After Madonna accepted her Top Touring Artist prize at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, the superstar sat down exclusively with “Extra’s” Jerry Penacoli, and opened up about her family, her Met Gala photo with Kim Kardashian and her feud with Elton John.

Click here for the full video “The Road To Billboard”

We are excited to announce our next Free Preview Weekend starts on June 21st!

Join us from June 21 through June 23 for an all access pass to EPIX.

During the Free Preview weekend, catch the EPIX premiere of Madonna: The MDNA Tour and Sherri Shepherd: It’s My Time to Talk.

http://www.epixhd.com/madonna-the-mdna-tour/
http://www.epixhd.com/sherri-shepherd-its-my-time-to-talk/

Don’t have EPIX? Stay tuned for more info about signing up for a free trial as we get closer to the event! As an added bonus, all expired free trials will be reopened for this weekend only.

* EPIX and EpixHD.com are only available in the US.

More info HERE

madonna:
Finally checked off everything on. MDNA edit’ onto finishing secretproject! Stay tuned’

Last week, I noticed that Huey Lewis and the News were celebrating the 30th anniversary of their album “Sports.” This got me thinking of all the other musical milestones from the year 1983, and once I started investigating, I was impressed.

Bon Jovi formed in 1983. So did Megadeth, the Flaming Lips, and Phish. Metallica released its first album in 1983, as did R.E.M., Pulp, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Michael Jackson electrified the world with his moonwalk at the Motown Records 25th Anniversary TV special. Of them all, however, the event with the most enduring cultural impact may have come on July 27, 1983. On that day, Sire Records released Madonna’s self-titled debut album. It opened in 123rd place on the “Billboard” album chart – can you imagine? One year later, Madonna was the hottest new star in the world and the album hit number eight.

A hard-charger from Bay City, Michigan, Madonna Ciccone started as a dance club favorite and ended up becoming the template for all subsequent female stars. Outrageous costumes – or lack of them…controversial pronouncements to the press…constant reinvention: Madonna showed us how stardom would look in the video age. It’s all there on display in the clip for her breakout single, “Lucky Star.”

Madonna’s been a star for 29 of the past 30 years. You can read all about her here,but what I find especially intriguing is, why her? Was it her insatiable drive to be a star? A need to be loved? Natural charisma? All of them, perhaps, and more. Like many artists of her generation, Madonna has lost ground on the domestic music charts.

As of December, her most recent album “MDNA” had barely edged the half-million seller mark here in the United States (although I should note it did reach number one in more than 40 countries). Madonna’s real strength lies in her live presence. Her MDNA Tour brought in more than 305 million dollars, becoming the year’s top grossing tour – and, in the process, making her a billionaire.

At age 54, Madonna’s seen it all, done it all, and remains the moving target her competitors still seek to match.

Ray McDonald
voanews.com

After Madonna accepted her Top Touring Artist prize at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, the superstar sat down exclusively with “Extra’s” Jerry Penacoli, and opened up about her family, her Met Gala photo with Kim Kardashian and her feud with Elton John.

Rocking a bodysuit and thigh-high tights, Madonna talked with Penacoli about her “MDNA” tour and working with her children, Lourdes, 16, and Rocco, 12. “It was great to have a working family… to me that’s my idea of fun, to be creative, to do what I love to do and see my kids working around me and earning their way in life. My daughter worked in the costume department and she loved it. My son was in the show, and he loved it.”

Madonna explained how she juggles raising her four children, including son David Banda and daughter Mercy James, both 8. “I try to find the right balance between being there for them and guiding them and also being an artist. I’m trying to find enough time in the day to do those jobs well.”

The mom continued, “I try to be very clear with them. This is my persona for work. What we aspire to do is to work and to be good people. If you don’t have those two things, fame is nothing, so I try to drill that into their heads.”

Madonna also loves fashion and told Jerry that when she posed with Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala it was the second time she had met the reality TV star. “I met her years and years ago when she was a little girl, believe it or not. She told me she was a huge fan of mine, and it was during the time I was wearing all of the rubber bracelets on my arms. I took off all of the bracelets and gave them to her and then I completely forgot about it. She reminded me when I saw her the other night. Now she’s a pregnant lady!”

As for her infamous feud with Elton John, John recently confirmed to “Extra” the two made up. Madonna confirmed the reconciliation at a restaurant in Nice, France. “After we kissed and hugged, he paid for my dinner, as he should.”

For those who did not catch Madonna’s “MDNA” tour in person, a TV special will air June 22 on the Epix movie channel. She also announced to Penacoli that the tour special is being released on DVD and Blu-ray in September.

Right after winning Top Touring Artist at the Billboard Music Awards last night (May 19), we caught up with Madonna backstage for a quick chat. The pop icon discussed her upcoming MDNA concert special, new album rumors and her charitable initiatives in Africa and beyond.

Madonna was quick to quiet any notion that she had started work on a new studio album. “No, not yet. I just finished editing the DVD of my (“MDNA”) concert,” adding jokingly, “so I haven’t had any free time.”

Madonna’s editing handiwork will be revealed on June 22, when her MDNA Tour concert special premieres on premium network EPIX. The concert will debut at 8 p.m. EST that night on EPIX’s TV network and online at EpixHD.com and on EPIX apps. A home video release of the tour is due out in fall, possibly in September.

The globe-trekking MDNA Tour was 2012′s highest-grossing trek and the 10th-biggest tour of all time according to Billboard Boxscore. It played 88 shows on four continents to over 2.2 million attendees. The tour supported her 2012 studio album “MDNA,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

At the Billboard Music Awards, Madonna also spoke about her continued commitment to girls education and outreach in Malawi and beyond.

“I continue to do my work there,” she said, noting that her organization had recently finished building 10 schools, “which I’m very proud of,” and that she continues “to do work with various orphanages, hospitals, medical trainees, supporting doctors (and) pediatricians.”

She continued, saying how she’s “trying to expand” her efforts “beyond Malawi to other parts of the world.”

As part of that charitable expansion, she recently sold a Fernand Leger painting for $7.2 million, the proceeds of which will benefit her Ray of Light Foundation that supports girls’ education projects in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

The 1921 painting, titled “Trois Femmes a la Table Rouge,” was sold at a Sotheby’s auction on May 7, exceeding pre-sale expectations. Madonna had owned the work since 1990, when she bought it at Sotheby’s for $3.4 million.

Madonna has confirmed her participation as presenter in ‘The Sound of Change Live’ concert, presented by CHIME FOR CHANGE. Recently founded by Gucci, the organization hosts campaigns for improved Education, Health and Justice for women and girls worldwide. The four-hour concert, which takes place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday 1 June, is supported by an impressive line-up of world-class artists and internationally renowned presenters, lending their voices to CHIME FOR CHANGE.

The confirmed line-up is: Aishwarya Rai * Archbishop Desmond Tutu * Beyonce * Blake Lively * Ellie Goulding * Florence + the Machine * Freida Pinto * Gloria Steinman * Gordon and Sarah Brown * HAIM * Humaira Bachal * Iggy Azalea * Jada Pinkett Smith * James Franco * Jennifer Lopez * Jessica Chastain * John Legend * Laura Pausini * Leymah Gbowee * Madonna * Mpho Tutu * Rita Ora * Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy * Timbaland * Zoe Saldana *

Madonna said, “60 percent of the children in the world NOT in school, are girls! 2/3 of the world’s illiterate are WOMEN! I Do NOT accept this. We need to change this and we WILL CHANGE THIS!”

The concert will start at 5.30pm and finish at 10:00pm and each artist will perform special sets with some exciting collaborations expected. Throughout the concert short films will be shown highlighting issues such as: 60% of children not in school are girls, 800 women die daily in pregnancy or childbirth – most of whom would live with access to proper care, and despite gains, just 21% of seats in national parliaments are held by women.

Tickets for the concert are available from:
www.chimeforchange.org
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 844-847 1693

Source : Madonna.com

In Madonna‘s own words as she accepted her honor for Top Touring Artist at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, “A showgirl needs her fans.” Truly Madge owes her devoted following for her continued success as a musician on the road.

The honor was presented to Madge by will.i.am, who, holding Madonna’s award and sunglasses, turned into more of her lackey as opposed to her peer. The ‘Hung Up’ songstress was more than deserving of this honor as 2.2 million fans attended her MDNA tour, which made it the second most successful tour of all-time — the first being Madge’s 2008 and 2009 Sticky and Sweet Tour.

Madonna accepted her honor in a pseudo-dominatrix costume saying, “They say that it takes a village to raise a child. It took several international villages to put my tour together.” True that, Madonna. Even with her divatastic ways, she knows she wouldn’t be a superstar without loads of help from her managers, dancers, set designers etc…

Madge took the Top Touring Artist award over mega-stars like Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Roger Waters, not to mention her No.1 nemesis — Lady Gaga.

As will.i.am noted, Madonna is always “one dance step ahead.” We have an inkling that this foresight is the reason behind Madge’s touring success!

source:  popcrush.com

Top Touring Artist

Coldplay
Lady Gaga
MADONNA
Bruce Springsteen
Roger Waters

Top Dance Artist

David Guetta
Calvin Harris
MADONNA
Skrillex
Swedish House Mafia

Top Dance Album

David Guetta — “Nothing But the Beat”
LMFAO — “Sorry for Party Rocking”
MADONNA — “MDNA”
Skrillex — “Bangarang”

Billboard