two of her earliest recorded vocal performances.
3 It was at about this time that Madonna recorded bizarre backing vocals for Otto von Wernherr, including “Cosmic Club,” “We Are the Gods” and “Wild Dancing.” These songs would be released in 1986 on independent labels. That same year, to capitalize on Madonna’s fame, Otto would record an answer video to “Papa Don’t Preach,” entitled “Madonna Don’t Preach.”
4 Some material recorded during this time has surfaced on a bootleg release, Emmy and the Emmys Live, First Time Out of Manhattan, including live (and punk-rock-sounding) performances of “Bells Ringing,” “Love for Tender,” “Are You Ready for It,” “Nobody’s Fool” and “Love Express.” Alternate versions of other Emmy songs have also appeared on various bootleg collections over the years. On November 30, 1980, Emmy recorded four songs at the Music Building in New York for a demo tape — “(I Like) Love For Tender,” “Drowning,” “Bells Ringing” and “No Time,” all hard-edged rock and roll.
5 Years later, during a costume change for a photo session, the crucifix slipped off Madonna’s neck and down her jeans while she was zipping up. “You see that?” she said with a squeal. “Even God wants to get into my pants!”
6 At the time of writing, Camille Barbone was still in the entertainment business, involved in recording and management.
7 Sire Records was formed in 1966 by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottherer. After a decade, the label became a part of Warner Music Group — and Stein helped shape popular music in the 1980s and 1990s, not only with Madonna but also with the Ramones, Talking Heads, the Pretenders, Depeche Mode, k.d. lang, Erasure, the Cult, the Replacements, Ice-T and Barenaked Ladies. Today, Stein is still president and CEO of Sire Records and also president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
8 “Penthouse did something really nasty,” Madonna would complain, years later. “They sent copies of the magazine to Sean.”
9 John Kennedy, Jr., and his wife of nearly five years, Carolyn Bessette (along with her sister, Lauren), were killed when the private plane he was piloting plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 1999. John, Carolyn and Lauren were all buried at sea on July 22, 1999.
10 Madonna’s nickname for Beatty was “Pussy Man” because, as she explained to the Advocate, “When I say pussy, you know what I mean. He’s a wimp. I enjoy expressing myself, and if I think someone’s being a pussy, I say it.”
11 When this was written Madonna had four homes: the Spanish-style home she bought from Diane Keaton in the summer of 2000, into which she had just moved; a Central Park West apartment; a waterfront mansion in Miami; and a home in Chelsea in London. When in London, she and Guy Ritchie live in a rented house in Notting Hill Gate. However, Madonna’s Los Feliz home was sold recently to television actress Jenna Elfman, and her homes in Miami and London are up for sale.