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Madonna (Entertainer): Songs
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In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records, a new wave label belonging to Warner Bros. Records, while the label's owner, Seymour Stein was in the hospital. He signed her from his hospital room. Her first release, on October 6 1982, was "Everybody", a self-written song produced by Mark Kamins (the U.S. 12" single was released on April 24, 1982). It became a hit on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Chart peaking at #3, but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Next was Burning Up in March of 1983, and it was ... a success on the U.S. dance charts peaking at #3.
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Madonna's first single was "Everybody", produced by Mark Kamins, which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Dance chart. It gained heavy rotation on R&B radio stations, leading many to assume that Madonna was an African American artist. When "Everybody" was released as a single, Madonna's picture did not appear on the single cover sleeve, because Sire did not want to risk losing the black audience (Madonna's core audience at that point) by advertising that Madonna was white. "Burning Up", Madonna's second single like "Everybody" failed to break into the Billboard Hot 100, but this time "Burning Up" even failed to chart in the Bubbling Under chart. The song did manage to peak at number 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play Chart, staying on the chart for 16 weeks.
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In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with soft drink manufacturer Pepsi. She appeared and debuted her new song, “Like a Prayer,” in a Pepsi commercial and ... made a separate music video which was not related to Pepsi. Although the commercial itself was not controversial, the video for “Like a Prayer” caused an uproar.[52] The video premiered on MTV and featured many Catholic symbols, such as stigmata and burning crosses.[53] It depicted a black man who comes to the aid of a white woman being murdered by white men but the black man is arrested for the crime. Madonna, who has witnessed the crime, secures his release. Since the commercial and music video were nearly identical in visual terms, Pepsi was unable to convince the public that their commercial actually had nothing that could be deemed inappropriate. Pepsi revoked the commercial and allowed Madonna to keep her five million dollar fee, as the contract was nullified.[54]
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In 1990, after a string of unsuccessful films, Madonna starred as Breathless Mahoney in the action film Dick Tracy, directed by Warren Beatty based on the popular Chester Gould's comic strip. She sang three Stephen Sondheim songs and played opposite histrionic Al Pacino as well as Warren Beatty. Although she received mostly positive reviews for her role, critics were quick to point out that her best-reviewed roles were ones where Madonna had played someone who is not unlike herself. In 1991, Woody Allen offered her a small role in Shadows and Fog as a trapeze artist opposite John Malkovich. The film was shot in black and white and was an hommage to German Expressionist cinema, backed by the music of Kurt Weill. The following year, Penny Marshall cast her in A League of Their Own opposite Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Rosie O'Donnell.
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Her debut album, Madonna, a collection of dance songs, was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, who had ... produced for several R&B singers including Stephanie Mills. Madonna felt Lucas would be the producer to get the best vocals from her as he had experience working with many established R&B singers. After finishing several songs, however, she was dissatisfied with the outcome. She felt her vocals were fine but was displeased with Lucas' music tracks. Madonna took the finished product to her then-boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez, who remixed and rearranged them. He also added a song ("Holiday").
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Her debut album, Madonna (1983), a collection of dance songs, was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, but early in the recording process both realized that they could not work well together. After initial production on the album was completed, Madonna took the finished but unsatisfactory album to her then boyfriend, John "Jellybean" Benitez, who remixed and rearranged it. It reached number eight on the U.S. albums chart and contained five successful singles, including her first world-wide hit, "Holiday", and has since been certified 5x platinum with world sales in excess of twelve million copies. According to Australian music guru Ian "Molly" Meldrum, it was Australia that gave Madonna her first hit for the song "Holiday" on Meldrum's hugely popular show "Countdown."
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