Madonna Louise Ciccone

Throughout her career Madonna has repeatedly reinvented herself through a series visual and musical personas, earning her the nickname "Queen Reinvention". In doing so, "she exploited her sexuality to fashion herself into a cultural and commercial icon who, for more than a decade, was unchallenged as the reigning Queen Pop music." Fouz-Hernández agrees that these reinventions are one her key cultural achievements. Madonna reinvented herself by working with upcoming talented producers and previously unknown artists, while remaining at the center media attention. According to Freya Jarman-Ivens, "In doing so Madonna has provided an example how to maintain one's career in the entertainment industry." Such reinvention was noted by scholars as the main tool in surviving the musical industry, for a female artist. As Ian Youngs from BBC News commented, "Her ability to follow the latest trends and adapt her style has ten been credited with preserving her appeal." Madonna's use shocking sexual imagery has benefited her career and catalyzed public discourse on sexuality and feminism. The Times stated, "Madonna, whether you like her or not, started a revolution amongst women in music ... Her attitudes and opinions on sex, nudity, style and sexuality forced the public to sit up and take notice." Rodger Streitmatter, author Sex Sells! (2004), commented that "from the moment Madonna burst onto the nation's radar screen in the mid-1980s, she did everything in her power to shock the public, and her efforts paid f." Shmuel Boteach, author Hating women (2005), felt that Madonna was largely responsible for erasing the line between music and pornography. He stated: "Before Madonna, it was possible for women more famous for their voices than their cleavage, to emerge as music superstars. But in the post-Madonna universe, even highly original performers such as Janet Jackson now feel the pressure to expose their bodies on national television to sell albums."
Madonna has influenced numerous music artists throughout her career. Mary Cross, in her book Madonna: A Biography, wrote: "Her influence on pop music is undeniable and far-reaching. New pop icons from Nelly Furtado and Shakira to Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera (not to mention Britney Spears) owe Madonna, a debt thanks for the template she forged, combining provocative sexiness and female power in her image, music, and lyrics." Fouz-Hernández gave his opinion that female pop performers such as Spears, the Spice Girls, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue and Pink were like "Madonna's daughters in the very direct sense that they grew up listening to and admiring Madonna, and decided they wanted to be like her." Among them, Madonna's influence was most notable in Spears, who has been called her protégé. Madonna has also been credited with the introduction European electronic dance music into mainstream American pop culture, and for bringing European producers such as Stuart Price and Mirwais Ahmadzaï into the spotlight. Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide. She is ranked by the Recording Industry Association America (RIAA) as the best-selling female rock artist the 20th century, and the second top-selling female artist in the United States (behind Barbra Streisand), with 64 million certified albums sold.
Madonna has received acclaim as a role model for businesswomen in her industry, "achieving the kind financial control that women had long fought for within the industry", and generating over $1.2 billion in sales within the first decade her career. After its establishment, Maverick Records became a major commercial success from her efforts, which was unusual at that time for an artist-established label. Music journalist Robert Sandall said that while interviewing Madonna, it was clear that being "a cultural big hitter" was more important to her than pop music, a career she described as "an accident". He also saw a contrast between her anything-goes sexual public persona and a secretive and "paranoid" attitude toward her own finances; she fired her own brother when he charged her for an extra item. Pressor Colin Barrow the Cranfield School Management described Madonna as "America's smartest businesswoman… who has moved to the top her industry and stayed there by constantly reinventing herself". He held up her "planning, personal discipline and constant attention to detail" as models for all aspiring entrepreneurs. London Business School academics called her a "dynamic entrepreneur" worth copying; they identified her vision success, her understanding the music industry, her ability to recognize her own performance limits (and thus bring in help), her willingness to work hard and her ability to adapt as the key to her commercial success. Morton commented that "Madonna is opportunistic, manipulative and ruthless—somebody who won't stop until she gets what she wants—and that's something you can get at the expense maybe losing your close ones. But that hardly mattered to her." Taraborrelli felt that this ruthlessness was visible during the shooting the Pepsi commercial in 1989. "The fact that she didn't want to hold a Pepsi can in the commercial, clued the Pepsi executives that Madonna the pop star and Madonna the businesswoman were not going to be dictated by somebody else, she will do everything in her way—the only way." Conversely, reporter Michael McWilliams commented: "The gripes about Madonna – she's cold, greedy, talentless – conceal both bigotry and the essence her art, which is among the warmest, the most humane, the most proundly satisfying in all pop culture."