Madonna (entertainer)

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Madonna (entertainer) : biography

August 16, 1958 –

In December 2012, it was announced that Madonna’s Raising Malawi organization has built ten schools to educate 4,871 children in different locations in Malawi. The enterprise was in association with buildOn and follows the original announcement of building an Academy for Girls which was scrapped. When Madonna visited the schools in April 2013, President of Malawi Joyce Banda expressed criticism of Madonna and her charity, accusing her of exaggerating her charity’s contribution. Madonna responded by releasing a statement saying she was saddened that Banda had chosen to act negatively about her endeavors. "I have no intention of being distracted by these ridiculous allegations," she added. Later, it was confirmed that Banda had not approved the statement released written by her press team and was "incandescent with anger" over the mix-up.

Discography

  • Madonna (1983)
  • Like a Virgin (1984)
  • True Blue (1986)
  • Like a Prayer (1989)
  • Erotica (1992)
  • Bedtime Stories (1994)
  • Ray of Light (1998)
  • Music (2000)
  • American Life (2003)
  • Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005)
  • Hard Candy (2008)
  • MDNA (2012)

Tours

  • The Virgin Tour (1985)
  • Who’s That Girl World Tour (1987)
  • Blond Ambition World Tour (1990)
  • The Girlie Show World Tour (1993)
  • Drowned World Tour (2001)
  • Re-Invention World Tour (2004)
  • Confessions Tour (2006)
  • Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008–09)
  • MDNA Tour (2012)

Legacy

According to CNN, Madonna is "arguably the most influential female recording artist of all time." Critical theorist Douglas Kellner described her as "a highly influential pop culture icon" and "the most discussed female singer in popular music." Bill Wyman editor of Chicago Reader describes Madonna as a "genuinely freakish figure in popular music." Marcel Danesi commented that "perhaps no one has understood the ambiguity of pop culture with regard to womanhood more that Madonna." William Langley from The Daily Telegraph noted that Madonna "remains a permanent fixture on every list of world’s most powerful/admired/influential women." She is featured in the book 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century, published in 1998 by Ladies’ Home Journal. In 2010, Time magazine included Madonna in the elite list of the "25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century", where she became one of the only two singers included, alongside Aretha Franklin. Additionally, Madonna has been as ranked 49th on the "75 Greatest Women of All Time" by Esquire magazine. Madonna also topped VH1’s countdowns of "100 Greatest Women in Music" and "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era". She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008—her first year of eligibility—for "influence and significance on rock and roll music". Additionally, Madonna ranked seventh on VH1 and People magazine’s list of the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons of All Time", as well topped in the list of the British tabloid The Sun, "The 50 female singers who will never be forgotten." She has also been included in several lists, like the "100 Greatest Artists" of Rolling Stone. Her worldwide commercial accomplishments have given her multiple Guinness World Records citations, including the title for the world’s top-selling female recording artist of all time. Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female albums artist in the United States, with 64.5 million certified albums. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Madonna at number two, behind only The Beatles, on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, making her the most successful solo artist in the history of American singles chart. Billboard editor Keith Caulfield declared in 2012: "She’s the Queen of Pop and ‘royalty on the Billboard charts’." In 2011, Rolling Stone declared her as the all-time Queen of Pop and stated that "Madonna is a musical icon without peer." Rolling Stone of Spain wrote that "She became the first viral Master of Pop on history, years before the Internet was massively used." Madonna was everywhere; in the almighty music television channels, ‘radio formulas’, magazine covers and even in bookshops. A pop dialectic, never seen since The Beatles’s reign, which allowed her to keep on the edge of tendency and commerciality". Within this theme, Laura Barcella in her book Madonna and Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop (2012) wrote that "really, Madonna changed everything the musical landscape, the ’80s look du jour, and most significantly, what a mainstream female pop star could (and couldn’t) say, do, or accomplish in the public eye."