Absolute Madonna

Vanilla Ice has revealed that he never expected to date Madonna for eight months.

The 42-year-old, who collaborated with Jedward on debut single ‘Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)’, admitted that he had a “cool” time with Madonna at the height of his fame in 1990.

“I didn’t expect someone so famous to even know who I was,” he said.

“Madonna and I dated for about eight months, it was cool. We had to put on all sorts of disguises to meet up – wigs, make-up, the lot.”

The star, who later attempted suicide after reportedly battling drug dependency, claimed that he suffered being in the spotlight.

“That level of fame is really damaging to your sanity. I couldn’t go to the shops, visit my family, chat with friends in the street. That’s what led me to go on the downward spiral. I was looking for an escape but looking in the wrong places,” he said.

“After the suicide attempt I moved away from where I was living in Dallas, changed my number and didn’t speak to anyone. I just cut myself off from Vanilla Ice. That was the year I met Laura, which was a huge turning point.”

Vanilla Ice married Laura in 1997. The couple have daughters Dusti, 12, and nine-year-old KeeLee.

Source: http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a201968/vanilla-ice-madonna-romance-was-cool.html

Madonna’s Malawi school forced villagers to relocate

London (ANI): African villagers have claimed they are being forced to relocate to give way to a new school in Malawi funded by Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity. As many as 200 villagers were being shifted from their ancestral land and claimed they were being poorly compensated by the Queen of Pop, who agreed to pay 70,000 pounds in damages.

“My sisters and I inherited this land from our parents, whose parents have been here for over a hundred years. How can I get only K200,000? (850 pounds)” the Daily Express quoted one unhappy villager, Amos Mkuyu, as saying.

District commissioner Charles Kalemba told the villagers in Chinkhota: “The government allowed you to occupy this land because there was no project yet, but now that Madonna wants to build you a school you have to give way. This school is the future of our children. You are lucky that Madonna has compensated you for your houses, gardens and trees.” Village head man Binson Chinkhota said: “We have been compensated and this school is a pride for us as it is the future of our children.”

Anjimile Mtila-Oponyo, the school’s principal-designate, added: “We stalled for some months because of the land dispute. We are now in full swing and set to meet the 2011 deadline.”

Source: http://entertainment.oneindia.in/music/international/2010/madonna-school-malawi-villagers-080210.html

Madonna with her kids at the Kabbalah centre in New York (February 05 2010)

Madonna seemed to be holding auditions at Meatpacking District hot spot SL on Wednesday night. “She was looking for new dancers for her upcoming tour,” said a source. More than 30 wannabes formed a circle around her and conducted a dance-off. “It was pretty epic,” our spy says. “Some professionals were doing flips and spins, while the amateurs sort of just stared.” Madonna’s own deejay, Tony Touch, got on the turntables while Knicks star Danilo Gallinari and singer Eve looked on.

Source: Nypost.com

Big-hearted singing star Madonna is currently working on creating a sustainable school for girls in Malawi, Africa. Designed by New York-based Studio MDA, The Academy for Girls Malawi, is a campus powered entirely by solar energy and built with locally sourced materials.

The school will also include other eco-elements like hydraform bricks made from soil on the building site and double roofs that create natural ventilation.

The project is expected to be completed in 2012 and will accommodate 450 students.

Madonna now joins other influential celebrities undertaking large-scale humanitarian projects including Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie (Millennium Village in Cambodia), talk show magnate Oprah (The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa) and Brad Pitt (Make It Right Project in Louisiana).

Source: Greenmuze.com

Madonna arriving in NYC from London  1/30/2010

Best Pop Dance Track 3 – Britney Spears Bad Romance – Lady Gaga Celebration – Madonna Evacuate the Dancefloor – Cascada I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas Love etc. – Pet Shop Boys Sexy Bitch – David Guetta feat. Akon When Love Takes Over – David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland Best Artist (Solo): Beyonce Britney Spears David Guetta Deadmau5 Katy Perry Lady Gaga Madonna

 Vote here: http://www.wmcon.com/idmaballot/finalballot/index.php

No Grammy for Madonna this year.  Celebration lost to Lady Gaga in the Best Dance Recording category.

Cuckoo for coconuts

M invests $1.5M in trendy drink co.

Madonna has become so nuts for coconut water that she recently invested about $1.5 million in one of the leading makers of the drink, which has taken Hollywood and The Big Apple by storm, The Post has learned.

Guy Oseary, the Material Girl’s manager, told On the Money in an exclusive interview last week that the superstar decided to invest after she learned about the product from a September story in The Post.

Oseary is also investing seven figures in the company, New York-based Vita Coco, and has rounded up pals like actors Mathew McConaughey and Demi Moore, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis, who are making smaller, but “significant investments.”

The total investments, estimated to be under $10 million, will amount to a minority stake in Vita Coco, which has been valued at between $120 and $140 million by industry analysts.

Madonna, who Oseary said started drinking coconut water on her world tour last year, doesn’t look like she is going to be a passive investor — she’s already lobbing some business ideas at company founder Michael Kirban. For example, she thinks it would be a marketing winner if the company made coconut-water popsicles.

Madonna is so enthusiastic about coconut water — the clear juice from young, green coconuts, not the brown coconuts that have a milky liquid center — that she drank fresh coconut juice daily on the overseas leg of the Sticky & Sweet tour. There is also talk that she might make a follow-up investment.

Oseary said he and Madonna were attracted to the financial side of the business because it is vertically integrated — they own their own factories — and because they are independent. “The fact that they are saying no to everyone who wants them is pretty cool,” he said. “You want to go to the party that no one else is invited to.”

As reported in these pages, Vita Coco, which expected to log $40 million in sales this year, turned down multimillion-dollar invest ments from beverage industry giants Coke and Pepsi — opt ing to try to make it alone in the highly competitive water wars.

Vita Coco has 60 percent of the market, but competes with two other brands, Zico and ONE.

Kirban, 34, who started the company with pal Ira Liran in 2004,
hopes to use the investor cash to expand distribution beyond New York and LA.

Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/cuckoo_for_coconuts_L8zUUPMeJN5xa6KXMNj5hO

…Guetta, who recently whipped up material for Madonna’s upcoming album, explains that what he loves about working with such varied artists “is that our music can reach people that are not even from hip hop or electro” scenes. “It’s just music that touches your soul.”… Tell us about the first time you went into the studio with Kelly Rowland. DG: It was magic. It was incredible. It was the first time I worked with an R&B singer. I feel like when it comes to to sound and energy, nobody can beat us, dance music producers. When it comes to singing and melodies, nobody can beat urban artists. They have soul. So it was the perfect combination. I’m now working on Kelly’s new album. I also have the new Madonna album coming up. So I’m very thankful to Kelly and Will and Akon—all those people who came to me when I was not big.

Source: Idolator