While performing as a backup singer and dancer for the French disco artist Patrick Hernandez on his 1979 world tour, Madonna became romantically involved with musician Dan Gilroy and they lived in an abandoned synagogue in Corona, Queens. Together, they formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club, for which Madonna sang and played drums and guitar.

Long before she became the Queen of Pop, Madonna earned extra cash by serving up pastries at Dunkin' Donuts in New York's Times Square. But she didn't last long. "I was sacked for squirting the donut jelly all over the customers," she later admitted.

"Vogue", which popularized a highly stylized dance trend known as voguing in the 1990s, contains a spoken section, in which Madonna name-checks various golden-era Hollywood celebrities.

Like a virgin
Feels so good inside
When you hold me
And your heart beats
And you love me
Oh oh, ooh whoa

"Holiday", written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of Pure Energy, was offered to Madonna by her producer John "Jellybean" Benitez when she was looking for a potential hit track to include on her debut album. Sure enough, the song became Madonna's first mainstream hit single in the United States, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The "Like a Virgin" music video portrays Madonna sailing down the canals of Venice in a gondola, as well as roaming around a palace wearing a white wedding dress. Scholars have credited "Like a Virgin" as the song which cemented her position as a pop culture icon.

"My favorite city is Rome," she told Us Weekly. "It's so beautiful. The light is soothing and calming to me, and the architecture is splendid and the food is incredible. I totally love it."

When you call my name it's like a little prayer
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there
In the midnight hour I can feel your power
Just like a prayer, you know I'll take you there

Madonna became known as "The Material Girl" after her hit single of the same name hit the charts in 1984. She hates it, claiming she would never have done the song if she knew the name would stick.

In Desperately Seeking Susan, a bored suburban housewife (Rosanna Arquette), seeking escape from her life, suffers amnesia after an accident, wakes up, and is mistaken for a free-spirited New York City drifter named Susan (Madonna). The New York Times named it one of the ten best films of 1985.