Madonna Profile, Biography, Information

Name: Madonna
Nickname: The Material Girl ,
MaddyBirth name: Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone
Birth place: Bay City, Michigan, USA
Birthday: 16.08.1958
Weight: UnknownHeight: 1.64 cm
Natural hair color: blond
Eyes color: blueEducation: University of Michigan (majored in Dance; dropped out)
Residence: London, UK
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: white

Madonna is the most successful female recording artist of all time, she has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. Controversy has followed her throughout her career. Her sexual behavior and religious themes in her work has caused her to be condemned by the vatican and numerous other religious groups. Nothing was able to bring her down thus making one of the greatest singers of all time.Enjoy this feature on Madonna includes biography, pictures, filmography, discography, ringtones, videos, posters and related links.

Without a doubt, one of the most internationally known and recognized stars of contemporary history, Madonna has achieved an unthinkable amount in the past 20 years of her career. She has dominated the music charts, she has hit the silver screen, she has entered the publishing industry, and she is probably one of the most publicized celebrities of the 20th century. To say that she is a celebrity would be an understatement; she is a veritable pop icon.

Née Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, the Material Girl was born August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan. The eldest of 8 children, she lost her mother to cancer when she was 6 years old, leaving her engineer father to raise their eight children.

In New York, Madonna initially performed as a dancer for ‘Patrick Hernandez’, on his 1979 world tour. She formed her first rock band ‘The Breakfast Club’, with musician Dan Gilroy, the same year. In 1980, she left it and formed the band ‘Emmy’, with Stephen Bray. Impressed by her demo recordings, Mark Kamins (DJ and record producer) brought her to the attention of Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records. She signed a singles deal with Sire Records in 1982 and since then, has never looked back. Madonna made her debut in the music industry with ‘Everybody’, which became an instant hit. The next year, she released her first album, ‘Madonna’, which went on to become #8 on the U.S. albums chart. Apart from being applauded as a singer, Madonna also became a fashion icon for females. Her second album ‘Like a Virgin’, released in 1984, became #1 album on the U.S. albums chart. The following year, she made her movie debut in ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ and also married Sean Penn. Her dance song ‘Into the Groove’, from the same movie, became an international hit and was her first number one in the UK. It was also the year for her first concert tour ‘The Virgin Tour’, in US, which she did with The Beastie Boys. Her production debut was with the album ‘True Blue’, in 1986. The next year, Madonna embarked on the ‘Who's That Girl World Tour’, which, at that time, became the highest-grossing tour in music history. In 1989, she released her new song, ‘Like a Prayer’, in a Pepsi commercial. The commercial created a controversy and was revoked by Pepsi. Madonna toured Japan, North America, and Europe in 1990, on her ‘Blond Ambition World Tour’. The same year, she released her first greatest hits compilation album, ‘The Immaculate Collection’. In 1991, she starred in her first documentary film, ‘Truth or Dare’. In 1999, she won three Grammy Awards - Best Pop Album, Best Dance Recording and Best Short Form Music Video. The same year, Madonna embarked on the ‘Drowned World Tour’. Her title song for ‘Die Another Day’ (2002) won her nominations for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and a Golden Raspberry for Worst Song. The album ‘America Life, released in 2003, became the lowest selling album of her career. The same year, her mouth-to-mouth kiss with Britney Spears, at MTV Video Music Awards, created a lot of controversy. In 2004, Madonna embarked on ‘The Re-Invention Tour’, in US, Canada and Europe. Her 10th studio album, ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ (2005), won her a Grammy. In May 2006, Madonna embarked on ‘Confessions Tour’, which created a lot of controversy over her use of religious symbols. Her last tour was the ‘London Concert of Live Earth’, held at Wembley Stadium in July 2007. In October 2007, she announced her departure from record company Warner Bros and a 10 year contract with pop concert promoters ‘Live Nation’. Madonna debuted as a director with ‘Filth and Wisdom’, released in February 2008, at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Madonna's star quality was evident at an early age, which prompted her to participate in school shows, be a school cheerleader, as well as take piano and ballet lessons.

She attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, but she put aside her studies after two years of student life to head for New York City and pursue her dreams of becoming a star.

In the Big Apple with hardly any cash, Madonna barely earned a living by working several minimum wage jobs, one of which was at a Dunkin Donuts counter at Times Square. She joined the Alvin Ailey dance troupe, where although she gained experience, she was not gaining much exposure as one of many dancers in the troupe. Madonna was itching to become famous, and this was not the way to achieve her pursuit of stardom.

Developing more of an interest in music, Madonna joined her then boyfriend's band and had the opportunity to be backup singer and dancer for a well-known disco star. With more of a taste for pop music, Madonna began writing songs and performing at local dance clubs. She was beginning to receive the exposure she was aiming for and audiences were beginning to take notice of the confident, untamed singer.

DJ Mark Kamins played one of Madonna's demo singles "Everybody" and it became a popular club hit. Kamins is responsible for the relationship between Madonna and Warner Bothers, since he introduced the two in 1982. She was immediately signed for a record label and well on her way.

In 1983, Madonna's debut album was released and spawned the America Top 20 chart hit single "Holiday". The album itself was not a tremendous success on the Top 40 radio stations, but it was a hit in the nightclubs. More singles such as "Lucky Star" and "Borderline" were released and were accompanied by music videos that, if anything, showed off Madonna's first "look", which has almost come to be representative of 80's pop culture.

While her debut album was still on the charts, Madonna released her second album in 1984, Like A Virgin. The album, as well as the title track, both reached the number one spots of the music charts.

Already breaking music records in 1985, Madonna embarked on another dimension of her career -- as an actress. Her manager, Freddie DeMann, who was also pop icon Michael Jackson's manager in his Thriller days, negotiated some film roles for Madonna. She appeared as a nightclub singer in the film Vision Quest and as the lead in Desperately Seeking Susan.

Susan may have had to be "seeked", but it was clear that the pop star Madonna had been found. Her single from the Vision Quest soundtrack had become a hit, as was the Desperately Seeking Susan soundtrack, giving Madonna simultaneous hit singles and hit albums.

Madonna then tried her hand at stage acting, performing in Goose and Tom-Tom, where she met actor Sean Penn. The couple got married, co-starred in the forgettable film Shanghai Surprise and got divorced after less than four years of wedded misery.

By this point, Madonna had become a star and had already caused controversy for her "boy toy" image. Now she was causing more controversy with her 1986 single "Papa Don't Preach", about women getting pregnant out of wedlock.

Her video for the 1989 single "Like A Prayer", which featured burning crosses in the background and Madonna, wearing nothing more than a slip, kissing an African-American eroticized saint. The Vatican censured the video and Pepsi backed out of their endorsement with Madonna. Still, the album Like a Prayer spawned 5 Top Twenty hits.

In 1990, Madonna appeared in Dick Tracy with Warren Beatty (who she was dating), released the soundtrack for the film and had hit singles such as "Vogue", which had everyone "voguing" to the song; "Rescue Me"; and "Justify My Love", which was also controversial and initially banned from the MTV airwaves.

The early 90's were marked with scandalous projects by Madonna, such as the documentary Truth of Dare, a behind-the-scenes account of her Blonde Ambition Tour; the X-rated coffee-table book Sex; her album, Erotica; and her speaking out about the AIDS epidemic.

In 1992, Madonna sowed her entrepreneurial oats and founded the record company Maverick with her manager, which was part of a $60 million dollar, 7-year deal with Time Warner.

Taking a step away from her scandalous days, Madonna released a softer, more R&B tinged album, Bedtime Stories, spawning a hit duet with Babyface entitled Take A Bow. She returned to the movies with a role in A League of Their Own, Four Rooms and Blue in the Face.

In 1996, she starred in the title role of the movie version of the musical Evita, which not only earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, but also made audiences gain a new found respect for her remarkable portrayal of Eva Peron. That same year, Madonna entered a new stage in her life -- motherhood -- with the birth of daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon.

Madonna returned to the music scene in 1998 with the introspective, meditative, and electronic-influenced Ray of Light. With the help of producer William Orbit, Ray of Light spawned such hits as "Frozen" as well as the title-track, as the world was introduced to a more relaxed, more spiritually in-tune Madonna.

We heard Madonna last summer on the Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack with "Beautiful Stranger"; this year with the remix of the 60's hit American Pie (which also caused controversy); and in a starring role in the disappointing film The Next Best Thing, co-starring real-life pal Rupert Everett and Benjamin Bratt.

With a new single entitled "Music", her new album of the same title is slated for release this fall, and a second baby is on the way with current boyfriend Guy Ritchie -- we would think that Madonna has done it all.

From mesh-wearing, fish-net stocking Material Girl, to pointy-cone bra, tuxedo wearing diva, to sex-crazed woman, and finally to Zen and yoga-practicing mother, chances are we probably haven't seen half of what this pop icon has yet to achieve.