Demo

Solo and with various New York rock bands

No Running in the City and All My Love, appear on a 1979 acoustic solo demo tape alongside early versions of Simon Says Shine A Light(introduced as Hear Me), Little Boy Lost, Safe Neighbourhood, Love Express, three instrumentals and two takes of an unknown and un-named song. The tape originates from the post-Breakfast Club / pre-Emmy period when Madonna was recruiting musicians for her own ensemble. The full story of the tape - remarkable as it is performed almost entirely solo with Madonna playing guitar and singing - appears in the March 2009 issue of UK magazine Record Collector and was featured on MSNBC.
Born to Be a Dancer, an alternative version of Over & Over, Tell the Truth, and I Got Trouble (Roll Over It) taken from Dan and Ed Gilroy's private tapes (1979). Audio excerpts were made available by Andrew Morton on The Daily Beast news reporting and opinion website in 2009 as "The Gilroys' Lost Madonna Tapes". Another song not made available; Trouble is remembered by Ed Gilroy as the first song Madonna wrote (instead of "Tell the Truth", as Madonna recalls).

(I Like) Love for Tender, No Time for Love, Bells Ringing and Drowning are all featured on Madonna's studio demo tape with the band Emmy and the Emmy's in 1980. Other Emmy tracks such as Simon Says are not included here because they were either live recordings or already legally released on a small indie label. They belong listed on the Madonna discography page. NOTE: A studio version of Simon Says is included on the Shamrock Tape. See below for corrected track listing.

Hothouse Flower; and Simon Says; and I Got Trouble (Roll Over It); and Tell the Truth; and Oh Oh (The Sky Is Blue); and Nobody Wants To Be Alone (Once I Thought I Was Good); and Well Well - early recordings recorded on "Shamrock" reel-to-reel tape. Recently auctioned to private owner. Tell the Truth was allegedly the very first song Madonna ever recorded (with the help of Dan Gilroy of the band the Breakfast Club). In 2005 Madonna sang the chorus of Tell the Truth during an interview with Parkinson on UK TV.

Take Me (I Want You); and Best Girl; and Nobody's Fool with "Emmy And The Emmys". Demo recordings of Take Me (I Want You) have leaked online.[22] Live versions of all three songs have also leaked, along with live versions of other Emmy era tracks (already mentioned) from this period.

Prisoner; and Head Over Heels; and Get Away; and Call on Me; - possible early recordings from the Emmys era; Those titles are listed on a hand written set-list spotted in some pictures of a 1980/1981 live gig, taken by photographer George DuBose. Those pictures are famous among collectors as being related to the Underground Club performance. There is actually no evidence that Madonna recorded those songs on tape, they could be compositions written and intended just for live concerts; Some audio-tape from rehearsals (featuring those songs) may or may not exist. The existence of these tracks is confirmed as being on the actual set-list. Those Underground Club pictures can be seen in a large number of fan sites' photo-galleries
We Live in a House Written by Joshua Braun, Janis Galloway and Madonna in 1982. US copyright registration # PAu-1-843-482.[24] It was recorded with the group Spinal Root Gang after Madonna's roommate Janis Galloway introduced her to them. Janis Galloway later became the wife of Michael Rosenblatt from Warner Bros. Sample lyric: "We live in a house, and people just don't care. We live in a house, they don't go anywhere." Madonna screams at one point: "You can't come into my house."

Solo vocal recordings

I Want You, Love On The Run, Get Up and High Society A Pat Benatar style pop-rock Madonna demo produced under the direction of Madonna's first manager Camille Barbone of August Artists Ltd and Gotham Sound Studios in New York City with guitarist Jon Gordon in 1981. All four of these tracks have leaked on the internet in high quality. Two more songs were recorded at Media Sound Studios but not used on the 1981 demo circulating at the time called Remembering Your Touch and Are You Ready For It which are also reasonably easily available for internet download.

Shake Your Head (Let's Go To Bed) Madonna recorded lead vocal with Don and David for the Was (Not Was) album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes produced in Detroit in 1982-83. The released vocal were by Ozzy Osbourne with backing vocals by Kathy Kosins and Carol Hall. Madonna and John "Jellybean" Benitez are both in the album credits. During a May 2006 Kathy Kosins phone interview with Bruce Baron it was revealed that Ozzy recorded his vocal first. Kathy and Carol added vocals in Detroit. Kathy's vocals were intended to be replaced by Madonna by producer Don Was. Madonna's label Sire Records did not agree to the release and Kathy's vocals were restored for the ZE Records release as a backing track. Kathy then became a longtime Was (not Was) contributor. Madonna originally became involved via her friendship with Stephen Bray and his group The Breakfast Club who were also signed with ZE Records (later acquired by MCA). Madonna requested her original vocal not to be used in an early 1990s remix released as a single in Europe to support a Was (Not Was) Greatest Hits album. Kim Basinger did the new vocals. The '90s remix version with Madonna's vocals leaked onto the internet in April 2008.

Sidewalk Talk Written by Madonna for former producer and boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez. The 1983 commercially released version features vocalist Catherine Buchanan on lead vocals and Madonna singing on the chorus and bridge. The original demo version with Madonna on the lead vocal remains unreleased and was produced with Stephen Bray as confirmed by interviews.

Steve Bray

MadonnaTribe meet George DuBose

Madonna Tribe had the chance to meet another great artist who got to meet Madonna in her rising years.
George DuBose is the photographer who documented Madonna's first gig ever at Uncle Sam's Blues, a club in Long Island, at the time when Camille Barbone was her manager and in this exclusive interview he has to share with our readers some interesting stories about the young and rough artist that would have soon conquered the world.

Mr DuBose, who like Maripol had the chance to experience that unique New York's downtown scene of the Eighties when you could have the chance to have Andy Warhol as a friend, will also be discussing with us those amazing times.

We are also happy we can show you, with the author's permission, George DuBose's exclusive images of Madonna from those nights.

MadonnaTribe: Hi George, welcome to MadonnaTribe.
For many years you have documented with your photos the emerging culture in New York City, being a part of one of the most exciting periods in American culture.
What do you remember from those years when your friends were Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat?

George DuBose: I worked for Interview Magazine and also developed Andy's 35mm films from his nocturnal activities. Andy once taught me a very important lesson about keeping deadlines. He also "stole" many concepts from his assistants, which taught me that it is OK to steal... Indeed, I have stolen tricks and techniques from other artists myself, but I prefer to credit those who I have "borrowed" from. Basquiat and I didn't have a connection, he was always too stoned. I had a better relationship with Basquiat's father, Gerard.

MadonnaTribe: As you say you have been staff photographer for the original Interview magazine run by Andy Warhol in 70's.
Interview used to be a very large format and arty magazine. Which is the photoshoot you did for that magazine that you are most fond of?

George DuBose: My favorite photo shoot commissioned by Interview? . One was my shot of Dieter Meier of Yello and the second was my photo shoot of Man Parrish, Manny's photo shoot was probably the only portrait shoot that captured him solo during his first LP era.

MadonnaTribe: In the early 80's you were contacted by Camille Barbone of Empire Management to shoot some photos of one of her new artists: Madonna. At the time Madonna had a group called The Breakfast Club, but Camille told you to take photographs only of her.
Did that sound strange to you?

George DuBose: It sounded really strange. Only later when Madonna went solo did I understand what Camille had in mind. The Breakfast Club was not Madonna's band, rather she was the vocalist.

MadonnaTribe: How did Camille want to use those images?

George DuBose: I think she only needed the shots for publicity, but after she threw me out of the dressing room for talking to Madonna in a professional way, Camille never contacted me again and never paid for or used those photos.

MadonnaTribe: Was that Madonna's first gig ever?

George DuBose: As far as I know. I continued to document Madonna's subsequent performance (now with dance tracks and dancers, no band) at Danceteria, The Roxy and a club in Boston, where I recommended Madonna to the Boston promoters.

MadonnaTribe: That night Madonna was performing at Uncle Sam's Blues, a club in Roslyn, Long Island. What do you remember of her on stage performance? Was she already a consumate performer or was she somehow shy?

George DuBose: Madonna made several costume changes and some of the outfits were a little risqué, she seemed a little nervous during the first set and when I went back to her dressing room, introduced myself and gave her some encouraging words, Camille heard a bit of the conversation and got pissed at me for speaking to Madonna regarding her performance.

MadonnaTribe: How was the performance in terms of production, costumes and type of music?

George DuBose: All I remember was that she made a unique presentation. She was something new and exciting. She was and is a passionate artist, this came across during this debut.

MadonnaTribe: Going back to your brief meeting with Madonna in her dressing room, legend tells that, in a move to be supportive, you left her a note with suggestions and feedback regarding her performance, but apparently Camille didn't like that effort. What were you exacly suggesting to Madonna on that piece of paper?

George DuBose: Where did you hear this bit about the note? I don't remember, but often when I am working with "new" artists, I try to give them constructive criticism about their recordings or live performances. It is quite possible that I made notes about what I wanted to discuss with Madonna. I recall telling her that she was presenting a sexy image, but seemed nervous about whether it was working. I assured her that it was... working.

MadonnaTribe: As we know things between Camille and Madonna didn't turn out as planned and Madonna soon left her management to pursue other ways. You even gave around good shouts about her to NY club promoters and she lated performed as a solo artist at Danceteria, Roxy, the Underground. What do you remember of those later performaces?

George DuBose: Madonna's first gig was as vocalist with the Breakfast Club as a backup band. The next time I saw Madonna was on the roof of Danceteria, I had brought along promoters who were booking NY underground acts to Boston. When Madonna performed at Danceteria, she had two dancers and no band, performingt to prerecorded tracks. The show was excellent and I didn't miss the live backup band at all. By the time Madonna was booked in Boston, the promoters made a three camera video shoot. This video is probably the first performance video of Madonna ever. She has to date refuse to allow the video from that evening in Boston to be released. Madonna was now running on full power during her shows and I believe that one of the dancers in Boston was her brother. After her Boston gig at the Metro, I went backstage to introduce her to the promoters. Madonna saw me and asked me what I was doing in Boston. I told her that it was I who got her the gig. 

MadonnaTribe: The stories about your collaborations with rock and pop stars on your website are very interesting. I read that when you were at SPIN magazine, you wanted REM to get the debut cover, but lost out to Madonna. What do you remember about that?

George DuBose: I agreed to work for SPIN, because I thought that Rolling Stone magazine was losing its relevance in the music scene and only covered major artists. SPIN promised to be more innovative. When the publisher asked the staff who was the most interesting of the new artists, several of us on the staff suggested REM. Perhaps due to the publisher's background, he went with Madonna. I thought that Madonna was "too big" and putting Madonna on the cover was something that Rolling Stone would do.

MadonnaTribe: You can be seen in the great Downtown81 documentary directed by Edo Bertoglio and produced by Maripol about one day in the life of young artist, Jean Michel Basquiat. He really wanted the documentary to be finished before he died. What do you remember about this project in which you appear as a bar patron?

George DuBose: I was close friends with Maripol, Edo and Glenn O'Brien. Since I was sporting a short haircut at the time, Glenn asked me if I would be an extra in his film project, playing the role of a banker in a strip club.  What I remember most about the strip club scene was Steve Mass the owner of the Mudd Club having a "drink" thrown in his face a dozen times for all the camera takes. I was also a photographer in the scenes at the Peppermint Lounge during James Chance's performance, but I think I was left on the cutting room floor.  The bit about Basquiat wanting the film released before he died is interesting to me, as he overdosed on heroin. The film was tied up with Rizzoli publishing empire's financial problems that took 20 years to resolve, before the film could be released.

MadonnaTribe: Yes, I mean that Basquiat, as Maripol told us, really wanted the film to be completed before he happened to suddently die. In the end Maripol did a great gesture of love and friendship to complete the production on the film more than 20 years later.  Going back to your work as a photographer what kind of images you prefer shooting? Studio portraits or live shots?

George DuBose: Although capturing powerful moments of an artist's performance is great, I prefer working in my studio together with the artist and creating images that fulfill a need for the artist. My whole career is founded on the ground of making my subjects look better than reality.

MadonnaTribe: What do you think of the way Madonna has been using her images through the years?

George DuBose: Madonna is a true artist and uses all aspects of her image and personality to be creative. Although I wouldn't personally go the direction that Madonna chose, hey, it is her life and she is free to present herself as she likes. If she wants to be scandalous, shocking, tempermental in order to further her career, those decisions are hers and hers alone. Who am I to judge others?

MadonnaTribe: How would you photograph her today?

George DuBose: Carefully... Actually I wouldn't care to fantasize about a possible Madonna shoot. If she ever wanted to work with me, then I would think about a collaboration and concept.

MadonnaTribe: You have worked with many artists over the years, do you have a favourite one and is there someone you admire that you haven't worked with yet?

George DuBose: I have been lucky and worked with most of my musical heroes. ZZ Top, REM, B-52's, Tom Waits, Marianne Faithfull, Ramones and so on.

MadonnaTribe: What are you working on today and which are your future plans?

George DuBose: I have just released my first photo book about my 10 year relationship photographing and designing most of the covers from the second half of the Ramones career. This book is available at www.Lulu.com and will soon be available from Amazon. This book is being followed by two volumes of the Old School Hip Hop artists, then two volumes of the New School Hip Hop artists. Then I am releasing 4-6 books about all the artists I have worked with that weren't Ramones or hip hop. These are not "how-to" books. These are behind the scene looks at the creative process and events that occured during my photo shoots and will include mostly never-before-seen" images.

MadonnaTribe: Thanks a lot for being with us, George. We wish you all the best for everything coming up!

George Dubose

I was contacted by John Phillips, the bouncer at Hurrah's who was sidelining as a radio promotions man, shopping Madonna's first demo to radio stations.

He put me together with Camille, of Empire Management, Madonna's manager. Camille asked me to go to Uncle Sam's Blues, a club in Roslyn, Long Island and make live photographs of just the singer who was fronting a band called "The Breakfast Club".

Just the singer, not the band. Hmmmm?

There was this sexy, young woman wearing barely-concealing costumes of chamois skin and foxtails. She was oozing sexuality, but seemed shy or unsure of herself. I went back stage between sets to meet her.

I asked her what her real name was.

"Madonna."

I offered her encouragement and wrote a short list of suggestions regarding her performance. I was trying to be supportive.

When her manager, Camille, discovered the note, she was furious and ejected me from the dressing room, screaming, "How dare you speak to my artist!"

I stayed in the club and shot the second set.

I took the train back to Manhattan and never heard from Camille again. I referred Madonna to the promoters of Club NY and we saw her shows at the Underground, Danceterial and the Roxy, without a band.

My negatives of Madonna'sfirst gig sat in my files for 15 years before anyone had any interest in publishing them.

I have since recouped my expenses and then some from my first meeting with Madonna.

Erika Belle

Erika Belle is a New York socialite, art curator, fashion designer, and dancer, most known for her friendship and work with pop singer Madonna in the 1980s. She has been featured dancing in Madonna's videos to Everybody, True Blue, Papa Don't Preach, Lucky Star, and Holiday. She collaborated on choreography to the videos and live shows, and performed with Madonna in various New York clubs and television programs such as British Top of the Pops.

As an influential fashion designer of the time, Erika also created many of Madonna’s outfits and performance costumes. Some of them can be seen in videos to Everybody, Like a Virgin, Burning Up, and Lucky Star. Erika's clothes were carried in several New York boutiques, such as the legendary Fiorucci, and appeared in Vogue, New Yorker, and Elle magazines

Danceteria

Danceteria was a well-known four-floor nightclub located in New York City which operated from 1980 until 1986. Throughout its history, the club had three different locations, the second, most famously at 30 West 21st Street, Manhattan, which served as the location for the disco scene in the film Desperately Seeking Susan.

The first Danceteria was opened on West 37th Street by German expatriate Rudolf Pieper and talent booker & club impresario Jim Fouratt. It catered to a diverse after-hours crowd coming from gay discos and the downtown rock clubs Mudd Club, Trax, TR3, and CBGB. The club's DJs were Bill Bahlman, Mark Kamins and Sean Cassette. Bill Bahlman played the first floor Thursdays & Saturdays and the second floor every Friday. Kamins played the second floor Saturday nights. This was the schedule for the first 2½ years of the 21st Street Danceteria. According to Kamins, Danceteria "was an illegal Mafia club with no liquor license, but we sold drink tickets". The third and last location was at 29 East 29th St. (between Madison and Park). DJ Johnny Dynell was also a Danceteria DJ for a while, and Howie Montaug ran and MCed at the alternative 'No Entiendes' evenings upstairs.

Kamins credits the first Danceteria with being the first club to play videos and have two separate DJ's play 12 straight hours. It was reputed to be one of the centers of new wave music in New York and was frequented by musicians and other artists who later became famous, such as Madonna, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Sade, Wham!, The Smiths, Cyndi Lauper, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Run-DMC, Butthole Surfers, the Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J.

For a time, there was also a satellite version of the club operated in the Hamptons on Long Island, NY.
The 21st Street location was sold to be converted to luxury condominiums, slated to open in 2009

From an interview with Mark Kamins... "Madonna was a regular at Danceteria. She had great style and had to be the center of attraction. She always hung out in the booth, one day she gave me a demo to play {I'll play anything} it worked. At that time I was working with the Talking Heads so I knew the people at Sire Records. I played them the demo and they gave me a single deal. I produced "Everybody" and it went to #1 in the dance charts. The rest is history."

New York was so musically creative then," Kamins says. "The late 1970s was a very bad time. The Bronx was burning. There was no work. We were political, but there was nothing to motivate us other than music. There were no rules. Musically everybody experimented and wanted to try something new. The Danceteria was a very special place, like Warhol's Factory." Sade worked behind the bar, Keith Haring and the Beastie Boys were bus-boys, LL Cool J was the lift operator.-Mark Kamins

"First of all, I think Danceteria was a magical space like Andy Warhol’s Factory or Max’s Kansas City or CBGBs. Jim Fouratt and Rudolph had this amazing finesse to hire people that they believed in. Why were the Beastie Boys the sweepers at Danceteria? Why was Madonna one of the dancers? Why Sade was the bartender at Danceteria? That’s crazy shit man. So you’re talking about a magical moment, a magical space, and a magical time where it was the beginning of something. Even Karen Finley was the bartender, and LL Cool J was a busboy. Rick Rubin, who is now one of the greatest producers in the music business, his first gig was playing with the Beastie Boys on the second floor of Danceteria because I had to go to a gig in Europe. I have a Polaroid picture of that night." -Mark Kamins

It was one of those places where we lived. When the club closed, Keith went to the subway and painted his little figures until we opened the club at noon and started cleaning. He lived at the Danceteria, we all lived there. It was more than a club. Everybody there was doin' something."-Mark Kamins

Madonna used to sit on the steps of the new-wave dreamland Danceteria—where she was a hat-check girl, Keith Haring was a busboy and the Cramps played next to the Buzzcocks or Birthday Party—and tell nightlife kings like Steve Rubell she was going to be a very big star. In 1982, when the club reopened at 30 West 21st Street, she got a DJ to play her demo there.-New York Observer

"She seemed like this girl from out-of-state who wasn't totally in the know yet," said artist Futura 500, while another Danceteria regular claimed: " She'd do outrageously stupid things. Like there was a girl who worked at the Danceteria who had a really striking style and wore her hair a certain way. One day Madonna came in with her hair cut and dyed the exact same way. We'd say, 'Is she nuts?'

"I met her at Danceteria when she was sitting on [a friend's] lap. She was really, really foxy. She was really glamorous," says Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth

She was also apparently such a fixture of the club that the resident DJ, Mark Kamins, even dated the singer. (That's getting your foot in the door.) Says Kamins: "Madonna was a regular at Danceteria. She had great style and had to be the center of attraction. She always hung out in the booth, one day she gave me a demo to play." That demo, for the song 'Everybody', eventually got her signed to a major label

When Madge was just a slutty shaggin, chasing, pain in the arse, regular club NYC Danceteria one. Best was when Audrey beat her up on the stairs with madge's red stilletto
Chardonna1 (48 months ago)

Yes....I loved tnat story on the old DTNYC site ! Audrey took care of old MAdge for us all back then. She was such a bitchy thing. I'm pissed Amy didn't use my ON THE STREET photo. MAybe if she does Volume !!. LOL
vinceconnare (48 months ago)

Remember the Swedish bouncer guy, white hair, and he told us how Madge use to want to shag him and wouldn't leave him alone. Then one night she went to their place and he made her sleep in the kitchen!!! He seemed very mad when he talked about her.

And I remember how mad Simone was about how Madge treated Ken and how Simone got him back, atleast Ken got to drive that car in her video though!
Debbie C.B.'s (35 months ago)

yea she had alot of balls of which I admire
I'm not a MADONNA fan but I do admire her longevity and her ambition
what I didnt admire was one night her dancing in frount of me to dance with my "boy friend" who wasnt my boy friend but my good friend who was gay..
and she kept whipping me with her hair and smirking at me till I Pushed her away saying what the fucks with you
but I will say she was very pretty VERY
I was not a danciteria fan I always had to get DRAGGED there
as for her being an oppertunist bitch and all that
thats seems to work if you want to make it
she had alot of ambition and she pushed her self
I know this club booker that would hire her bands to play and she would be very worried about her perfomance and did he they like her set should she change anything.., he remeberes her as being very sweet sincer and yes ambitious but not a bitch at all
Im talking about the booker from MAX"S Peter Crowley
as for my incident with her so what she was drinking who cares
vinceconnare (47 months ago)

My first memory of knowing Madonna was when they were playing 'Everybody' video on the first floor stage screen and Audrey said 'I hate that bitch' and I said 'who?' she said 'That bitch up there you know she is always hanging around down here'.

Then I thought oh I haven't seen here her hanging out here much anymore. She use to wear a military hat for awhile and stand at the bar I think on the left side and really stood out for the norm. Then I didn't see her much after that. So I guess it was her.
Chardonna1 (21 months ago)

I tried to talk to her the night I took the photo however she was having none of it! I tried to tell her she was great....and she look right past me and started wailing at someoen somewhere that the lighting was all wrong. I couldn't believe how crazy she was....didn't give a crap about me at all...just her lighting.

Actually if u look at the photo it was pretty dark...the lighting. I did not notice. But Madge did...

Debi Mazar

Deborah "Debi" Mazar born August 13, 1964 is an American actress, perhaps best known for her trademark Jersey Girl-type appearances, and as edgy, sharp-tongued women in independent films and her recurring role on the HBO series Entourage as Shauna Roberts.

Mazar began her career as a hip hop b-girl in New York City. Her first television appearance was on the pilot for a hip hop television dance show, Graffiti Rock in 1984. She appeared in five of Madonna's music videos - "Papa Don't Preach", "True Blue" (both 1986), "Justify My Love" (1990), "Deeper and Deeper" (1992) and "Music" (2000). Mazar has played a number of minor-yet-colorful supporting roles in a variety of movies, including: as Sandy, Henry Hill's girl on the side in GoodFellas (1990); The Doors (1991); Bullets Over Broadway (1994); and as Spice (of Sugar and Spice, with Drew Barrymore as Sugar) in Batman Forever (1995). She gained her first real following from playing a character on Civil Wars in the early 90s. When that show was cancelled her character was brought over as a recurring role in the 1993 - 1994 season of the TV drama L.A. Law.

She played the villain Regina, a modern-day Cruella de Vil in the popular family film Beethoven's 2nd (1993). She has appeared in independent films like Inside Monkey Zetterland and Nowhere but has also dabbled in mainstream attempts like Batman Forever, and her short-lived sitcom, Temporarily Yours. (The sitcom was about a woman who, in an attempt to get a good apartment in New York City, lies about being employed with a temp agency and then shows up at the agency begging for work.) She also appeared as the genie in the Space Monkeys' video, "Sugarcane".

Mazar appeared on a Friends episode in its eighth season ("The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part One"). Mazar played "Doreen, the Evil Bitch," a crazed pregnant woman who shares a hospital room with Rachel. From 2000–2002 she played "Jackie" on the television drama That's Life.

Currently, she is in a supporting actress role on Entourage, an original comedy series on HBO. She also had a recurring role on the sitcom Living with Fran, playing Fran Drescher's character's cousin, Merrill. She also did a stint on the television series Ugly Betty, where she plays Leah Stillman, a scam artist who claims to be a lawyer in a number of episodes.

Mazar was a contestant on the ninth season of Dancing With the Stars. She was partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and finished in 12th place. She was eliminated in the 3rd week (October 6, 2009). Mazar guest stars in some episodes of the Disney Channel's original series called Jonas L.A.

At the very beginning

MadonnaTribe meet Maripol

MadonnaTribe had the chance to meet the one and only Maripol, the famous art director, stylist, designer and photographer who was an instrumental presence and influence in the raising years of Madonna. With her unique sense of style and classy yet innovative creations she contributed in the making of the cultural myth Madonna is considered today. Her original rubber bangles, cross related jewelery, fashion tops, were responsable of the wannabe phenomenon that catapulted Madonna into the eye of the world. Today's fashion is still inspired by many of her ideas and fashion statements.

But Maripol is also a great photographer who has captured with her polaroids featuring the likes of Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Fab Five Freddy, Debbie Harry and Jean-Michel Basquiat, that unique New York's downtown scene of the Eighties.

We are proud to say that since 2005 we have become friends with this incredible and unstoppable woman who has finally agreed to let MadonnaTribe readers into her world of memories.

MadonnaTribe: Hi Maripol, welcome to MadonnaTribe.
Madonna fans know the story of Madonna arriving to the Big Apple with only 35 dollars in her pocket to find fame and fortune.  It was almost the same for you, isn't it?

Maripol: (laughing) yes it was. It happens when you're young. When I came to New York I was 19 and I came with my boyfriend, photographer Edo Bertoglio. We were in love and I came here for three months, I was still in art school (Beaux Arts). We had an apartment already set up because my boyfriend came six month before and we set up already everything. My parents would have not let me go otherwise. Madonna crossed a few states and I had to cross the Atlantic. My parents wanted to know who was the man I was going to live with, what I was doing...

MadonnaTribe: Edo Bertoglio did shoot those pictures for the cover of the first album that were never used...

Maripol: Yes, I styled them and Debi Mazar did the make up but they were rejected.

MadonnaTribe: Then your career in America really started when you became the art director at the Fiorucci fashion store on 59th street. I think it was in 1976 right?

Maripol: It was 1977 actually, I was doing stuff with them not only as an art director but I was travelling around the world doing collections for them. And that's also when I started my first rubber jewellery collection in 1978. That was the first accesory & jewellery line for Fiorucci.

MadonnaTribe: What did inspire you to do this kind of job?

Maripol: It was just that I never never found anything I liked in styling photography so I decided to make them. And also I was a young girl and I was attracted by objects and I liked to use them by taking away their original meaning. I would see something I liked and I'd say: "that would be great as an earring".

MadonnaTribe: And you happened to be in the New York scene when it was so alive...

Maripol: Exactly.

MadonnaTribe: You were surrounded by so many talents such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat who are not among us anymore. How was living first hand that era and what are the most beloved memories you have of that time in New York?

Maripol: We lived uptown for three years, from 1976 to 1979. We had an Harley Davidson and people always called us the punk of downtown. We decided then to move downtown because we needed a big space and we found a really rundown loft and that was the beginning.  So we got the space and that was the best thing. We started to have parties, happenings and also photography and my designs.

MadonnaTribe: How did you meet Madonna for the first time? I think it was through your common friend Martin Burgoyne, right?

Maripol: Yes, Martin. I remember she came to my loft because she wanted me to work on a new look for her but actually I met her before that day, at the Roxy, as she said in a television interview in Philadelphia. She said "I met Maripol at the Roxy and as I was wearing a nice bra she asked if I wanted to go on stage" and I thought she was absolutely out of her mind.

MadonnaTribe: So that was your first impression of her?

Maripol: My first impression... Five Fab Freddy wanted me to get some girls on stage with him, he was rapping and I saw her standing out so naturally cute!

MadonnaTribe: Let's talk about Madonna's Virgin look - how was it created?

Maripol: She came to me and I just styled a bunch of things on her. I was already making the rubber jewelery and I was already making the crosses because of my love for the punks. So it was perfect for her. And talking about the clothes, Erika Bell used to make a lot of her clothes, I would give her clothes from Fiorucci and it was a mix of everything. And for "Like A Virgin" I was really hired as her stylist, to be with Steven Meisel and work on the look of the album cover.

MadonnaTribe: What memories do you have of that Like A Virgin cover shoot with Steven Meisel? I think it was done at the Saint Regis Hotel.

Maripol: Yes it was uptown, at the Saint Regis. And I remember everything. I remember the blue satin sheet she used to cover herself with [the photo later used on the european cover of the Material Girl single]. We did a bathroom shoot and there are a lot of photos that we never used.

MadonnaTribe: Was there any funny thing that happened during that photoshoot?

Maripol: Yes, at the beginning there was an art director, she wanted everything to be Madonna in black, a heavy rock "Black Sabbath Madonna". And I didn't think that it fitted very well. I said why don't we bring out the aura of the "Like A Virgin" song, we can play with that. And it was rebellious since who was going to believe she was still a virgin!! She agreed and we got along very well.

MadonnaTribe: Did you design the "wedding dress" for the "Like A Virgin" video?

Maripol: No, the veil was designed by my friend Katsuko and the dress was one we bought. I was in Japan doing a collection for Fiorucci and I missed the whole shoot but she stayed "street Madonna" and used some of my jewellery in the parts of the video on the bridges of Venice.

MadonnaTribe: And then came the MTV Awards performance...

Maripol: The idea of that performance came from an kind of a vision I had. We used the exact dress she is wearing on the album cover. We were right there. It was incredible because nobody expected it to be so raunchy. Cindy Lauper was there and was going to be star of the night and then Madonna came out. During the performance the camera shooting live, went right under her skirt and I remember Freddy De Mann saying: "Never again will I let her being shot live". But that "did it". I remember all the photographers running to the press conference right after she went off!!!

MadonnaTribe: Did you have the chance to see how that performance was re-created on MTV with Britney and Christina twenty years later?

Maripol: Yes, she also had Lourdes on stage with her wearing the same look.

MadonnaTribe: How did you came up with idea of using rosaries and crosses as jewellery. I understand you did that before "giving" it to Madonna.

Maripol: Yes, well for Madonna it was meant to be something very spiritual. I was also raised catholic and Madonna and I both rebelled to that. My mother didn't like it. It was a way to say "why if I wear it on the ear it makes me a lesser good catholic girl??".

MadonnaTribe: You already founded your company Maripolitan Popular Object LTD that was also in charge of the merchandise for the Virgin Tour. Did you work on any of the tour outfits as well?

Maripol: No that was Marlene Steward. I went to Los Angeles and Madonna was showing me the concepts and the whole feel was very "Prince". Because of "Purple Rain" just released I said to her "are you Prince or are you Madonna?"

MadonnaTribe: And what about the "wannabe" phenomenon?

Maripol:
We had a look-a-like contest at Macy's. Andy Warhol and I were the judges. So much fun with hundreds of kids, some of them pushed in by their mothers. At the end we made sure that the girl that was more similar to Madonna was the winner. But it was really fun. I have many letters from the kids from back then. "To Madonna's jewelry designer".

MadonnaTribe: Do you remember what was Andy Warhol thinking of Madonna?

Maripol: We went to the wedding of Madonna to Sean Penn together. He saw Madonna as a phenomenon and he loved her.

MadonnaTribe: And what about that "Boy Toy" belt? Did you design that?

Maripol: No, everybody had those, but I did the one for the cover of the Like A Virgin album.

MadonnaTribe: It usually happens that Madonna takes something that already exists but she has the power to make it become mainstream. In a way it also happened with the bangles, you were already producing them for other artists such as Grace Jones, but they are still associated to that early image of Madonna...

Maripol: Well yes and when Madonna did Desperately Seeking Susan it was very good that she kept all the jewellery and bangles for the part.

MadonnaTribe: Oh right, I was wondering if you worked on that movie as well and wanted to ask about that...

Maripol: No, but I remember she used to wear all those antique stuff and I kept saying to her: "Just be yourself".

MadonnaTribe: And what about her look in Vision Quest?

Maripol: I didn't work on that film either but she was already decked with all my stuff for that. It's a beautiful scene, I love the song (Crazy For You).

MadonnaTribe: And she just went on with what you created for her...

Maripol: Yes. Perfect, sexy, and modern.

MadonnaTribe: Do you have a favourite piece of jewellery among the ones you created for Madonna through the years?

Maripol: Actually I did her wedding present and I made one earing, it can be seen in some pictures at the time. It's a little star that I made with gold Chain and pearls. That was very special because I only made one piece, it was only for her and I never made it for anyone else.

MadonnaTribe: Many stars loved your jewellery and still keep with care the pieces they have...

Maripol: Yes, I used to make mesh jewellery, and Cher came to my loft. She saw things on Madonna that she liked and she bought some of my stuff. Then years later I was the stylist on of her video" walking in memphis" and she took me to her closet, she opened it and there it was. She still was keeping them there.

MadonnaTribe: Then in 1986 with True Blue, Madonna decided to change her image. It was a complete change...

Maripol: Well I guess it was because she was married to Sean and maybe he wanted her to be "Mrs Penn".

MadonnaTribe: What happened then?

Maripol: Oh, I bankrupted in 1987. I went out of business because of everybody copying me from everywhere in the planet. How can you survive when millions of people start making their most horrible supposedly rubber jewellery which was actually made out of plastic?. Mine was made of genuine rubber. I had a factory in Hong Kong, I had this dream to help the rubber industry in places like Malaysia and helping poor people giving them work. Nobody else had that dream. Pure greed!!. Now I know how it must feel to be Prada or others and see your knock off everywhere!

MadonnaTribe: Let's talk about your more recent book, which is a collection of Polaroids...

Maripol: I wanted to call the Book Maripolaroids but there were problems so I called it Maripolarama. Published by Powerhouse books, it's a nice little memory book without pretention, it's very fashion. It will really show you that the style of then hasn't really changed and it's very similar to the style of today.

MadonnaTribe: Are there some pictures in your new book that you cherish more than others?

Maripol: Actually I love them all.

MadonnaTribe: What is that make a Polaroid photo so special to you?

Maripol: They do have something special, it's just that they capture the instant. That's it. You do it, you see it. You don't have to go to the lab to have it developed. It was digital before the digital. And now its over I am reclycling!!

MadonnaTribe: So you think digital is something like the new Polaroid now?

Maripol: Yes, unfortunately that is why Polaroid is going out of business, digital world is invading.

MadonnaTribe: But you're still doing Polaroids...

Maripol: Yes I do large ones now 20 x 24". I want people to know that I don't only dwell with the past, I have a life in the present. I produce films, documentaries short and I do photographies, and travel with them all around the world

MadonnaTribe: Speaking about documentaries you worked for more that 20 years on the "Downtown 81" project...

Maripol: Edo Bertoglio directed it, Glenn O'brien wrote it and I produced it in 1979 and it was shot in 1980.

MadonnaTribe: Then 20 years passed before you could show it to audiences...

Maripol: Well that's because people who should give us the money to complete it went bankrupt and everything went dead. Before he died Jean Michel Basquiat wanted to give me the money to finish it. He really wanted the movie to be finished!

MadonnaTribe: Edo has also completed two new documentary films...

Maripol: Yes one is "Face Addict" and it was selected by the Locarno film festival and touring now in Europe. We went there and it was very well received by the press. There were a lot of articles in the press about it. The other one is about a famous old Bike racer as Edo's love for motorcycle never stops!

MadonnaTribe: Well yes the Locarno film festival is a very nice one indeed and the audience is great. Speaking about the present are you still in touch with Madonna? Did you meet her through the years?

Maripol: Yes, we saw each other through the years. She filmed me for Truth of Dare but then it was cut but the cameraman said it was one of the most truthful moments filmed. She always invites me to her shows.
I saw one in Summer 2004 and the one last Sumer in Paris: incredible. But since she now lives in England we are not that close. I do miss her!

MadonnaTribe: Well she still loves New York, she had a song on her Confessions On A Dance Floor album called I Love New York...

Maripol: Well she's entitled to still love New York.

MadonnaTribe: What are you working on right now? Would you style Madonna again today?

Maripol: Well Madonna went a long way, look at all the fashion statements she did. And I don't do styling anymore today. Sometimes. I am a producer now. I produced Edo's film "Face Addict" and "Downtown 81" took a lot of my time. I'm now writing some features and fictions. I'm always busy. I also do a lot of photo shows. We organized a great show in Paris called "FOB DOWNTOWN 81" at the Agnes B gallery, at rue Quincampoix 44. And it went to London, Tokio, LA now and Hong Kong.

MadonnaTribe: Do you have a feeling of when did you love for photography start?

Maripol: Well it must run in the family. I just discovered that my grandfather, who was in the army during the first world war, was a photographer on the war. I saw the pictures he took. My uncle was a doctor in the second world war same he took genuine pictures of soldiers , they were so sexy ! And my father always took film of us, and photos. He had the Super8 camera and had always the latest gadgets. My brother is a documentary producer.

MadonnaTribe: You spent a lot of time with Madonna, do you have a fondest memory you would like to share with our readers?

Maripol: I remember I invited Madonna to Paris in 1983 for a party we did and she was very lonely from Jellybean back then. Madonna was always truthful to me about the sadness of the loss of her mom in her life and the difficulties of wanting to be an actress and a singer at the same time. And the horror of seeing all our friends getting destroyed with drugs. And I told her if she wanted to be great she had to be "straight". I said that because I was involved with so many people using drugs all the times. But she was always "straight", I never saw her doing drugs. That's what makes people very successful, when they have strenght of their own.
MadonnaTribe: Looking at the past and then looking at the present in what way or aspect Maripol is still the same?

Maripol: I am completely the same. I haven't changed, more bitchy haha, learned from the toughest city in the world I'm still living in that same loft of 1979. The only difference is that I have a teenage boy Lino. Now I see myself through my son. He is 17 years old and I have the difficulty of raising him alone in New York, with all the problems of the big city, and I can only show him the danger because I lived the danger and because so many friends of ours died. So I want to spend some times in good old Europe!!

MadonnaTribe: What does you son say about your past and present career?

Maripol: He doesn't understand why I'm not richer (laughs). He sees everybody I worked with on the top of the world and I'm still me. And he goes: "I can't believe it mummy". And I say: "Don't worry honey, you're the one who's gonna make it big". Well I believe that the value in life is not only about money. My kid was raised religious . He goes to a French School, so he knows the good of being French as well as American. He is an international kid and he speaks three languages. He wants to be an actor or a director He is the most incredible thing I have achieved so I don't care about anything else. There is a picture of Madonna and my kid in the book and that makes me so happy. She was there for me and she was there for him a lot. He still has the bicycle she gave him when he was 7 years old.

MadonnaTribe: Maripol thanks a lot for sharing your past memories and you present project with us. It was really a honour to have you here on MadonnaTribe.

Maripol: Thank you.

Maripol

Maripol was brought up in France before moving to New York, USA in 1976. She is an artist, film producer, fashion designer and stylist who has had an influence on the looks of many influential artists, including Grace Jones, Deborah Harry, and Madonna. Maripol is also a Polaroid artist photographer who has exhibited her photos in art galleries all over the world. Her photographic work is being collected by museums. In 2006, Maripol had a new book of her life's photography published.
Maripol is best known for designing for and styling pop singer Madonna during the Madonna and Like a Virgin albums in the mid-1980s. Maripol's trademark black rubber bracelets, jewellery and crucifixes became as iconic as Madonna herself in these early years.

In the early 1980s, Maripol was the art director for hip Italian boutique Fiorucci. By the mid-80s, Maripol had achieved some success with her own shop, Maripolitan, in the NoHo area of New York. She also made a line of official Madonna jewellery and accessories for the Like a Virgin tour.

At the same time she directed documentary films, such as "Crack is whack" on 1980s artist Keith Haring.

She has also worked as a film producer, most notably on Downtown 81, a film starring artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and featuring Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry, and musical interludes my many New York No Wave bands. The movie, directed by then partner Edo and written by Glenn O'Brien, was filmed in 1980-81 as New York Beat. However, it was not until 1998 that the film was rediscovered, cleaned up, edited and released (as Downtown 81) after being selected at the director's fortnight of the Cannes film festival in the year 2000.

She has been the art director on music videos for Cher, D’Angelo, Elton John, and Luther Vandross.

In February 2010, Maripol had a collection of jewelry and tee shirts in the Marc by Marc Jacobs stores, inspired by the jewelry she created in the 80s

WC

Jean Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist and the first artist of African descent to become an international art star. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting. Basquiat died due to a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27

While a high school student, Basquiat and Al Diaz started spray-painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan, working under the pseudonym SAMO. The designs inscribed messages such as "Plush safe he think.. SAMO" and "SAMO as an escape clause". In December 1978, the Village Voice published an article on the graffiti. The SAMO project ended with the epitaph "SAMO IS DEAD," inscribed on the walls of SoHo buildings.

In 1979, Basquiat had appeared on Glenn O'Brien's live public-access cable show TV Party. In the late 1970s, Basquiat formed the punk rock band Gray with Vincent Gallo, Shannon Dawson, Michael Holman, Nick Taylor and Wayne Clifford. Gray performed at nightclubs such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB, Hurrah, and the Mudd Club. Basquiat starred in an underground film Downtown 81 which featured some of Gray's recordings on its soundtrack. He also appeared in the Blondie music video "Rapture" as a nightclub disc jockey.

In June 1980, Basquiat participated in The Times Square Show, a multi-artist exhibition, sponsored by Collaborative Projects Incorporated (Colab) and Fashion Moda. In 1981, Rene Ricard published "The Radiant Child" in Artforum magazine, which brought Basquiat to the attention of the wider art world.

In late 1981, he joined the Annina Nosei gallery in the SoHo district of Manhattan. By 1982, Basquiat was showing regularly, and alongside Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi, was involved with the Neo-expressionist movement. He was represented in Los Angeles by the Larry Gagosian gallery, and throughout Europe by Bruno Bischofberger. He briefly dated then-aspiring performer Madonna in September 1982. That same year, Basquiat met Andy Warhol, with whom he collaborated from 1984 to 1986. He was also briefly involved with artist David Bowie. Basquiat worked on his paintings in Armani suits, and often appeared in public in the same paint-splattered $1,000 suits.

By the mid 1980s, he had left the Annina Nosei gallery, and was showing in the famous Mary Boone gallery in SoHo. On February 10, 1985, Basquiat appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a feature entitled "New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist". He was a successful artist in this period, however increasing drug addiction began to interfere with his personal relationships.
After Warhol died on February 22, 1987, Basquiat became increasingly isolated, and his drug addiction and depression increased.

After an attempt at sobriety during a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, Basquiat died due to a heroin overdose in his SoHo studio on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27.

In the fall of 1982, Basquiat met Madonna, and before long the singer was living with him at his Crosby Street apartment, and after a brief affair, she left, citing his increasing drug problem as her reason for leaving

I had just introduced Madonna, who was not famous yet, to Jean-Michel at New York University’s Bowling Alley, in the Village. The bowling alley was a popular hang out on Monday nights and had a “retro rockabilly” feel to it. Our posse had more of a thrift shop Armani-style, a crossover Mudd Club punk genre with a Studio 54 arrogance. We flirted with danger by often visiting the Teddy-Boy crowd and their clubs. Some of the Teddy-Boys were actually very tough street fighters, which resulted in nightly brawls outside the bowling alley. We all knew most of them were just “posers” trying to hit on the cute women in their retro-bowling attire.

As the evening wore on, Madonna grabbed my hand and led me to a far corner just outside the men's room. She looked straight into my eyes and said how much she liked me and her lips headed towards mine. I was quite shocked by the way she kissed me with such passion. After about two minutes of gratuitous kissing and groping each other, I saw the men's room door open to reveal Kenny Compton, who had been Madonna's steady boyfriend for quite a while, frozen in astonishment at our actions. Kenny and I were always good friends and remain so to this day, but I will never forget the look on his face—probably exactly what Madonna had planned. She was quite the scene maker in those days, always pushing those around her to emotional extremes.

Beginning 1983