Is it true that a popular photograph shows a young Madonna asking for Elvis Presley's autograph?

A photograph supposedly from 1970 is circulating on the Internet, in which a girl similar to the famous singer stands next to the king of rock and roll. We checked whether this is really a future pop diva.

As reported in social networks, photograph taken on September 11, 1970 in Detroit. In the center of the photo is a girl who excitedly watches Elvis Presley leave his autograph for her. The fact that it is Madonna Louise Ciccone before us is confirmed by such resources as “Amateur», Fedy, "Peekaboo», Reddit, "VKontakte» and many other Russian and Western sources.

Let's try to figure out what is known about this situation today. Indeed, on September 11, 1970, the legendary Elvis Presley was at the peak of his fame spoke at Olympia Stadium in Detroit. Other photographs from the autograph session have also been preserved, so there is no reason to doubt it. Quite detailed stories about the singer’s Detroit concert (with photographs, including the photograph we are interested in, and other evidence) can be found on fan sites.

Another question is whether Madonna is in the photograph. And there are several circumstances against this.

1. At the time of the concert, young Madonna Ciccone was barely 12 years old. Does the 12-year-old girl in the photo look like her? Most commentators on the photo believe that no - in front of us is at least a 17-18-year-old girl. This discrepancy seems to have caught the eye of some Redditors so much that they called Madonna in the photo 17 years old and moved time of action in 1975. Which, however, contradicts the facts about the photograph itself and Presley’s concert.

2. Does the girl look exactly like Madonna at 12 years old? Here, too, great doubts arise. From the many real youthful images of Madonna, let’s choose one that has at least a remote resemblance:

What do we see here? A different face shape, a deep parting in a different place, a different location of the eyes under the eyebrows, a different shape of the gap between the front teeth and even a less open forehead. But the second photograph, despite its youthful appearance, was taken a little Later, in 1972. On another photo in the early 1970s, Madonna looks like just a child.

3. Nowhere in her books or interviews does Madonna mention either this fact itself or the fact that she was a fan of Elvis Presley.

4. Four years later, in 1974, Madonna was a fan of another iconic singer, David Bowie, and dreamed of going to his upcoming concert. Her father did not allow her to travel from the town of Rochester Hills to nearby Detroit, although the girl would soon turn 16 years old. It is even more unlikely that he would let her go when she was 12 years old. However, Madonna escaped, and this trip turned her whole life upside down, which she talks about will remember many years later, upon learning of Bowie's death. Moreover, according to her assurances, this was the first concert she attended in her life.

5. On the website Brian's Elvis Corner it is said that the four dozen girls who surrounded Elvis at the entrance to the Hilton Hotel were a little over 20 years old and they mainly represented the neighboring office of the company Auto Club. Madonna does not fit this description in any way.

Thus, there is no serious reason to claim that young Madonna Louise Ciccone is standing next to Elvis in the famous 1970 photograph.

Most likely not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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