all about Madonna

Madonna’s blockbuster Re-Invention tour took all of the drama out of the top tour of the year race, ringing up a year’s best $125 million in total box office gross by the time it wrapped in September. According to Billboard Boxscore, Madonna sold out 55 of 56 performances worldwide, with an average nightly take of $2.23 million.
“My Re-Invention tour was by far the most creatively satisfying experience I have ever had,” Madonna tells Billboard. “I was able to put everything I love into one entertaining event: film, music and dance.” The tour was produced worldwide by Clear Channel Entertainment.
Prince’s Musicology tour, produced by AEG Live, drew nearly 1.5 million people, more than any other artist, and grossed $90.2 million, second only to Madonna.
Shania Twain was third, reporting grosses totaling $62.5 million and playing to nearly 950,000 fans. The rest of the top 10 includes Simon & Garfunkel ($59 million), Metallica ($53.8 million), Bette Midler ($53.3 million), Sting ($52.4 million), Kenny Chesney ($49.3 million), David Bowie ($46 million) and Toby Keith ($44.3 million).
This year, Celine Dion reported more than $77 million from her residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. If Dion’s numbers reflected a “tour” per se, she would rank third among all acts. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, with James Brown and Chicks On Speed, headlined the top engagement at the year, three nights at London’s Hyde Park that grossed $17,187,324 and drew more than 258,000 June 19, 20 and 25.
For the fifth consecutive year, Madison Square Garden in New York City tops the list of arenas, reporting music-event grosses totaling just under $73 million. For the second consecutive year, Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass., is the top amphitheater, reporting more than $23 million from 32 concerts.
source : billboard.com

Madonna is set to star in husband Guy Ritchie’s new movie.
The superstar couple – whose last big screen offering ‘Swept Away’ was universally panned by critics – have teamed up again for forthcoming gangster film ‘Revolver’.
Insiders say the 46-year-old singer is a huge fan of her husband’s work and begged the ‘Snatch’ director for a part in his latest box office smash.
A source said: “Guy’s very respected and is doing his best to make ‘Revolver’ as controversy free as possible, But the missus really wanted a walk-on part – and who is he to say no?”
The pop queen – who has two children, eight-year-old Lourdes and Rocco, four – stunned locals when she jetted out to the movie set on the Isle of Man, to shoot her scenes in secret last month.
A source told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper: “Madonna came to spend a week with her husband while he was over here and she seemed to enjoy it.
“Everyone thought she was here for a holiday so it was a bit surprising to see her filming.
“She was getting really into it so it’s clear she’s taking it seriously. But it’s obviously not a major role as she wasn’t on the island very long.”
The $20 million movie, which also stars ‘Goodfellas’ actor Ray Liotta, started shooting in Britain but transferred to the island last month and is also rumoured to feature a guest appearance from heartthrob star Brad Pitt.
source : femalefirst.co.uk

Queen of Pop Madonna has struck up a bizarre friendship with ex-topless model Melinda Messenger thanks to their love of wacky faith kabbalah.
The superstar and her husband Guy Ritchie became best buddies with Melinda, 33, and spouse Wayne during weird prayer sessions at the mystical Jewish sect’s London centre.
And the eccentric couple are so taken with their new pals they recently invited them to a private dinner with a handful of honoured kabbalah devotees at the HQ.
The oddball evening began with a bizarre prayer session with Madonna, 46, and Melinda – dressed like her idol in boots, long black coat and hair scraped back into pony tail – sitting on one side of the room. Guy, 36, builder Wayne, 29, and other male followers sat on the other side on plastic seats while the kabbalah bible was read backwards amid lots of chanting and clapping.
Suddenly Madonna (who now wants to be known as Esther) Guy, Melinda and Wayne jumped up and faced east towards a painting of an idyllic scene of roaming hills and started to chant: “Chernobyl, Chernobyl, Chernobyl.”
As they chanted they were asked to send positive thoughts towards the town that was the scene of the world’s worst-ever nuclear disaster in 1986.
An insider said: “Guy, who was dressed in white, got so carried away that he left his seat, hugged the rabbis and then went and kissed his missus on the cheek before returning to his seat. He then continued chanting ‘Chernobyl, Chernobyl’.”
Half an hour later the happy foursome and a select few kabbalah followers were ushered upstairs for supper.
Madonna’s eight-year-old daughter Lourdes – now being called Lola – joined them in the candle-lit dining room.
They tucked into a four-course meal of green salad and bread, white fish and vegetable stew, kosher beef, ratatouille and chocolate cup cakes.
The food was “blessed” by everyone standing up, hugging each other and swaying side-to-side for 20 minutes while clapping and singing.
While Madonna drank glass after glass of Kabbalah water, other guests sipped Coca-Cola or wine. After their “feast” Melinda and Wayne joined a circle holding hands with the others around a seated Madonna, Guy and a rabbi.
They chanted and jumped up and down as Guy closed his eyes then furiously banged his hands on the table as if he was playing the drums.
Lola quietly watched from the corner with a rabbi as mum and dad chanted for an incredible 30 minutes.
When it was time to call it a night at the centre, in North West London, Melinda hugged Madonna and said: ‘Goodnight, my good friend, Esther’.
Lola was dropped off by a rabbi in a black Range Rover as Guy and Madonna walked home hand-in-hand reminiscing about their night out with Melinda and Wayne.
source : sundaymirror.co.uk

Madonna once asked Santa Claus to give her her virginity back!
The pop superstar sat on celebrity Santa Brady White’s lap at one Hollywood party and asked for the impossible.
White who charges up to $5,000 (GBP2,630) to dish out the ‘Ho, ho hos’ at star-studded Christmas parties, admits he begged the Material Girl to come up with something more material.
He recalls, “I begged her, ‘Please think of something else. Poor Santa can’t work miracles.’”
But White was a lucky charm for pal Cher, who asked him for an Oscar just two months before she was crowned Best Actress for her role in Moonstuck.
The celebrity Santa’s magic also rubbed off on Jodie Foster,who asked White for a meaty role just before landing the part of Clarice Starling in Silence Of The Lambs.
source : contactmusic

Hollywood legend James Dean was yesterday voted the coolest icon of all time. The Rebel Without a Cause star was famed for his brooding looks – and his image inspired a generation. Dean was just 24 when he was killed in 1955 in a head-on crash in his Porsche. Elvis Presley was runner-up in the icon poll of 2,000 men by Glenfiddich Whisky. The King of rock died in 1977, aged 42.
Steve McQueen, famous for his role in The Great Escape, was third. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was fourth and Godfather and Taxi Driver star Robert De Niro was fifth. David Beckham came in eighth place. The only women in the Top 20 were Madonna at number 14 and Breakfast At Tiffany’s star Audrey Hepburn at 19. A spokesman for Glenfiddich said: “The top three men have all been dead for years, which shows how young men can still be inspired by icons that weren’t even around in their lifetime.”
Top 20 icons :
1. James Dean /2. Elvis Presley /3. Steve McQueen /4. Muhammad Ali /5. Robert DeNiro /6. Johnny Depp /7. Bruce Lee /8. David Beckham 9. Al Pacino /
10. Justin Timberlake /11. Clint Eastwood /12. Samuel L. Jackson /13. John Lennon /14. Madonna /15. Brad Pitt /16. Jimi Hendrix /17. Frank Sinatra /18. Kurt Cobain /19. Audrey Hepburn /20. George Clooney
source : thesun.co.uk

Madonna and Guy Ritchie have finally succeeded in banning ramblers from their land over the winter – after warning they might be shot.
The move comes days before right to roam legislation takes effect in central southern England, which could have meant hundreds of ramblers gaining access to their Ashcombe estate in Wiltshire from Tuesday.
This weekend, however, the Countryside Agency revealed it has allowed the couple to declare their land a commercial shoot – delaying any access until at least February.
The estate will open from then until September, when it will close again. Ashcombe is the only estate in the region to be allowed the exemption, though the ruling extends to part of a neighbouring estate.
A spokeswoman for the agency said Madonna and Ritchie had claimed the property was intensively used for shooting between September and February. “We have now agreed that the land should remain closed for nearly six months a year so ramblers don’t disturb the pheasants and partridges and aren’t put at risk by shooting,” she said.
The decision follows a court battle this year in which the singer and her film director husband said they feared for their privacy.
An agency spokesman said: “We will review this to see if the claims about disturbance and risk are justified and we might change this ruling in later years.”
Under the act there is a statutory right of access to mountain, moorland, heath, and downland. Its introduction marked the culmination of 120 years of campaigning.
Nick Barrett, chief executive of the Ramblers’ Association, said: “I admire Madonna’s capacity to keep reinventing herself but turning into a feudal landlord is a step too far.
“She has won this victory through having lots of money for lawyers. (But) her estate is relatively small so it is annoying but not important.
“Madonna may have won for now but this legislation tilts the balance away from centuries of domination by land-owning elitists like her.
“I would predict that in 10 years’ time all the landowners will look back and wonder what they were worried about. Walkers and ramblers are a responsible and well-behaved crowd.”
source : timesonline.co.uk

Take a break, Curious George. Make way, Madeline. Madonna wants to tell kids a bedtime story.
The pop star is among a growing list of glitterati gobbling up shelf space in the children’s section of bookstores as they try their hand at authorship.
“Publishers are looking for a sure thing,” said literary agent Tracey Adams. “If they have the right name attached, then they have a guaranteed best seller.”
And that sales boost is even more necessary as books increasingly compete with other products as gift ideas for young people. Preschoolers may still love their bedtime stories and crayons, but they also want their DVDs, so publishers are trotting out the big names to try to generate some excitement in the quiet aisles of the bookstore.
Madonna’s first effort, “The English Roses,” became the fastest-selling book ever for a first-time children’s author. She recently released her fourth tale, “The Adventures of Abdi,” and the list of stars looking to share that success is growing.
“Five years ago if you got one or two celebrity projects pitched a year, that was a good average. Now it’s at least one to two a month,” said Kate Morgan Jackson, the editor in chief for children’s books with HarperCollins whose roster of celebrity scribes includes Billy Crystal and Jamie Lee Curtis.

source : abc