The most successful female recording artist of all time, Madonna also reigns supreme as top female producer and songwriter. Madonna Louise Ciccone (b. 16 August 1958) spent her formative years in Detroit. After graduating from high school in 1976, she won a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan but dropped out after two years to seek a career ...
, while the ambient soundscapes of Future Sound Of London, The Orb and Orbital have also proved popular for mass-market consumption. Pushing in the opposite direction, artists like Madonna have worked with innovative producers like Mirwais and William Orbit, assimilating their production style into crossover pop songs, and since the mid-1990s television commercials have often featured electronic ...
singer. Angelotti greets Cavaradossi. Tosca is heard outside. Cavaradossi thrusts a basket of food at Angelotti and tells him to hide. Tosca enters with flowers for the statue of the Madonna, suspicious that she has heard voices. He agrees to take her to his villa that evening. She recognizes the Magdalen’s blue eyes as those of the Marchesa Attavanti, ...
(Singer-songwriter, b. 1974) This Canadian singer recorded two teen-oriented albums that went nowhere in 1990 and 1992. Signed to Madonna’s Maverick label, major debut Jagged Little Pill (1995) was a multi-platinum success. Music aside, it was Morissette’s abrasive, honest, sharp lyrical concerns, ranging from anger at being jilted to confessional, that captivated. Singles like ...
albums: Have A Little Faith (1992), an ambitious album tackling Charles Ives and Aaron Copland (‘Billy The Kid’), John Hiatt (the title song), Bob Dylan (‘Just Like A Woman’), and Madonna (‘Live To Tell’); and This Land 1992), a complementary set of originals. He also performed soundtracks to the silent films of Buster Keaton with his trio, and contributed to ...
(Vocals, b. 1981) Britney Spears started life, after a short stage career, on American TV’s New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 onwards. Her debut single ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ (1998) was a masterly slice of melancholy pop that topped the charts – due in no small part to its suggestive video featuring the singer/actress in a ...
at bisexuality, but many thought these comments to be a mere marketing ploy (she married music executive Jordan Bratman in 2005). She even went so far as to kiss Madonna onstage at the 2003 MTV awards. Such controversy aside, Aguilera has a powerful vocal range and a domineering style of delivery similar to and as high as Mariah Carey. ...
(Piano, singer-songwriter, b. 1928) Signed to Imperial Records, New Orleans-born Antoine Domino’s first million-seller, ‘The Fat Man’ (1949) began a run of over 60 US pop and R&B hits by 1964, many written by Domino with Dave Bartholomew. Other million-selling classics included ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ (1955), ‘Bo Weevil’, ‘I’m In Love Again’ and ‘Blueberry Hill ...
1968) This star of Australian TV soap Neighbours scored her first UK hit with ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ in 1988. Since then she has built a career that rivals Madonna in image changes and fusing pop songs with ever-changing contemporary dance beats. ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ (2002) was a massive UK and US hit. Having beaten breast ...
(Multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer-songwriter, b. 1964) Accused of being ‘retro’ when first emerging in 1989, Lenny Kravitz proved a trendsetter. Inspired by 1960s and 1970s icons like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Jimi Hendrix, Kravitz developed a similarly warm, guitar-led sound that became hugely popular. Mama Said (1991) and Are You Gonna Go My Way ...
Producer-performer Lenny Kravitz (b. 1964) has explored multiple genres during his 25-year career as a music star, but has often been thought of as married to retro styles. Born in New York, Kravitz was raised in Los Angeles. His parents, a television producer and an actress, were well connected in show business. Kravitz decided to pursue rock’n’roll ...
their use of videos was trailblazing. Highlights include ‘Embarrassment’ (1979), ‘House Of Fun’ (1982) and ‘The Sun And The Rain’ (1983). Styles & Forms | Eighties | Rock Personalities | Madonna | Eighties | Rock ...
(Guitar, b. 1952) In addition to writing, producing and performing with Chic, Rodgers, along with long-time collaborator Bernard Edwards, undertook similar duties for Sister Sledge. The pair worked with Diana Ross on her 1980 Diana album and Deborah Harry’s Koo-Koo (1981). Rodgers went on to helm many high-profile albums – David Bowie’s Let’s Dance (1983), Madonna’s ...
playing (along with partner Bernard Edwards’ bass) helped make Chic the most successful non-disco disco band, and his innate sense of rock and soul made a mega-star out of Madonna, a long-lasting artist out of Duran Duran and a comeback kid out of Diana Ross. Nile Gregory Rodgers was born in New York. He played with the Sesame Street ...
the centre of New York’s alternative music scene ever since, influencing indie rock immeasurably. Highlights include the striking art rock of 1987’s Sister; the almost conventional Goo (1990); their Madonna covers side project, Ciccone Youth; and a typically genre-defying collaboration with Chuck D of Public Enemy. Styles & Forms | Eighties | Rock Personalities | Spandau Ballet | Eighties ...
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