Me, Madonna & I

I think the title says it all. This is about me, the way I relate to Madonna and what I do which is being Madonna.

It all began when I was 15 and took a holiday with my American host family in Florida.
I was wearing my sister’s sunglasses and some guys were screaming: Hey Madonna!
I thought they were making fun of me.
It happened 2 or 3 times in one week.

I forgot about it as you do. When I went back to Germany everything was back to normal, I was Evelyne and went to school, did my Abitur etc. I wanted to be an actress.
I auditioned and I played at the theatre, singing as well. I got compared to Nina Hagen which was a great compliment at the time.

Actually Madonna was the first popstar to catch my attention.
My babysitter was watching” formel 1” which was Germany’s equivalent to “top of the pops”
and they showed Madonnas video clip of Material girl. I had sneaked in and stared at the screen. There was this woman in pink who was getting presents from well dressed gentlemen and she took the presents and pushed the men. They fell down stairs and I was shocked. I loved the music with it, it was extremely powerful but I did not understand why she did that.
“why does she push the men away? They gave her presents. Shouldn’t you say thank you?”
My babysitter, Roxanne simply replied: this is Madonna, she does such things.
I wasn’t sure weather I liked this Madonna or not but she did have an impact.
I did like ABBA and as soon as I had a recorder I played ABBA’s melodies under the kitchen table. I was then declared musical.

I didn’t fall for pop music until Belinda Carlisle’s circle in the sand. I loved that song. Belinda Carlisle’s la luna was the first and only single I purchased.

Aha, Depeche mode, all that simply passed me by. Papa don’t preach was the other big song in my life. I understood that it was about being pregnant unwontedly and about feeling that dad should respect me for who I am and for what I do. I loved that song and sang it on the toilet. I remember Alex, a tall girl who looked quite mature and had spiky hair with much hairspray in it. She sang it even louder. She was really cool. She wore a stripy shirt that showed her naked shoulder. I was wearing a pink sweatshirt with a cartoon character and blue codroys.
These were the days I would practise breathing when doing a number 2 because it would come in handy when giving birth one day, I gathered. Papa don’t preach!

Oh well, isn’t it nice to Live to tell!
PS: come and see me live…in London at Too2 much on December 16th. £15- one third goes to Shelter Wakadogo charity to help children in Uganda…
Tickets: ticketweb.co.uk