"Madonna - Blonde Ambition" by Mark Bego (1991)

Another celebrity biography by Mark Bego and this one is surprisingly interesting, in spite of author's reservations about subject's likability - he often mentions her cold calculations, ambitions and the way she uses people to get the spotlight, but on the other hand he is fascinated with her fame, success and long career that shows no sign of slowing down. Even though he does his usual listing of recording dates, movies and seemingly every TV interview she ever gave, somehow this book ends up being more interesting than his other work simply because this time the story itself is much more unusual.

I was there in the early 1980s and I remember - Cindy Lauper was the first and we all assumed Madonna was just a cheap, gum-chewing copy who wouldn't last. To our biggest surprise, Lauper fizzled away and Madonna was the one who continued to grow, change and metamorphosed into perhaps the most famous (notorious?) female pop star of the 20 century. Back than I didn't like her - from the start there was something bratty, snooty and vulgar about her and though her music was ubiquitous, I never wanted to buy any of her records - didn't have to, since it was overplayed everywhere anyway. You couldn't open the radio without hearing her voice. It wasn't until much later, when she started doing ballads and did lovely "Secret" that I genuinely lifted my eyebrows in surprise, but at that point her public image was already so strong that I never took her to heart as some other artists. In this book, Mark Bego traces her career to a very early days of bumming around New York and eating leftovers from garbage cans to sudden rise to fame/notoriety and the way she exploited media ever since. Grudgingly I must admit that she succeeded on every level - even though her movies fall into Elvis Presley category, "Evita" was quite acceptable - from what I have seen, she is still very successful and presides over business company so good for her. She happens to be somebody I kept away for decades and never regretted it - her particular shtick somehow eludes me and I am still not convinced, but millions of people worship her so who am I to say. However, the book turns out captivating reading and I gulped it very fast. I think that now for some time I might rest from Mark Bego and celebrity biographies.