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 (Madonna album)
Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that with the album, Madonna began her career as a disco diva, in an era that did not have any such divas to speak of. In the beginning of the 80s, disco was an anathema to the mainstream pop, and according to him, Madonna had a huge role in popularizing dance music as mainstream music, utilizing her charisma, chutzpah and sex appeal. Erlewine claimed that "Madonna" "launched dance-pop" and set the standard for the genre for the next two decades. The staff of "Vice" magazine stated that the album "drew the blueprint for future dance-pop." "Rolling Stone" ranked the album at number 50 on "The 100 Best Albums of the Eighties" list, writing that "[the album's] assured style and sound, as well as Madonna's savvy approach to videos, helped the singer make the leap from dance diva to pop phenom, and it pointed the direction for a host of female vocalists from Janet Jackson to Debbie Gibson."