Madonna

**Madonna Louise Ciccone** (born 16 August 1958) is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, author, director, businessperson, record producer, film director, and humanitarian. Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan, but she moved to New York in 1977.

During her career, she has sold over 400 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  *Seeking Susan* 1985. Her later movies received mixed reviews. She received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for *Evita* 1996. She got hash feedback for other performances.

## Early life and career 
Madonna Louise Ciccone was born on August 16, 1958, at Mercy Hospital in Bay City, Michigan, She was born to Catholic parents Madonna Louise (née Fortin) and Silvio Anthony "Tony" Ciccone. Madonna was raised in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills), with her two older brothers - Anthony and Martin and three younger siblings Paula, Christopher Ciccone, and Melanie.

Madonna went to St. Frederick's and St. Andrew's Catholic Elementary Schools, and West Middle School. 

Madonna's father put her in classical piano lessons, but she later asked him to allow her to take ballet lessons. Christopher Flynn, her ballet teacher, persuaded her to pursue a career in dance. Madonna later attended Rochester Adams High School and became a straight-A student as well as a member of its cheerleading squad. After graduating in January 1976, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan and studied over the summer at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina.

In 1978, Madonna dropped out of college and relocated to New York City. She said of her move to New York, "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." Madonna soon found an apartment in the Alphabet City neighborhood of the East Village and had little money while working as a hatcheck girl for the Russian Tea Room, an elevator operator at Terrace on the Park, and with modern dance troupes, taking classes at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and eventually performing with Pearl Lang Dance Theater. She also studied dance under the tutelage of the noted American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. Madonna started to work as a backup dancer for other established artists. One night, while returning from a rehearsal, a pair of men held her at knifepoint and forced her to perform fellatio. She later found the incident to be "a taste of my weakness, it showed me that I still could not save myself in spite of all the strong-girl show. I could never forget it."

## 1983 - 1989: *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 - 1999:  *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 - 2010: *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 America 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 USA. It featured collaborations with Maluma, Quavo, Swae Lee & Anitta. It has sold 90,000 copies in the USA 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) (USA 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 
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