MAIN Art & ... Pop Culture Pop Icons Madonna

Born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone on August 16, 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, the future mega-star showed an early interest in dance and eventually won a scholarship to the University of Michigan on the strength of her talent.

Before completing her education, Madonna dropped out of college to move to New York, paving the way to a career in dance and pop.

She was quickly discovered by Sire Records and signed on to create her first three debut hits, Borderline, Lucky Star and Holiday. The new cable rock channel, MTV, quickly took began airing all three videos in rotation and...a star was born.

If bouncy pop tunes were the early star's stock and trade, then she quickly found a way to make headlines with the release of her semi-scandalous album Like A Virgin, the title song garnering her first No. 1 hit in 1984. Her third album, True Blue, generated even more heat by including a bouncy anthem to teen pregnancy, Papa Don't Preach.

All the while, Madonna tried to jump start a film career beginning with the promising Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985, but the aspiring actress has in every attempt since failed to score at the box office.

Her flops include the screwball comedy, Who's That Girl; and co-starring with her then-husband, Sean Penn in Shanghai Surprise; and as Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy. She eventually won a plum role in the film version of Evita for which she won a Golden Globe as Best Actress, but the film itself was entirely forgettable.

Her most recent foray into acting was in Swept Away directed by her present husband, Guy Ritchie, which opened to some of the most disasterous reviews of her career.

Today, Madonna manages to keep the spotlight squarely on her small screen video performances.

The Roman Catholic born pop star has also given voice to her relatively new-found spiritual belief in the Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism dating to the Middle Ages, and she prominently featured Kabbalah images on her re-Invention Tour in 2004, the same year a VH1 poll voted her the world's Greatest Female Pop Culture Icon.

In 2005, former The Material Girl published her fourth in a series of popular children's books, the latest entitled Lotsa de Casha described as "a whimsical updating of the age-old truth that money can't buy happiness."

On August 16, 2005, Madonna made headlines on her 47th birthday after a riding accident on her UK country estate resulted in the pop star suffering from cracked ribs, a broken collar bone and a broken hand.

The Queen of Pop's most recent album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, was released on November 15, 2005. Her latest live television appearance was at the 2006 Grammy Awards where she was featured as the opening act with cartoon group, Gorillaz.

Madonna promised to "turn the world into one big dance floor" with the April 2006 announcement of her world tour, beginning in Los Angeles with performances across North America, Japan, Britain and continental Europe. The pop diva also took part in a television "event" during holiday sweeps month with a November airing of Madonna : The Confessions Tour Live on NBC.

Offstage, the pop singer is married to actor and director, Guy Ritchie, with whom she has a son, Rocco Ritchie, born August 11, 2000. Rumors that the couple were divorcing swept the Web in the early summer of 2008 with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez named as the reason for the split although tabloid reports are, as ever, ongoing.

In October, the British tabloids reported that Madonna had wanted to wait until her Sticky & Sweet Tour ended in Brazil in December before finalizing the divorce.

Madonna also has a daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon with Carlos Leon, a personal trainer and actor. Lourdes was on born October 14, 1996.

Madonna.com - The official site with recent news and updates, touring schedule, pictures & video galleries, plus details on her childrens books, fan club registration, online store.

Madonna on LAUNCH - A biography, video & audio clips, reviews, touring schedule, links to lyrics, related Web sites and fan pages.

Madonna Song Lyrics - The comprehensive collection with an archive dating back to her 1982's debut album on up to and including lyrics to Confessions on a Dance Floor .

SKy Fits Heaven Madonna - Zen and the art of Madonna worship combine for an unusual fan site offering up news, factoids, a biography, album track lists, film chronology, orginal picture galleries and wallpapers, e-cards and more.

Madonnapolis.com - Frequently updated fansite with news and the latest rumors, tour schedule, biography, list of films and albums, picture galleries, wallpapers, related links.

madonnalicious - Get the full flavor at this huge fan site offering breaking news, newspaper scans, news archive, fan reviews, picture galleries, video clips, avatars, tour scedule, related links.

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