Madonna (Madonna album)
Madonna (retitled Madonna: The First Album for the 1985 re-release) is the debut album by American singer Madonna, released on July 27, 1983 by Sire Records. After having established herself as a singer in downtown New York City, Madonna was signed by Sire president Seymour Stein, due to the success of her debut single, "Everybody" (1982). She became the sole writer for most of the album's tracks, and chose Reggie Lucas as its primary producer. Unhappy with Lucas's production outputs, she invited John "Jellybean" Benitez to complete the album, who remixed three tracks and produced "Holiday".
Madonna (entertainer)
The album's title track served as its first single, and topped the Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks. It attracted the attention of conservative organizations who complained that the song and its accompanying video promoted premarital sex and undermined family values, and moralists sought to have the song and video banned. Madonna received huge media coverage for her performance of "Like a Virgin" at the first 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. Wearing a wedding dress and white gloves, Madonna appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake and then rolled around suggestively on the floor. MTV retrospectively considered it one of the "most iconic" pop performances of all time. The second single, "Material Girl", reached number two on the Hot 100 and was promoted by a music video recreating Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from the 1953 film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". While filming this video, Madonna started dating actor Sean Penn. They married on her birthday in 1985.
Madonna entered mainstream films in February 1985, beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in "Vision Quest", a romantic drama film. Its soundtrack contained two new singles, her U.S. number-one single, "Crazy for You", and another track "Gambler". She also played the title role in the 1985 comedy "Desperately Seeking Susan", a film which introduced the song "Into the Groove", her first number-one single in the UK. Her popularity relegated the film as a Madonna vehicle, despite not having lead actress billing. "The New York Times" film critic Vincent Canby named it one of the ten best films of 1985.