Also known as Madonna Ciccone, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone
Born August 16, 1958 (1958-08-16) (age 50)
Bay City, Michigan, United States
Genre(s) Pop, rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, dancer,[1]
record producer, film producer, film director,
fashion designer, author, actress, entrepreneur
Madonna's Hot And Sexy Photo Picture
Madonna's Hair Style
Madonna,s Sexy Photo And Song
Early Life and Beginnings
Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan at 7:05 AM on August 16, 1958. Her mother, Madonna Louise (née Fortin), was of French Canadian(Québec) descent, and her father, Silvio "Tony" P. Ciccone, was a first-generation Italian American Chrysler/General Motors design engineer whose parents originated from Pacentro, Abruzzo, Italy.[8][9] Madonna is the third of six children; her siblings are Martin, Anthony, Paula Mae, Christopher, and Melanie.[10]
Madonna was raised in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills). Her mother died of breast cancer at age 30 on December 1, 1963. Her father then married the family's housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children; Jennifer and Mario Ciccone. "I didn't accept my stepmother when I was growing up," Madonna said. "In retrospect, I think I was really hard on her."[11] Madonna convinced her father to allow her to take ballet classes.
She attended St. Frederick's and St. Andrew's Elementary Schools (the latter is now Holy Family Regional School), and after that West Middle School. There she became known for her high GPA - and for her "unusual" behavior, particularly a kind of an underwear fetish: Madonna performed cartwheels and handstands in the hallways between classes, dangled by her knees from the monkey bars during recess, and thought nothing of tugging her skirt up over her desk during class so that all the boys could see her briefs.
Madonna later went to Rochester Adams High School, becoming a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad. Madonna received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan after graduating from high school.[12]
Madonna's ballet teacher persuaded her to pursue a career in dance, so she left the college at the end of 1977 and relocated to New York City.[13] Madonna had little money and for some time lived in squalor, working at Dunkin' Donuts and with modern dance troupes.[14] Of her move to New York, Madonna said, "It was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi cab. I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done."[15] While performing as a dancer for the French disco artist Patrick Hernandez on his 1979 world tour,[16] Madonna became romantically involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she later formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club, in New York.[17][18] She sang and played drums and guitar for the band before forming another band called Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend Stephen Bray.[19] She and Bray wrote and produced dance songs that brought her to local attention in the New York dance clubs. Disc jockey and record producer Mark Kamins was impressed by her demo recordings, so he brought her to the attention of Sire Records founder Seymour Stein.[20]
In her early years in New York City she dated Dan Gilroy, collaborator Stephen Bray[21], and DJ and record producer Mark Kamins[22]. In the fall of 1982 she began an intense affair with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, living with him for a time in his loft, and visiting Los Angeles over December 82-January 83.[23][24] Although this was called an unusual (for either of them) "relationship of equals" [25], she left the artist soon after, over his drug use and late hours, and took up with Musician Jellybean Benitez.[21]
1982–1985: Madonna, Like a Virgin and marriage to Sean Penn
Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records, a label belonging to Warner Bros. Records.[26] Her first release was "Everybody" on April 24, 1982.[27] Her debut album, Madonna was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas.
Slowly Madonna's look and manner of dress, performances and music videos, became influential among young girls and women. Largely created by stylist and jewelry designer Maripol, Madonna's style of dress, defined by lace tops, skirts over capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the Christian cross, multiple bracelets, and bleached hair, became a female fashion trend in the 1980s.[28] Her follow up album, Like a Virgin, became her first number one album on the Billboard 200 chart.[29] Its commercial performance was buoyed by the success of its title track, "Like a Virgin," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks.[16] The album sold approximately twelve million copies worldwide, eight of which in the United States alone.[30] She performed the song at the first MTV Video Music Awards, wearing her then-trademark "Boy Toy" belt.[31] Like a Virgin is listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.[32][33]
In 1985, Madonna entered mainstream films, beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest. Its soundtrack contained her second US number-one single "Crazy for You".[34] Later that year, she appeared in Desperately Seeking Susan. The film introduced the song "Into the Groove," which became her first number-one single in the UK.[35] While filming the music video for "Material Girl" Madonna started dating actor Sean Penn and married him on her 27th birthday that year.[36] The same year, Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in North America titled The Virgin Tour, with the Beastie Boys.[37] In July that year, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of nude photos of Madonna taken in New York in 1978 when she was in need of money.[38] Because she had signed the appropriate release forms, she could not take legal action to block them.[38] She remained defiant and unapologetic upon publication of the photos for which she was paid as little as $25 a session, then sold for up to $100,000.[38] At the outdoor Live Aid charity concert at the height of the controversy, Madonna made a critical reference to the media and stated she would not take her jacket off because "they might hold it against me ten years from now."[39
