Madonna Louise Ciccone, commonly known as Madonna (born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, author, director, philanthropist, businesswoman, record producer, film director, and humanitarian. Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan, but she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance.

During her career, she has sold over 300 million records worldwide and is the top-selling female artist of all time.  Some of her most famous albums are Like a Virgin, True Blue, Like a Prayer, Ray of Light and Confessions On a Dance-Floor. She has won seven Grammy awards. Madonna is considered the  "Queen Of Pop" due to her extremely successful career on music and for being the most selling female singer in history. She has been in many movies; she received positive reviews for her role in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). Her later movies received mixed reviews. She received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Evita (1996).  She got harsh feedback for other performances.

1983–89:  Madonna, Like a Virgin, True Blue, and Like a Prayer
After the release of some dance hits she released her first album, Madonna, in 1983. The album was a great success. Her next album, Like a Virgin (1984), sold over 6 million copies in the United States only and overall 10 million copies worldwide. Her album True Blue has sold 25 million copies. Her album Like a Prayer caused controversy, as it had to do with Christianity but the album sold over 15 million records worldwide. During the 1980s, Madonna was a huge fashion icon and was an idol for millions of girls and boys. Songs like Like a Virgin, Material Girl, Into the Groove, Papa Don't Preach, Holiday, Lucky Star, La Isla Bonita, and Like a Prayer are believed to be classics.

1990–99:  The Immaculate Collection, Erotica, film success, Bedtime Stories, and Ray of Light
In 1990, she released her best selling greatest-hits album The Immaculate Collection which sold over 30 million copies, and this album became the most-sold greatest-hits album in music history. She released a book of naked pictures called SEX in that year. Her album Erotica was a big hit but was criticized by some, the album sold 5 million copies.  Madonna starred in the film A League of Their Own, alongside American actor Tom Hanks and comedienne Rosie O'Donnell.  In 1994, her album Bedtime Stories was released. She also performed in the movie Evita, which was very successful and released a soundtrack album of the same name.  She also received the Golden Globe for Best Actress. Her 1998 album Ray of Light is considered to be a masterpiece and sold over 18 million copies worldwide. Some of her most famous and classic songs of the '90s are Vogue, This Used to Be My Playground, Erotica, Take a Bow, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, You Must Love Me, Frozen and Ray of Light.

2000–10:  Music, American Life, Confessions on a Dance Floor, and Hard Candy
In 2000, her album Music sold over 15 million copies worldwide, helped by the global hit song of the same name. Music became her twelfth number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100. She also released a successful greatest hits album titled GHV2.  Madonna acted in the film The Next Best Thing, along with Swept Away, which got bad reviews. On October 22, 2002, a single called Die Another Day was released. The music video for the single was the second most expensive music video ever to make. The single reached number one in several countries. Her 2003 album, American Life, reached #1 in many countries but it was criticized by some, as it was against war in Iraq and sold 5 million copies. In 2005, her album Confessions on a Dance Floor, helped by the singles Hung Up and Sorry that reached #1 in 45 countries, sold 12 million copies. In 2008 she released her album Hard Candy which reached #1 in almost every country in the world and has sold over 4 million copies worldwide. The first single from the album, 4 Minutes, had Justin Timberlake singing in it.

2011–present:  W.E., MDNA, Rebel Heart, and Madame X
In 2011, W.E., the second movie directed by Madonna, was released. It got bad reviews.

Madonna performed at the 46th Super Bowl on February 5, 2012. She released her twelfth album, MDNA, in April of that year.  The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 album chart.  Trinidadian-born American rapper Nicki Minaj was featured on the lead single, Give Me All Your Luvin''', which reached the top ten in the United States and reached number one in Canada.  Minaj also raps on the album track I Don't Give A.

Madonna's thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart, was released in March 2015. It featured the singles Living For Love and Bitch I'm Madonna featuring frequent collaborator Nicki Minaj. The Rebel Heart World Tour made $169.8 million.

Her fourteenth studio album, Madame X, was released on June 14, 2019, and became her ninth number-one album in the US. It featured collaborations with Maluma, Quavo, Swae Lee & Anitta. It has sold 90,000 copies in the US so far. She will be going on a theatre-only tour to promote it.

Tours

Her tours during the 80's ("Who's That Girl Tour," "Blond Ambition Tour," etc.) were very successful. Her 1993 "The Girlie Show Tour" was very controversial—some thought of it as bad—but was a great success.  The "Drowned World Tour" and the "Re-Invention World Tour" were the most successful tours of their years. The "Confessions Tour" was very successful and the "Sticky & Sweet Tour," with over $408 million earned, became the most successful tour of all time for a solo artist.
 The Virgin Tour (1985) (US only): the tour grossed $33 million.
 Who's That Girl World Tour (1987): the tour grossed $25 million.
 Blond Ambition Tour (1990): the tour grossed $60 million.
 The Girlie Show World Tour (1993): the tour grossed $70 million.
 Drowned World Tour (2001): the tour grossed $75 million.
 Re-Invention World Tour (2004): the tour grossed $125 million.
 Confessions Tour (2006): the tour grossed $194 million.
 Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008-2009): the tour grossed $408 million.
 MDNA Tour (2012): the tour grossed $302 million.
 Rebel Heart Tour (2015)Madame X Tour (2019)

 Discography 

 Madonna (1983): 10 million copies sold.
 Like a Virgin (1984): 21 million copies sold.
 True Blue (1986): 25 million copies sold.
 Like a Prayer (1989): 15 million copies sold.
 Erotica (1992): 5 million copies sold.
 Bedtime Stories (1994): 7 million copies sold.
 Ray of Light (1998): 18 million copies sold.
 Music (2000): 15 million copies sold.
 American Life (2003): 4 million copies sold.
 Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005): 12 million copies sold.
 Hard Candy (2008): 4 million copies sold.
 MDNA (2012): 2 million copies sold.
 Rebel Heart (2015)
 Madame X (2019)

Madonna has had 12 number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100.  They are:
 Like a Virgin Crazy for You Live to Tell Papa Don't Preach Open Your Heart Who's That Girl? Like a Prayer Vogue Justify My Love This Used to Be My Playground Take a Bow Music''

Personal life 
Madonna is the third of six siblings and was named after her mother, Madonna Fortin, who died of breast cancer when Madonna was only five years old.

Both Madonna's marriages ended in divorce. She was married to Sean Penn from 1985 until 1989 and to Guy Ritchie from 2000 to 2008. She has a daughter, Lourdes (born 1996), and son, Rocco (born 2000). She adopted a Malawian son, David Banda, and a daughter, Mercy.

In February 2017, it was announced that she had adopted two more Malawian children, twin girls Esther and Stella.

References 

Actors from Michigan
American movie actors
American movie directors
American pop singers
American dance musicians
American singer-songwriters
Grammy Award winners
 
Singers from Michigan
Writers from Michigan
1958 births
Living people