Madonna: Blonde Ambition

370 Pages·2000·9.42 MB·English

by  Mark Bego

Madonna
Books by Mark Bego
The Captain & Tennille (1977) Barry Manilow (1977)
The Doobie Brothers (1980)
Michael! [Jackson] (1984)
On the Road with Michael! [Jackson] (1984) Madonna! (1985)
Rock Hudson: Public & Private (1986) Sade! (1986)
Julian Lennon! (1986)
The Best of “Modern Screen” (1986) Whitney! [Houston] (1986)
Cher! (1986)
Bette Midler: Outrageously Divine (1987) The Linda Gray Story (1988)
TV Rock [The History of Rock & Roll on Television] (1988) Aretha Franklin:
Queen of Soul (1989) Between the Lines [with Debbie Gibson] (1990) Linda
Ronstadt: It’s So Easy (1990) Ice Ice Ice: The Extraordinary Vanilla Ice Story
(1991) One Is the Loneliest Number [with Jimmy Greenspoon of Three Dog
Night] (1991) Madonna: Blonde Ambition (1992) I’m A Believer: My Life of
Music, Monkees and Madness [with Micky Dolenz of the Monkees] (1993)
Country Hunks (1994)
Country Gals (1994)
Dancing In The Street: Confessions of a Motown Diva [with Martha Reeves of
Martha & the Vandellas] (1994) I Fall To Pieces: The Music & the Life of Patsy
Cline (1995) Bonnie Raitt: Just in the Nick of Time (1995) Rock & Roll Almanac
(1996) Alan Jackson: Gone Country (1996) Raised On Rock: The Autobiography
of Elvis Presley’s Step-Brother [with David Stanley] (1996) George Strait: The
Story of Country’s Living Legend (1997, 1998 & 1999) Leonardo DiCaprio:
Romantic Hero (1998) LeAnn Rimes (1998)
Jewel (1998)
Matt Damon: Chasing a Dream (1998) Will Smith: The Freshest Prince (1998)
Vince Gill (2000)
Madonna: Blonde Ambition [Updated Edition] (2000) Rock Rules (2000)
Cher: If You Believe (2000)
Madonna
Blonde Ambition
Updated Edition
Mark Bego
To Ann Bego
“Well now, lassie!”
First Cooper Square Press edition 2000
This Cooper Square Press paperback edition of Madonna is an unabridged
republication of the edition first published in New York in 1992, with the edition
of a new chapter and updated appendices. It is reprinted by arrangement with the
author.
Copyright © 1992 by Mark Bego Updated Edition copyright © 2000 by Mark
Bego All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
Published by Cooper Square Press, An Imprint of Rowman & Littlefield
Publishing Group
150 Fifth Avenue, Suite 911
New York, New York 10011
Distributed by National Book Network Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
Publication Data Bego, Mark.
Madonna : blonde ambition / Mark Bego.—updated ed.
p. cm.
“First cooper Square Press edition”—T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8154-1051-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Madonna, 1958-2. Singers—
United States—Biography. 3. motion picture actors and actresses—United States
—Biography. I. Title.
ML420.M1387 B44 2000
782.42166’092—dc21 00-030717
[B]
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the
United States of America.
Madonna: “I have a long range plan.”
Mark Bega: “Where do you see yourself in the future?”
“At the Betty Ford Hospital. It’s where all the famous people
Madonna:
go!”1
Introduction
T
he afternoon I finished writing this book, I went to a cocktail party to
celebrate. When I arrived there, the host said to me, “Congratulations!
There’s just one thing I want to know. At the end of the book, how does
Madonna come across—is she a bitch, or is she a goddess?”
After thinking for a moment I replied, “Actually, both.”
“How marvelous!” my friend exclaimed. “A bitch goddess!”
In a very simple way, the term “bitch goddess” cuts to the essence of the
subject of this book. Madonna represents different things to different people. As
her career progresses and she slowly peels away various layers of camouflage,
new dimensions of her personality are exposed. She is often so revealing that her
attentive audience is treated like voyeurs in a church confessional. Among other
things, she is a hard-as-nails workaholic, an egotistical mistress of media
manipulation, and a progressive-thinking iconoclast who will do and/or say
anything to shock people.
Since I was born in Pontiac, Michigan—the city Madonna grew up in—to
me she will always be a pushy local-girl-made-good. Although I didn’t know her
at the time, like Madonna I too moved to New York City in search of fame. We
met on several occasions in the early eighties, when she was at the beginning of
her singing and acting career and I was enjoying the initial success of my writing
career.
At the time, as a magazine writer, I was meeting and interviewing lots of
singers who had hit records, including Madonna. However, the second I was
introduced to her, I knew that she was different. After an hour of talking to her, I
knew that, whatever it took, she was somehow destined to become a star.
Since that time I was amazed at how many of my friends in the music
business went on to work with her. While writing this book, I had the unique
opportunity of being able to turn to my own personal phone book to get in touch
with them. In my conversations with Madonna’s co-workers and friends, I found
that they each had one outrageous story or another that has never appeared in
print, which added a fresh facet to her story.
In 1984 I was asked by a book publisher to propose a biography about
someone at the forefront of the music scene, keeping in mind a release date of
the following spring. When I proposed doing a book on Madonna, the editors
loved the idea. I had just interviewed Madonna, only weeks after her prime-time
television debut on the first annual MTV Awards. During our interview, we
laughed about the cameramen who had angled the camera shots up her dress
while she performed “Like a Virgin.” She was brash and bratty even then, but
when she talked about her career, she was clearly focused. There was no doubt
in my mind that she was going places.
A couple of weeks later I visited her on the set of Desperately Seeking Susan
and watched her film the scenes that took place outside the fictitious Magic
Club. I was also one of the invited guests at her “Like a Virgin” party at Private
Eyes, which is described in this book.
As I predicted, in 1985 Madonna became the hottest new star of the year.
When the book I had written about her, Madonna!, was released, it went on to
sell a million copies. Since then I have kept tabs on her every move. I knew that
the day would eventually come when I would write a much more detailed book
on the life of Madonna. In 1989 I realized that that time had come, and I began
work on this book.
The term “blonde ambition” was used in a 1985 magazine article about
Madonna. When I first proposed writing this book, it seemed like a perfect title.
After Harmony Books gave me a contract to do so, Madonna announced that her
1990 concert tour was going to be titled “Blonde Ambition” as well. It certainly
seemed to be a favorable omen. It would be sheer egomania for me to say “great
minds think alike,” but when you’re dealing with a subject like Madonna,
modesty should never enter the picture.
Madonna is a pushy bitch, an egotist, and an accomplished dominatrix at the
art of self-promotion. Yet, underneath all of her accomplishments, there still lies
a rebellious Catholic girl from Pontiac, Michigan, willing to do anything for
attention. I am mesmerized by her, admire her creative talent, salute her hard
work, and believe in her humanistic politics. There has never been a popular
singer who has so totally captured the ears and eyes of the world, and who uses
her power to make changes in our consciousness. While she has the spolight, she
slaps the bigoted and narrow-minded masses around her for being homophobic,
racist, and misogynistic. Not only has she become the biggest star in the show
business galaxy, she’s also determined to change the way we look at ourselves.
I’ve been following Madonna’s career since the early days when she was
showcasing herself at clubs in New York City like Paradise Garage and Studio
54. The book that you are holding in your hands is a product of several years of
research. It is about a determined little girl from my hometown, who clawed,
pushed, and finagled her way to the top of the entertainment world. She’s the
ultimate bitch goddess, and her name is Madonna.
MARK BEGO