Madonna Biography

NAME: Madonna

OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Singer

BIRTH DATE: August 16, 1958 (Age: 53)

EDUCATION: Rochester Adams High School, University of Michigan, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

PLACE OF BIRTH: Bay City, Michigan

Synopsis

Pop music singer Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958. In 1981 she went solo as a pop singer and became a sensation on the then male-dominated 80s music scene. By 1991, she had achieved 21 Top 10 hits in the United States and sold more than 70 million albums internationally. In January 2008, she was named the world's wealthiest female musician by Forbes magazine.

Early Life

Singer, performer, actress. Born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958, to parents Silvio "Tony" Ciccone and Madonna Fortin. Tony, the son of Italian immigrants, was the first of his family to go to college, where he earned a degree in engineering. Madonna's mother, an x-ray technician and former dancer, was of French Canadian descent. After their marriage in 1955, the couple moved to Pontiac, Michigan, to be close to Tony's job as a defense engineer. Madonna was born three years later, during a visit with family in Bay City. The third of six children, Madonna learned early on how to handle her role as the middle child, admitting that she was "the sissy of the family" who often used her feminine wiles to get her way.

Another heavy influence on Madonna's early life was her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer during her pregnancy with Madonna's youngest sister. Treatment had to be delayed until the baby reached full term, but by then the disease had grown too strong. On December 1, 1963, at the age of 30, Madonna's mother passed away. Madonna was only 5 years old at the time of her mother's death.

Music and Dance

But Madonna balanced this insubordinate side of her personality with a drive for perfectionism and high-achievement. She was a straight-A student, cheerleader, and disciplined dancer who graduated from high school a semester earlier than her peers. In 1976, her hard work earned her the attentions of the University of Michigan, which offered her a full scholarship to their dance program.

In 1977, during her undergraduate studies at Michigan, Madonna was awarded a six-week scholarship to study with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City, followed by a rare opportunity to perform with choreographer Pearl Lang in 1978. At the urging of her dance instructor, the budding star dropped out of college after only two years of study in order to move to New York and further her dance career.

Pop music breakthrough

Madonna moved into an apartment in New York City's East Village, a poorer neighborhood filled with crime and drug problems. Her first jobs included figure modeling for artists and acting in low-budget movies. She danced briefly with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and studied for a time with choreographer (one who creates and arranges dance performances) Pearl Lang before going to Paris, France, as a singer and dancer with French disco artist Patrick Hernandez. Madonna had developed a fascination with music. She played drums and sang backup in several small bands. When she returned to New York she wrote and recorded songs and hung out in popular Manhattan nightclubs. She was signed to a recording contract with Sire Records in October 1982.

The album Madonna was released in July 1983. Repeat club performances and radio airplay of several cuts from the album eventually earned her three huge hits with "Holiday," "Lucky Star," and "Borderline." A series of hit songs, videos, concert tours, and films followed. A brief performance in the film Vision Quest resulted in the top-five hit "Crazy for You." Her second album, Like a Virgin, released in 1984, produced two number one hits—the title track and "Material Girl." In early 1985 she went on her first concert tour, which was so successful that she had to switch to larger locations to meet the demand for tickets. Thousands of teenage girls all over the country began tying lace bows on top of their heads, wearing underwear as outerwear, and walking the halls of schools and shopping malls as "Madonna wannabees." Madonna's appearance in the film Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985 led to another popular single and video, "In the Groove."

In August 2000 Madonna gave birth to a son named Rocco. The child was her son with British film director Guy Ritchie. Shortly after that event, Madonna released Music, which carried on the electronic element she introduced in Ray of Light. The album received mostly good reviews. In December 2000 Madonna and Ritchie had their son baptized in a thirteenth-century cathedral in Dornoch, Scotland. The next day, Madonna and Ritchie were married at Scotland's nineteenth-century Skibo Castle.

Madonna, the Material Girl turned serious actress, singer, songwriter and mom, appears to have it all. She accepts it all—including the constant media attention—with calm, as if she were planning the next phase. She told Time magazine, "I never wish I had a different life. I am lucky to be in the position of power that I am in and to be intelligent.… It's not my nature to just kick back."