Madonna - Biography

In a nutshell

Where are we supposed to start when it comes to Madonna? Apart from being one of the most well-known people on the planet, she's also a mother and the person you sometimes cringe at when she wears skimpy leotards. Let's try and sum her up...

Madge's full name is Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, but we're glad the shortened version caught on. She's the third of six children.

With nothing much going on in Bay City, Madonna decided to move to New York to follow her dream of working in modern dance. After being part of her first rock band, the Breakfast Club, she formed another called Emmy which is where she was spotted by local DJ Mark Kamins.

After signing a record deal, Madonna released her first album. Can you guess what it was called? That's right, it was called Madonna. And the obvious move paid off, because it led to her second, Like a Virgin, which really made an impact on the public and shot to number 1 in the Billboard chart.

She's sold around a staggering 250million records across her career to date and her latest album, Hard Candy, is yet another re-invention with a more urban sound, featuring collaborations with Kanye West and Justin Timberlake.

Never far from controversy, Madonna has given the tea-drinking public more than a few chokes with things like her explicit book, Sex, and more recently the hoo-haa around her adoption of a Malawian boy.

As if her music wasn't enough, Madonna has had a somewhat turbulent love life too. Madge has been married to actor Sean Penn, dated actor Warren Beatty (while they were filming the horrible 'Dick Tracy' in 1989) and other names to throw into the mix include Vanilla Ice (yes, that guy), Dennis Rodman and more recently, Guy Richie. They met through their mutual friend Sting and married in 2000. Alongside their adopted child, they had a child of their own, Rocco.

Although she's already had her fair share, Madge released another Greatest Hits album - this time called 'Celebration' - in 2009. The lead single, also of the same name, was a Paul Oakenfold production.

Madge split from Guy in 2008 and by Decemeber their divorce was finalised. She is currently dating model Jesus Luz, 28 years her junior.

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