Madonna: The Queen of Pop who Defined an Era with “Like A Virgin” | Entertainment and Arts Updates

Madonna’s Like A Virgin, the catchy number credited with encouraging women across the world to embrace their sexuality, has turned 40.

Her first US number-one, the track would go on to become her signature song, and 20 years later would provide a viral moment with Britney Spears at the MTV VMAs.

As we mark the milestone, we take a look back at the Queen Of Pop and her many reinventions over the years.

Who’s That Girl?

The Queen Of Pop, a Material Girl, a gay icon and a self-proclaimed “warrior” – Madonna is many things to many people.

Rihanna, Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga have all recognised the 66-year-old star’s influence on their careers, with Beyonce – a woman who has more Grammy nominations than anyone else in the world – hailing her a “masterpiece genius”.

She’s had more top 10 hits than Elvis, sung a Bond song, met Queen Elizabeth and performed at the Super Bowl half-time show. There’s even part of an academic discipline devoted to her – Madonna studies.

This year and last – after recovering from a stint in intensive care – she toured the world, selling more than a million tickets and grossing over $220m (£170m).

Her impact on the world has transcended the music industry. She has become one of the most recognisable faces of the 20th and 21st centuries – a post-modern icon playing the game by her own rules.

The best-selling female recording artist of all time, her sparkling four-decade career has earned her multiple awards and a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

A master of reinvention, those of a certain age who have followed her over the years have been treated to numerous musical styles, as well as a succession of colourful personas.

Hits have ranged from her early pop tunes Into The Groove and True Blue, to the electronic dance beats in Ray Of Light, a country vibe in Don’t Tell Me and classic musical theatre in Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.

As for her physical makeovers, they have spanned the fingerless gloves and lacey look of her first number one, Like A Virgin, aged just 26, to the much-imitated Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra and scraped back hair of her Blonde Ambition world tour six years later.

Then there was the Earth goddess hippie look for her Ray Of Light album, her first as a mother, and then the Farrah Fawcett flip hair and leotard look to usher in her 50s.

With each different phase as distinctive as the next – and each one signalling a mini-comeback of sorts – her skill at keeping herself in the headlines means she’s rarely been out of the public consciousness over the last 44 years.

Dominating the cultural conversation

Always aware of the selling power of controversy, many moments in her career have dominated the cultural conversation over the decades.

In 1989 her Like A Prayer video scandalised many by featuring burning crosses, bleeding stigmata and a sexually active black saint. The Vatican condemned it and Pepsi cancelled a sponsorship deal. The resulting outcry helped the single become a massive hit and her seventh number one on the Hot 100.

In 2003 after opening the MTV VMAs with a performance of Like A Virgin, an on-stage snog with Britney Spears went viral – two years before YouTube came into existence.

And when during a performance in 2015 a wardrobe malfunction saw her pulled backwards down a flight of stairs live on stage, she picked herself up and carried on. She later denied the fall – which left her with whiplash – was a publicity stunt.

Singer, actress, writer and businesswoman

Of course, she’s got another string to her bow – she’s not just a singer, but also an actress. While many have maligned her acting ability, she has starred in over 20 feature films – including the Oscar-winning 1996 drama Evita – as well as numerous TV shows and commercials.

She’s starred opposite industry heavyweights including Rosanna Arquette (Desperately Seeking Susan); Antonio Banderas (Evita) and Warren Beatty (Dick Tracy). And she’s also performed on Broadway and the West End.

Plus, she has literature – her 1992 coffee table book Sex, featuring softcore pornography and sadomasochism – topped the New York Times best-seller list for three weeks, selling more than 150,000 copies on its first day, becoming the fastest-selling coffee table book of all time.

Considered a bold post-feminist work – and featuring a naked Madonna to boot – it remains one of the most in-demand out-of-print publications of all time.

When it comes to managing her own destiny, Madonna has led the charge from the get-go, writing and producing the majority of her own music from early on in her career, succeeding in moulding and steering her career her way.

A businesswoman as well as an artist, Forbes has named her the top-earning female musician 11 times, and estimates her to be worth $580m (£457m) as of 2023.

In 2013 she launched her own skincare range – MDNA Skin.

‘Control freak’

Unsurprisingly, as a woman at the top of her game and in financial control of her art, her business acumen has led to the Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello-winning singer being labelled a “control freak”.

However, Madonna insists she values collaboration, saying in a 2012 interview: “I can’t work on my own… I need to hear what people think all the time.”

Battling her way in the industry years before the #MeToo movement, she reportedly rejected the advances of <


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