In 1976 Madonna graduetes at the Rochester Adams High School and gets a chance to study dance at Michigan University. Meanwhile she attends 6-week dance project at Duke University in Durham where she is offered to get a scholarship for studies at Pearl Lang and Alvin Ailey in New York. Christopher Flynn, her balet homosexual teacher, has a big credit of Madonna´s next decission. She comes into the audition and after meeting Pearl Lang and passing through, she buys a ticket to New York and with 30$ in her pocket and one suitcase she stays several weeks in a flat of unknown foreigner. It is a cruel and hard beginning of her career as a dancer but after passing out the course successfully, she comes back home and to Michigan University. There she studies dance, history of music, art history and at nights visits local disco Blue Frogg where she meets Steve Bray - black waiter, who was also a musician and Madonna goes to see his band time after time.
In 1978, after one year at Michigan University, Madonna decides to go back to New York, this time for good. In age of 19, she is given a chance to dance with a third class of Alvin Ailey. She lived at Lower East Side, surrounded by blackbeetles and drunkards laying on the floor everywhere. When her father visited her in New York, he was in shock persueding Madonna to go back home and finish studies. But she decides to stay. She earns money by working at Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, greece company Amy´s or worked as a hat-check girl in Russia tea-room. To get more money, Madonna decides to pose as a model for art classes.
Till 1979, Madonna becomes a real new-yorker, meeting many talented actors, artists and musicians and starts to date Norris Burroughs. The relationship lasts only 3 months because of Norris´ new girlfriend. Anyway, he organized a party to introduce Madonna to his friend, musician, Dan Gilroy. Those two starts to date and though Dan is living with his brother Ed, Madonna moves to his flat at Queens in several weeks. The flat is a one big music studio where Dan shows Madonna several instruments laying on the floor and teach Madonna few accords on guitar. She limits the dance lessons for one hour a day and learns to explore new horizons when she enters the music theater.
Once she reads newspapers specialized in showbusiness and there she finds an interesting ad. French producers were searching for the crew of dancers and singers for the upcoming world tour of french star Patrick Hernandez. Madonna attends the audition and the two of the Paris producers Jean Claude Pellerin and Jean Van Lieu fall in love with her performance and asks her to come also the next day. Promises of a big star to be and a wonderful life in France, persuedes Madonna to fly with them to Paris next month. It is hard for Dan to accept this but let Madonna go to live some adventure. In Paris Madonna lives as a princess, they give her lot of money, singing master, luxurious apartment to stay, a limousine with a personal driver and stupid songs to sing. She gains to get in Tunis with Hernandez tour but that is all french producers can give her. She buys expensive clothes for their money, goes for dinners to expensive restaurants, but Madonna needs fame, not money. After realising that this is not what she wants and recovers from pneumonia, Madonna goes back to New York and to Dan after six months stay in France.
That was October 1979. Madonna lives in a flat of her friend, Martin Burgoyn, and is sure, she wants to be a singer and get into the music. Dan shows her drums, so Madonna is training four hours a day playing drums, practising in guitar and synthesizer play. After having enough of experience, she starts to write songs. Madonna is using Dan and Ed´s studio to practise and make songs and after some time she asks Dan and Ed to live in their flat again. In return for this, Madonna brings her friend Angie Smith to help them to form a band. They are four and call their band The Breakfast Club.
In these times, Madonna finds another interesting ad in newspapers and so she writes a letter and encloses unprofessional photograph to Stephen John Lewicki, the director, who wants to make a low-badget movie A Certain Sacrifice. He likes Madonna very much and asks her to come the next time to washington´s Square Park. After a short interview, Lewicki gives her the leading role of a dominant girl Bruna. Several years later this film is called to be a porn-movie, but truth is there are no erotic scenes though they are signified all the time.
Note: The second portion of A Certain Sacrifice movie is filmed in November 1981 and during filming Madonna records
Back to The Breakfast Club. After several months of practising, the band starts to play in all the doubtfull places of Lower East Side. Madonna plays drums, but it doesn´t take long she realizes of wanting more and wants to sing as well. Dan meets her requirements and writes several songs for her to sing them each time at the end of their performance. Incidentally, in several weeks Dan and Ed tells Angie to leave the band because of her crazy clothing that is detracting from their music. That is a chance for Madonna who wants to be the lead singer now. But she also notices, how difficult it is for Dan to devide his loyalty between Madonna and his brother Ed. After a year with The Breakfast Club, Madonna leaves the band, leaves Dan and moves back to her flat in Manhattan.
In late 1980, Madonna starts on her own. She entitles herself as a lead singer, guitar player and calls her band Emmy (a nickname Dan Gilroy gave her). Somehow, she is not very lucky in searching for good musicians, but is very surprised when her friend from Michigan, Steve Bray, calls her telling her his plans to move to New York. Madonna immediately offers him a place in her band and Steve promises, he is to be there in one week. Along with other musicians, that Madonna finds, they write songs in Steve´s small home studio and play in obscure clubs in New York. Later Madonna has to resolve her living situation as her flat burns out. To survive and help the band existence, she starts to pose for various photographers that recommend her for several movie acts. One of the film is called In Artificial Light where she leads dialogues right into the camera or is doing crazy things leading the viewer think over these things.
During filming and writing new songs, Madonna and Bray rent a studio in famous The Music Buidings and trying to form the band Emmy again with Madonna at microphone. Unfortunately, due to lack of money, the musicians were leaving the band, and in early 1981, Madonna and Steve stand alone. But when it seems, there is no way to go on, luck is always there when needed. In The Music Buildings Madonna meets Adam Alter, she starts to flirt with him but then he tells her that he and his girlfriend Camille Barbone starts off their Gotham Production searching for musicians to manager and produce. When Adam and Camille listen to their demos, they immediately signs Madonna, give her flat at safe Upper Wets Side, pays her musicians, studio rents and Madonna gets 100$ a week. She also sees Steve Bray through playing drums and calling her band Madonna. Camille agrees. She and Madonna become real and close friends, Camille is even born on the same day as Madonna, only eight years older, playing the role of mother a bit in Madonna´s life. Camille is obsessed by taking care of her, wanting to be the best manager, telling Madonna incredible things about stardom but it is too late to realise, that the only person who direct Madonna´s future is Madonna herself. It is not Camille directing Madonna but Madonna directing Camille. In several months the friendship is gone. Though Madonna´s band is more and more favourite among people and in the beginning of 1982 their music attracts people from various big phonograph companies, none of them is able to make a contract with Gotham. Steve and Madonna write new songs in funky style, which is a new wave conquering America, Gotham wants them to play rock music anyway. Madonna and Steve don´t want to accept this and decide to leave the Gotham Production.
Madonna loses her flat, her demo tapes, sleeps in studios and works hard on new songs with Steve. He starts to play with various people and has an opportunity to get keys of various studios. They write Everybody, Burning Up, Stay and Ain´t No Big Deal. In that time, the official new york home for young talented stars is a discotheque Danceteria where the most wanted DJ Mark Kamins is playing. First they starts to flirt but in several days Madonna gives him her demo. Kamins is amazed and takes her in the studio to remaster the tape. He contacts Michael Rosenblatt, talent searcher, who works for Sire Records distributed by Warner Brothers. One week later Madonna and Kamins bring him her demo and in one hour they have all rights to recording. Officially this all cannot start without permission of Sire Records president, Seymour Stein. He is in the Lenox Hill Hospital stay at that time but Rosenblatt comes to meet him anyway with Madonna´s tape and plays it. Stein is delighted by Madonna even without seeing her and asks Rosenblatt to come next day with her. When Madonna, Rosenblatt and Kamins comes in the room, Stein is just listening to Madonna´s songs and when he spots Madonna, he feels out how extraordinary, strong, dynamic and self-confident Madonna is. Immediately gives her contract for three 12" vinyl singles and 5000$ in advance. And... Madonna signs.
In spring 1982, Kamin starts to produce Madonna´s first single Everybody and Madonna decides to introduce the single in Danceteria. They wants her to perform the song in playback, so she at least pays interest on the dancing preparation. Madonna brings three more dancers, Martin Burgoyn - who also designs the cover for the debut single, Erica Bell and Bags - her friends. In the audience there is also Rosenblatt and Stein, Madonna wants to persuede them she deserves more than a contract for three singles. Everybody is agreed not just in Danceteria but does well also in other clubs.
And on April 24,1982, Madonna´s first single Everybody is released in United States. It doesn´t have success only in pop and dance charts, but with making a jump in rhythm-and-blues charts, Everybody sells more than 80.000 copies. To support more the success of Everybody there is made a low-budget video during her performance in Danceteria club. The video, directed by Ed Steinberg, is very simple featuring Madonna dancing on the stage with two back up dancers. As there is no Mtv yet, the videoclip for Everybody is airing just in clubs, also to displace doubts that Madonna is a black singer, since that there is no picture of Madonna on the cover of the single release.
Warner Brothers make a maximum effort to support the debut. Radio stations and DJs in clubs get promo vinyls with Everybody and especially for the british release in December 1982, there are made exclusive new mixes of the song.
Between November 17 - 23, 1982 Madonna goes to Sigma Sound Studios in New York City to begin her work on the debut album. There she records several rough versions of Burning Up and Physical Attraction. This is just a beginning for Madonna, bigger things were still to come !
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