Material girl & her naked ambition led to break-up

DUMPED Camille Barbone THEY will both wake up birthday girls today, but that is about all Madonna and first manager Camille Barbone now have in common.

As Madge celebrates her 60th Camille turns 66, still bitter at how she was ditched by Madonna, the rough diamond from Detroit she discovered in 1981.

Back then Madonna was sleeping rough in New York’s Music Building, a hub for creatives and base for the Gotham Agency and Studios, where Camille was a musical talent agent. It was there the two women met in the lift.

Camille says: “She was vulnerable, she needed a place to live, she was hungry most of the time, she washed in a public bathroom.

SADNESS

“She had sadness about her family, her mother died, she had a step-mother she didn’t get along with. “Here I am with a lot of maternal instinct so she was treated as an only child and got the attention.” Camille also protected Madonna from the powerful men in the record business. Camille says: “There are very high level men in the music industry who are definitely looking for sex for a deal – was Madonna propositioned? Absolutely. At 21 years old, she was hot as hell.” Just as Camille was about to get Madonna a deal, the singer signed with Warner Bros Records. Her first album, released in the summer of 1983, included hits Holiday and Borderline. Camille says: “I wanted to be the biggest manager in the world as much as she wanted to be the biggest singer. “When the whole deal broke apart that’s why it was so hurtful.”