Madonna: Blonde Ambition [Paperback]

Mark Bego (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 1992

A biography of the Material Girl, based on an actual interview with Madonna, discusses her childhood ambitions; her salad days as a dancer, model, and waitress in New York; her romances; her relationship with Sandra Bernhard; and more. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The strongest of several [Madonna] biographies....This book profits from Bego's deep familiarity with the modern music industry, whose commercial dynamic he understands without condemning or excusing it....I highly recommend Madonna as a reliable and entertaining introduction to the career of this superstar....Bego vividly documents the carnival-like downtown dance-club scene. He lays all rumors to rest once and for all. Invaluable (Camille Paglia )

The strongest of several [Madonna] biographies....This book profits from Bego's deep familiarity with the modern music industry, whose commercial dynamic he understands without condemning or excusing it....I highly recommend Madonna as a reliable and entertaining introduction to the career of this superstar....Bego vividly documents the carnival-like downtown dance-club scene. He lays all rumors to rest once and for all. Invaluable (Camille Paglia ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1st edition (June 9, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517582422
• ISBN-13: 978-0517582428
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,157,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Bego is the author of 56 books on rock & roll and show business, including two "New York Times" Best Sellers, a "Los Angeles Times" Best Seller, and a "Chicago Tribune" Best Seller, three multi-million-sellers, and two half-million selling titles. With over 10 million books in print, he is acknowledged as the best-selling biographer in the rock and pop music field. His latest book is his 2010 memoir about his career as an author, entitled "Paperback Writer." His show business biographies have included the life stories of some of the biggest stars of ROCK (Elton John, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night, Billy Joel), SOUL (Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston), POP (Sonny & Cher, The Monkees, Sade, Barry Manilow), and COUNTRY (George Strait, Patsy Cline, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill). He has also written about film and television stars as well (Rock Hudson, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Matt Damon, The Marx Brothers.

One of the most exciting books of Bego's career is his recent biography on Elton John. The book was released in June of 2009 by Hannibal books of Austria. Published in the German language under the title "Elton John: Die Story," it has been heralded in the media as "the ultimate Elton John" biography by "Manner Magazine." The book was published by Phoenix Books in America under the title "Elton John: The Bitch is Back" (2009), and in England and Australia with the title "The Elton John Story" from JR Books in London that same year. It will be published in Denmark and in Russia as well.

Thanks to Hannibal Books, in 2009 Mark had a great year in German language bookstores. As he explains it, "Not only has Hannibal published my 'Elton John: Die Story,' they also published the German language reprint of my Tina Turner book, under the title 'Tina Turner: Die Biographie.' In addition, they also published a German language exclusive: 'Whitney Houston: Die Biographie.'" All three books are available internationally through German Amazon.com and they are also distributed to bookstores throughout Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The Whitney and Tina books were released in October 2009. In 2011 Mark is due to update his critically acclaimed book, "Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul," internationally.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty detailed information about Maddie, November 8, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madonna: Blonde Ambition (Paperback)

If you are a Madonna fan, you already know most of what you'll read in here regarding Madonna's career history, but the material is presented in a nice, chonological format that makes for a good night of reading.

I think that the author must be a little "square" of a person, given such mistakes as the misspelling of Charles Barkley's last name (here, he spells it "Barclay"). I'm no basketball fan, or sports fan for that matter, but I picked up on that error right away.

In his updated editorial since the original printing, he seems to have soured his attitude towards Madonna. He is a lot harsher on her, and makes her every career move since the Like a Prayer era to be calculated and cynical.

There were a couple of items of Madonna trivia here that I didn't know, but I'll let you find that out for yourselves.

All things considered, this is a worthwhile read for a Madonna fan.