Modern Divas Boxed Set

by Jessica Jayne

  Barbone was Madonna’s personal manager

  Madonna was brave enough to invite the woman to watch one of her shows at Max’s Kansas City. Camille failed to show up; Madonna stormed into her office and berated her for not showing up. Camille attended Emmy’s next concert and was immediately “blown away. She sparkled, in a very street way. Not fairy nymphet. It was hard and guttural and in-your-face. She very much typified the New York music scene.”

  Camille was so impressed that she offered to be her manager on the condition that she ditch her band. Madonna agreed, although it meant being disloyal to Monahan and Bray. They were not happy with the news, but Madonna won them back in a few months.

  Camille had Madonna move to another apartment and provided her with a $100-a-week salary. After Madonna’s apartment was broken into, Camille moved her again to another place, this one off Riverside Drive.

  A Career in Music

  Soon, Madonna and Camille became inseparable. In the 80s, there were very few successful mainstream female artists, owing to the fact that women were still viewed as a novelty and not taken seriously. But Madonna was determined to make her name in the industry, combining punk attitude with a high-glam sexuality and taking it into the pop mainstream. She said that she wanted to be like Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde, “strong and independent women who wrote their own music and evolved on their own.”

  From the start, Camille knew it was a great idea to have Madonna work with strong musical collaborators. When asked if Madonna was a gifted musician, Camille remarked, “Gifted? No. She was a meat-and-potatoes musician. She had just enough skill to write a song or play guitar. She had a wonderful sense of lyrics, however. She read pretty impressive books and that helped her lyric-writing. But more than anything, it was her personality and that she was a great performer.”

  One summer, Madonna recorded her first Gotham demo at Media Sound where she was supervised by Jon Gordon, an aspiring producer and musical director of the session. Now 23, Madonna was giddy with excitement, seeing it as her first step to realizing her dream.

  Madonna gave Gordon a few tapes of the songs that she wrote and spent hours in Camille’s rehearsal studio. Gordon remembered that Madonna wrote most of the lyrics, melody and chords. They recorded four songs the following weeks. In years to come, people would criticize Madonna’s vocal ability, claiming she is a weak singer, but Gordon knew better: “Technically, of course, there’re people who can sing rings around her. But she could grasp a song and present it in a catchy and intelligible way. She was very good at making her vocal limitations work for her. She’s a strong interpreter and she doesn’t over-embellish things.”

  The songs they recorded were Love on the Run, High Society, Get Up and I Want You.

  Camille was responsible for guiding Madonna in a male-dominated world of the music business and helped put together a studio band that reflected the budding star’s hip style. The band consisted of keyboard-player John Bonamassa, drummer Bob Riley, bassist John Kaye, and Jon Gordon on lead guitar. Unlike other artists, Madonna tried to learn to play these instruments. The band would rehearse four times a week.

  With a band of her own, Madonna clearly knew what she wanted even though she didn’t know how to get it. Gordon said, “We were all taking direction from her. She was open to suggestion, but she’d speak up very quickly if she didn’t like the way things were going. I was means to an end.”

  The band played regular gigs from Cartoon Alley and The Underground to Max’s Kansas City and U.S. Blues on Long Island. And slowly, Madonna was building up a following. Gordon remembered that a group of teenage girls, aged 14, started following the band around. They were the original wannabes, according to Gordon.

  What drew people to Madonna was her earthiness, showing the world that she was a normal pretty girl. When she began her career, she attracted a crowd of enthusiastic girls. According to Gordon, Madonna’s fans responded to “honest-to-goodness blood, sweat and lip gloss.” By then, Madonna was known to sport a brown hair spiked up and she wore the crucifix along with other accessories. She was a bit plump then, but that would change later as she became more slender.

  One of the things that led to Madonna’s success was her female fans. Camille said, “An element that was so important to her success was that women didn’t resent her. Normally, when women see their boyfriends riveted on a girl, there’s resentment, but the girls were riveted too. She emitted a kind of bisexual vibe. She was open and honest in her songwriting. No frills. They’re not mind-boggling concepts – they’re ones that every woman can relate to easily. That was why it was so easy to get the girls to dress like her – they were watching every move she made.”

  Indeed, Madonna became a role model to her female fans who’d go as far as wear scarf in the same way, or wear fishnet stockings with pumps and errant jewelry. For her fans, Madonna was a free spirit, and they wanted to be like her.

  Another factor that took everyone by surprise was the way Madonna turned the crowd into voyeurs. Camille asserted that her protégé has “no self-consciousness at all. It was like what people do when they’re in a bedroom by themselves singing in front of a mirror. But she wasn’t in her bedroom, she’d do it in front of a whole audience. We talked about it a lot. She pretended her audience was a Peeping Tom. They weren’t there, they were sneaking a look. That’s a very unique way of thinking about performing!”

  Camille distributed the Gotham tapes in record companies but no one was interested. Madonna became restless, and the lack of a record company showing interest in signing Madonna put a strain on Gordon’s relationship with Madonna and Camille. The latter remembered that one night Gordon, who had a crush on Madonna, had a fight with Madonna onstage. She shoved him, he shoved her back a bit too hard and she fell. That was the end of that.

  Madonna was a person who doesn’t linger when a situation doesn’t work for her. She could be ruthless at times, but she also exhibited neediness. Camille said that it “drew out every maternal instinct in my body.” She felt that Madonna never got support and protection from her family. The budding artist couldn’t care about her father’s approval, and no woman was there to act as a mother figure, certainly not her stepmother who never looked after Madonna and siblings the way she did with her own children. Madonna’s father, on the other hand, was still mourning.

  The band became Madonna’s family. She wanted to be a woman in control of her life, but by then, her life was very chaotic. Camille ended up looking after her, taking charge of her dental appointments, being on call during the night. She remembered that Madonna would call her at four in the morning and tell her she can’t sleep. Then she would appear at her door, asking her to take her to a movie. If Madonna was hungry, Camille would get her something to eat. She was like a mother to a restless child. When Madonna acted like a hyperactive child, Camille would drive her around just to get her tired. And then Madonna would get so tired that she couldn’t sleep. Camille would drop her off at her place at 3 in the morning after a gig, but then she’d go back out again.

  And when Madonna got bored, she would delight herself in practical jokes. One afternoon she spray-painted in block letters the words “FUCK” and “SEX” on Camille’s poodles. Madonna also belched at wrong occasions. For instance, in a lunch meeting with talent scouts, Madonna belched and cackled and got their attention by misbehaving. Camille said that it didn’t bother her, but the “sexually exploitative stuff” did. “She was her own worst enemy. I had to convince her that she was entitled to her success, she didn’t need to denigrate herself.”

  Still, no one in the music industry took a risk in signing her up. Madonna was impatient, seeing that her career was stagnating. In September 1981, when they were reviewing Madonna’s contract, she complained to Camille that she hadn’t struck a record deal for her yet. The band was scheduled to perform a gig at the Underground Club in November. Madonna renewed her contract and her band’s gig was successful. The band also opened the New Year’s Eve for
David Johansen. That night, Johansen escorted Madonna to a party for the MTV cable channel and introduced her to influential people.

  For a while, it seemed that things were getting better, but Camille had no idea that record executives were luring Madonna away with better offers. When Camille sensed betrayal, she tried to hold on to Madonna even harder, always leading to heated arguments.

  In February 1982, a meeting was set between Madonna, Camille and her business partner Bill Lomuscio and Jay Kramer, a music attorney, to talk about her future. Kramer told Camille that they were going to terminate her contract with Madonna and that the singer didn’t need her services any more. Camille and Lomuscio were stunned but decided to seek legal action. It led to years of wrangling until 1992, when Camille accepted a settlement.

  One Song to Success

  After parting ways with Camille, Madonna found herself “jockeying for position.” She negotiated with the William Morris Agency but nothing came out of it and so she was back to decrepit rehearsal studios trying to land a deal.

  Mark Kamins helped launch the career of his then-girlfriend Madonna

  Madonna became even more fascinated by the New York nightlife. The destination of club-loving people that time was Mudd Club, and then Danceteria, a four-story club in West 21st Street. Mark Kamins, the DJ who discovered Madonna, recalled that “the disco scene was dying” and that “the Mudd Club became the cool place because it was way downtown, at the bottom of Manhattan.”

  By that time, Kamins worked as party DJ for the band Talking Heads and as roving A&R man for Chris Blackwell’s Island Records. He was a DJ at the Danceteria when it opened, along with British DJ Shaun Cassette. They would mix the playlist that contained The Pop Group, James Brown, Kraftwerk and Grace Jones, among others. A lot of people went to Danceteria, which was open from eight to eight. The first floor featured live bands and the third floor had a video lounge.

  Kamins recalled that Madonna was “just one of the personalities. She had a very unique fashion style. She was always on the dance floor, and when she danced, everyone would stand around her.”

  Madonna began to like Danceteria, which for her symbolized the freedom after the rigorous world of contemporary dance. She said, “You can dance for six hours and nobody will bother you and you don’t have to drink. I felt an incredible sense of liberation, and I felt happier.”

  Danceteria provided the excitement that she so craved. And it was also the place where her dreams were realized. One night, Madonna approached Kamins’ booth with a demo of the song Everybody which she’d been working on with Steve Bray. Kamins played the song. He said that the place did not go crazy with the song, but that it worked. Kamins became Madonna’s boyfriend.

  Chris Blackwell, the head of Island Records, wasn’t impressed by Madonna or her song and turned her down. Kamins took her to Seymour Stein at Sire Records. Kamins claimed that Stein decided to give Madonna a deal not because he believed in her but because he believed in Kamins. Michael Rosenblatt, working at the artists and repertoire department, stated,

  “Madonna is great. She will do anything to be a star… With Madonna I knew I had someone hot and co-operative, so I planned to build her career with singles, rather than just put an album right away and run the risk of disaster.”

  Madonna received a $15,000 two-singles deal. It wasn’t a spectacular offer, but it paved the way for her dreams. Excitedly, she visited Stein in a hospital after undergoing a heart surgery. He remembered, “I think if I was lying in a coffin but had my hand out ready to sign, that would’ve suited her. She was very anxious to get her career going, she believed in herself that much.”

  Seymour Stein

  The 12 inch version of Everybody was recorded in 1982 in Black Tape studios with Kamins as producer. Madonna did the vocals in one take. The song was a hit and it set the blueprint for future Madonna songs.

  The song was marketed by Warner to the dance charts. The cover of the single featured a collage of downtown New York, and so a lot of people who heard the song thought that the singer was African-American.

  The song failed to break into the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States but reached number 7 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in December 1982. The song became number one in the dance charts, and it helped her achieve her first magazine cover photograph.

  With the success of Everybody, Madonna convinced Sire Records to produce a full-length album, Madonna. She worked on her second single, Burning Up, and chose to work with Reggie Lucas, a Warner Bros. producer. Madonna’s first album featured the songs Lucky Star, a new version of Ain’t No Big Deal, Think of Me, and I Know It. Lucas added two more songs, Physical Attraction and Borderline.

  Soon after beginning the sessions, Lucas and Madonna began to clash. Madonna didn’t like how the final versions turned out, claiming that Lucas used too many instruments and didn’t consider her ideas for the songs.

  When the album was finished, Lucas left, the songs not tailored to Madonna’s specifications. She asked the help of John “Jellybean” Benitez, a DJ at Funhouse disco, to remix the tracks. Ain’t No Big Deal was unavailable for the project because Steve Bray sold it to an act on another label. Benitez brought a song to the project, a number written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the pop group Pure Energy. The song was Holiday, which was turned down by Phyllis Hyman and Mary Wilson. Madonna and Benitez sent the demo to Fred Zarr so he could work on the songs.

  The rising pop star and then-boyfriend Jellybean Benitez

  With her debut album done, Madonna set about going for a pop sound in her next album. “I now know what I want on my next record. The production won’t be so slick, because where Reggie… comes from is a whole different school,” Madonna said before her album was released.

  She had always wanted to bring dance music to the people, and she had no problem achieving that with people thinking of her as a black chick. She knew it was only a matter of inventing a category for herself. The cover for her album was where she began. It showed her with short peroxided hair, looking straight at the camera and grabbing at a dog collar she wore around her neck. Her eyes were accentuated with heavy black eyeliner, strong lipstick, and numerous silver bracelets, leather wristbands and chains. It was all in black and white.

  Madonna was styled by Maripol for this cover image. Maripol, a jewelry designer-turned-art director for Fiorucci in New York, helped Madonna to create that Boy Toy look that focused on her curvy stomach and belly button. Madonna became a young woman who exuded the sensuality of a modern Aphrodite.

  Eventually, Madonna’s performances, even her clothes, and her music videos started to influence young girls and women. In particular, her style became the “in” fashion trend in the 1980s. Maripol was responsible for creating a Madonna who wears lace tops, fishnet stockings, skirts over Capri pants, bracelets, jewelry bearing the crucifix and bleached hair.

  The first album

  By the end of 1983, Madonna was slowly climbing up the US charts, and people began to notice her. Three of the songs in the album became hit singles. Holiday hit number 16, Borderline peaked at number 10, and Lucky Star reached number 4 in 1984. The album was a success, with sales of 9 million worldwide. But Madonna had her sights fixed on her next album, which she envisioned would create an indelible mark for her name, not just in the music industry, but in people’s minds as well.

  Chapter 5 – A String of Successes

  Like a Virgin

  With her first album doing really well, Madonna knew that she had to make her next album if she wanted to establish herself as an artist. In 1984, she met Nile Rodgers, the man behind Chic and the man who reshaped David Bowie’s sound with his successful Let’s Dance.

  Madonna debuted her hit single, Like a Virgin, at the MTV Video Music Awards

  After watching Madonna in one of her gigs, Rodgers invited her to his apartment to listen to her demos for the second album. He wasn’t impressed by all of the songs, thinking that there was too much sequen
cing and less live band.

  Madonna’s key song was Like A Virgin, which Rodgers thought was one of the weakest in the lineup. He recalled, “She was convinced it was the one. I was like, ‘Are you nuts?’” So the chorus was catchy, but at the same time, he thought it possessed a corny air. But Madonna insisted on it, recognizing that it was her signature tune.

  The song was written by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, the latter being the one behind the hit song How Do I Make You. He said that he’d been through a divorce and met an incredible person and went about writing a song for his new love. The verses reflected sincerity, reflecting longing and life experience. But for the chorus, he decided to make it rique and playful. “Believe me, I wasn’t a weirdo thinking that ‘like a virgin’ would be a normal, sincere statement. I knew it would be provocative. I wasn’t writing my diary, I wanted to write a hit song.”

  The duo had difficulty looking for labels. Steinberg recalled, “They laughed, saying ‘No one will ever sing that song.’ In a way, it was written for one person. Thinking of the word ‘virgin’ and the name Madonna – how perfect can you get?”

  Michael Ostin, Warner Bros. executive, thought that the song was perfect for his artist Madonna. When she first heard it, she thought it was “sick and perverted” but it wasn’t a problem. She said, “Sick and perverted always appeals to me… there were so many innuendos in it, I thought, ‘This is great. This will really screw with people.’” Madonna, who used to be a Catholic girl, knew that the song would work well with the virgin/whore dichotomy she was still developing.