Madonna: An Intimate Biography
Encyclopedia
Madonna: An Intimate Biography is a book by American author J. Randy Taraborrelli
, chronicling the life of American recording artist Madonna
. The book was released in April 2001 by Sidgwick & Jackson
in the United Kingdom, and in August 2001 by Simon & Schuster
in the United States. Taraborrelli first considered writing the book in 1990, but, realizing the project might be premature in respect to Madonna's fledgling career, set it aside. He began writing the book in 1996, when Madonna gave birth to her daughter Lourdes.
Other books about Madonna's life and career had been based on previously published material, but Taraborrelli’s biography was the product of research spanning a decade and includes exclusive interviews with Madonna's close friends, business associates, family members, and her father, Tony Ciccone. These interviews were conducted by the author himself, as well as his team of private investigators. Taraborrelli also interviewed Madonna over the course of years, and drew from those many, first-hand experiences while writing the book.
Madonna: An Intimate Biography received a mixed response from critics. Some considered it a compelling piece on Madonna's life, while others thought Taraborrelli's writing was unprofessional. Despite the mixed response the book was a commercial success, and became a bestseller in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the book debuted atop The New York Times Best Seller list, and remained there for three months, selling about two million copies.
, two pop groups, composing, and releasing her 1983 debut album, Madonna. Her rise to superstardom as a pop icon is chronicled and her cutting edge music videos, albums, first concert tour, film roles, and marriage and divorce to Sean Penn
are examined. The book investigates her controversial religious imagery and her erotic productions, Erotica, Sex
, and Body of Evidence. The book describes a mellowing in her appearance and provocativeness, and, among other things, the release of her next several albums, her Golden Globe Award
-winning musical film portrayal of Eva Peron
, and her high-grossing Drowned World Tour
. The births of her elder daughter and son are chronicled and her marriage to Guy Ritchie
.
first met Madonna
at a press conference in 1983. She spoke of her youthful struggles before the release of her debut album, and of her belief that she would someday enjoy great success as the "century's biggest star". Taraborrelli thought her brash, cocky, petulant, self-indulgent, and a mediocre beauty with a voice to match.
Taraborrelli was proven wrong, and, in 1990, he considered writing her biography but put the thought aside, thinking such a venture was too premature. He pointed out that "most subjects need time for evolution and personal growths, before their stories are ripe enough to put on paper. Madonna was in an ambitious, self-involved phase during which nothing mattered more to her than her career." He picked up the writing again in 1994, but felt the same way about her, and hoped the time would come when the singer would focus on her personal life, rather than her career. A personal evolution occurred in her life with the birth of daughter Lourdes in 1996, and it was then that Taraborrelli sensed the time was ripe to begin writing her biography.
During the course of writing the book, Taraborrelli realized that one of the greatest misconceptions about Madonna was the general perception that she was cold and unemotional in her personal relationships. The opposite proved true; Madonna was indeed emotionally vulnerable, and Taraborelli cited as an example the icon's 1990 relationship with actor Warren Beatty
. Their relationship was generally perceived as nothing more than a means to promote their film Dick Tracy, and Madonna was regarded under the circumstances as opportunistic. Taraborelli discovered however that Madonna actually had strong feelings for Beatty. The actor however was not as emotionally invested as Madonna, and the relationship ended with her heart being broken. Taraborelli observed, "So, what I think will surprise people with this story are the many times that Madonna has ended up feeling alone and rejected. She has built her entire career on an image of indestructibility. But at least in her personal life, and again, I make that distinction, because this isn't necessarily true in her business life, she is one of the most fragile subjects I've ever written about [...] This book is really about placing her life into the proper historical context, and once again answering the why questions about her."
's Lace than a real woman." Peter Sobczynski reviewed the book for the Post-Tribune
and felt that "the problem with writing an unauthorized tell-all biography is that, in this information-rich world that we live in, by the time a book gets written on somebody, most of the juicy stories are already common knowledge. To make up for that, the tell-all author needs to fill his or her pages with either a thoughtful analysis of the subject at hand, or, frankly, newer and better dirt. Unfortunately, celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli does neither with his latest concoction, Madonna: An Intimate Biography."
William Leith of The Evening Standard was impressed with the biography, and noted that "the thing about Madonna is not in her sensationalism, it’s in the fact that how much humane she appeared in the book. Taraborrelli does a fine job of capturing the world's most famous courtesan, in the most infamous way", and John Smyntek from Knight Ridder
thought "Taraborrelli [is] retelling all [the known facts about Madonna] and more. After all, in those 10 years, the Great Woman has had two children, wed and maintained her image as a major pain in the keister. He does a great job of bringing forth these unknown facts." Ward Triplet of the Kansas City Star felt that although the book is "an eerie, but compelling day by day account of Madonna, and how she became who she is, sometimes Taraborrelli feels like revealing more about his process of writing than the his subject", and Ann O' Neil in the Los Angeles Times
complimented the book for being "different" from the "regular dirt written everyday about Madonna."
Sylvia Sharma from The Daily Mirror felt that "Taraborrelli's rummage through Madge's life can bring you to shame. This is the Madonna biography all had been waiting for, this is who she is. Not the staunch woman that we see, but a woman who is no different than one of us." Mike Thomas from Chicago Sun-Times
said that "Filled with private details from Madonna's life, Taraborrelli gives us the first in-depth look at the Material Girl in more than a decade. The following outtakes from friends, former friends, Taraborrelli and Madonna herself were hand- picked for your perusing pleasure. Or displeasure. Madonna, as with all pop icons, is an acquired taste."
and released in hardback in the United Kingdom in April 2001 to great commercial success, shipping about a million copies and remaining a bestseller for six months. Its success prompted Taraborelli to release the book in the United States.
In the United States, the book was released in paperback format, and debuted at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list, remaining there for three months. It sold about two million copies within a year, prompting Simon & Schuster to ship another two million copies to stores. The book was also translated into 12 different languages. It became an international best-seller and Taraborrelli's biggest-selling book.
J. Randy Taraborrelli
John Randall Taraborrelli is an American journalist and biographer.Taraborrelli is an author known for biographies of contemporary entertainers and political figures. He is a featured writer in several entertainment magazines in Canada, England, and Australia...
, chronicling the life of American recording artist Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
. The book was released in April 2001 by Sidgwick & Jackson
Sidgwick & Jackson
Sidgwick & Jackson is an imprint of publishing company Pan Macmillan. It was founded in Britain in 1908. Notable early Sidgwick and Jackson authors include poet Rupert Brooke and novelist E.M. Forster...
in the United Kingdom, and in August 2001 by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in the United States. Taraborrelli first considered writing the book in 1990, but, realizing the project might be premature in respect to Madonna's fledgling career, set it aside. He began writing the book in 1996, when Madonna gave birth to her daughter Lourdes.
Other books about Madonna's life and career had been based on previously published material, but Taraborrelli’s biography was the product of research spanning a decade and includes exclusive interviews with Madonna's close friends, business associates, family members, and her father, Tony Ciccone. These interviews were conducted by the author himself, as well as his team of private investigators. Taraborrelli also interviewed Madonna over the course of years, and drew from those many, first-hand experiences while writing the book.
Madonna: An Intimate Biography received a mixed response from critics. Some considered it a compelling piece on Madonna's life, while others thought Taraborrelli's writing was unprofessional. Despite the mixed response the book was a commercial success, and became a bestseller in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the book debuted atop The New York Times Best Seller list, and remained there for three months, selling about two million copies.
Summary
The book opens with Madonna's birth, her early years in Michigan, and her 1977 move to New York City where she was involved with modern danceModern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
, two pop groups, composing, and releasing her 1983 debut album, Madonna. Her rise to superstardom as a pop icon is chronicled and her cutting edge music videos, albums, first concert tour, film roles, and marriage and divorce to Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
are examined. The book investigates her controversial religious imagery and her erotic productions, Erotica, Sex
Sex (book)
Sex is a coffee table book written by Madonna with photographs by Steven Meisel Studio and film frames taken from film shot by Fabien Baron. The book was edited by Glenn O'Brien. Sex was released on October 21, 1992 by Warner Books...
, and Body of Evidence. The book describes a mellowing in her appearance and provocativeness, and, among other things, the release of her next several albums, her Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
-winning musical film portrayal of Eva Peron
Eva Perón
María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita.She was born in the village of Los Toldos in...
, and her high-grossing Drowned World Tour
Drowned World Tour
The Drowned World Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna in support of her seventh and eighth studio albums Ray of Light and Music. It was also her first tour in eight years, following The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993...
. The births of her elder daughter and son are chronicled and her marriage to Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English screenwriter and film maker who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes.-Early life:...
.
Development
American journalist and celebrity biographer John Randall TaraborrelliJ. Randy Taraborrelli
John Randall Taraborrelli is an American journalist and biographer.Taraborrelli is an author known for biographies of contemporary entertainers and political figures. He is a featured writer in several entertainment magazines in Canada, England, and Australia...
first met Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
at a press conference in 1983. She spoke of her youthful struggles before the release of her debut album, and of her belief that she would someday enjoy great success as the "century's biggest star". Taraborrelli thought her brash, cocky, petulant, self-indulgent, and a mediocre beauty with a voice to match.
Taraborrelli was proven wrong, and, in 1990, he considered writing her biography but put the thought aside, thinking such a venture was too premature. He pointed out that "most subjects need time for evolution and personal growths, before their stories are ripe enough to put on paper. Madonna was in an ambitious, self-involved phase during which nothing mattered more to her than her career." He picked up the writing again in 1994, but felt the same way about her, and hoped the time would come when the singer would focus on her personal life, rather than her career. A personal evolution occurred in her life with the birth of daughter Lourdes in 1996, and it was then that Taraborrelli sensed the time was ripe to begin writing her biography.
Writing and release
Taraborrelli decided to focus on the private life of Madonna, and who she really was. Many books about the superstar were based on previously published material, but Taraborrelli had ten years of research to draw upon including interviews with people who had not spoken about Madonna in public and his own interviews with the icon. Taraborrelli and his team of private investigators interviewed Madonna's close friends, business associates, and family members including her father Silvio Ciccone.During the course of writing the book, Taraborrelli realized that one of the greatest misconceptions about Madonna was the general perception that she was cold and unemotional in her personal relationships. The opposite proved true; Madonna was indeed emotionally vulnerable, and Taraborelli cited as an example the icon's 1990 relationship with actor Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
. Their relationship was generally perceived as nothing more than a means to promote their film Dick Tracy, and Madonna was regarded under the circumstances as opportunistic. Taraborelli discovered however that Madonna actually had strong feelings for Beatty. The actor however was not as emotionally invested as Madonna, and the relationship ended with her heart being broken. Taraborelli observed, "So, what I think will surprise people with this story are the many times that Madonna has ended up feeling alone and rejected. She has built her entire career on an image of indestructibility. But at least in her personal life, and again, I make that distinction, because this isn't necessarily true in her business life, she is one of the most fragile subjects I've ever written about [...] This book is really about placing her life into the proper historical context, and once again answering the why questions about her."
Critical response
The book received mixed reviews. Caroline Foulkes wrote in The Birmingham Post: "The thing about this biography is the depths to which Taraborrelli has dug to get information on a famously controlling woman. He relates revealing anecdotes as if they were mere bagatelle, making News of the World style revelations look like kid's stuff. If Taraborrelli were to include in his list of acknowledgments 'thanks to the maid who let me into Madonna's bedroom to raid her underwear drawer', it wouldn't be any great surprise." She also felt that "despite the sensationalism, Taraborrelli's writing style lets him down. Too often it descends into the kind of mush you expect from an airport novel, with the singer coming across more like a character from Shirley ConranShirley Conran
-Background:Shirley Conran is a bestselling author, whose books include Lace, which was made into an 80s US miniseries and Superwoman. She has been a columnist for Vanity Fair, women's editor of The Daily Mail and a feature writer for The Observer newspaper.Conran was educated at the University...
's Lace than a real woman." Peter Sobczynski reviewed the book for the Post-Tribune
Post-Tribune
The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana is a daily newspaper headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, United States. It serves the Northwest Indiana region, and is owned by the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:...
and felt that "the problem with writing an unauthorized tell-all biography is that, in this information-rich world that we live in, by the time a book gets written on somebody, most of the juicy stories are already common knowledge. To make up for that, the tell-all author needs to fill his or her pages with either a thoughtful analysis of the subject at hand, or, frankly, newer and better dirt. Unfortunately, celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli does neither with his latest concoction, Madonna: An Intimate Biography."
William Leith of The Evening Standard was impressed with the biography, and noted that "the thing about Madonna is not in her sensationalism, it’s in the fact that how much humane she appeared in the book. Taraborrelli does a fine job of capturing the world's most famous courtesan, in the most infamous way", and John Smyntek from Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
thought "Taraborrelli [is] retelling all [the known facts about Madonna] and more. After all, in those 10 years, the Great Woman has had two children, wed and maintained her image as a major pain in the keister. He does a great job of bringing forth these unknown facts." Ward Triplet of the Kansas City Star felt that although the book is "an eerie, but compelling day by day account of Madonna, and how she became who she is, sometimes Taraborrelli feels like revealing more about his process of writing than the his subject", and Ann O' Neil in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
complimented the book for being "different" from the "regular dirt written everyday about Madonna."
Sylvia Sharma from The Daily Mirror felt that "Taraborrelli's rummage through Madge's life can bring you to shame. This is the Madonna biography all had been waiting for, this is who she is. Not the staunch woman that we see, but a woman who is no different than one of us." Mike Thomas from Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
said that "Filled with private details from Madonna's life, Taraborrelli gives us the first in-depth look at the Material Girl in more than a decade. The following outtakes from friends, former friends, Taraborrelli and Madonna herself were hand- picked for your perusing pleasure. Or displeasure. Madonna, as with all pop icons, is an acquired taste."
Commercial reception
Madonna: An Intimate Biography was published by Sidgwick & JacksonSidgwick & Jackson
Sidgwick & Jackson is an imprint of publishing company Pan Macmillan. It was founded in Britain in 1908. Notable early Sidgwick and Jackson authors include poet Rupert Brooke and novelist E.M. Forster...
and released in hardback in the United Kingdom in April 2001 to great commercial success, shipping about a million copies and remaining a bestseller for six months. Its success prompted Taraborelli to release the book in the United States.
In the United States, the book was released in paperback format, and debuted at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list, remaining there for three months. It sold about two million copies within a year, prompting Simon & Schuster to ship another two million copies to stores. The book was also translated into 12 different languages. It became an international best-seller and Taraborrelli's biggest-selling book.
Publication history
| Region | Release date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | April 20, 2001 | Hardcover |
| April 12, 2002 | Paperback | |
| February 1, 2008 | Paperback – Extended edition | |
| April 9, 2008 | Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 which uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media... |
|
| United States | June 6, 2002 | Paperback |
| October 18, 2007 | Paperback – Special edition | |