Madonna: biography, personal life, family, husband, children - photos. Madonna - photos before and after plastic surgery Madonna's full name

Madge turned 54 today. And no matter what they say, she looks amazing. She has two children, a young handsome boyfriend and a career that is the American dream come true. Keep it up!

If you look through the covers with her photographs, you can remember how it all began and how many images Madonna, this famous chameleon, tried to remain eternally relevant. We also collected interesting facts about this legendary woman.

Madonna was born in the small town of Bay City, Michigan, USA. She is proud of her European roots: her grandparents came to America from the old, picturesque Italian town of Pacentro.

In 1988, local officials decided to erect a four-meter statue of her in honor of the ancestors of the famous “compatriot” Madonna.

Madonna is the third of six children born to Silvio "Tony" Ciccone and Madonna Louise Ciccone (née Fortin). The girl was named after her mother. She also has a half-sister and a brother from her father's second marriage to former governess Joan Gustefson.

Madonna was a cheerleader in high school (Rochester Adams High School).

Having moved to New York, Madonna tried to realize her dream of becoming a famous dancer, while working as a waitress at the famous Dunkin Donuts fast food restaurant chain. According to rumors, she was soon fired because she deliberately poured jam on a harmful client.

Madonna's album Like A Virgin was included in the 200 Albums of All Time, and the singer herself was included as an honorary member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.

While married to Sean Penn, Madonna tried to contribute to her husband's film career by starring with him in the film Shanghai Surprise. She also invited him to the play where she played: she made her stage debut in the play Goose & TomTom in 1986.

Madonna's 2006 concert tour, Confessions Tour, is considered unsurpassed in terms of technical equipment and the number of concerts ever given by a female singer during the tour (60 concerts).

Madonna is the most successful performer in Foggy Albion: no English singer has more hits that have been at the top of the charts than her.

By the way, Madonna has been a British citizen since 2001.

One of the varieties of centipedes, known under various names: “wallflower”, “moss piglet” or “water bear”, is named after the Madonna. A distinctive feature of the species, proudly bearing the name of Madonna, is its exceptional endurance and vitality in extreme natural conditions: from boiling geysers to the ice of Antarctica.

Madonna's father, Tony Ciccone, an avid winemaker, decided to take advantage of his daughter's fame by releasing Madonna's Wine.

Alcoholic drinks under this brand are available in five varieties: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay. Prices range from $25 to $40 per bottle.

The first book Madonna wrote for children, English Roses, was published in 2003. Since then, more than ten of her books for children and teenagers have been published.

People magazine twice included Madonna in its annual nominations: in 1991, she was among the “50 Most Beautiful People of the Year,” and a decade later, in 2001, among the “25 Most Intriguing People of the Year.”

Madonna's good friends are singer Sting and his wife Trudie Styler. By the way, it was Trudy who introduced the singer to director Guy Ritchie. An affair began between Guy and Madonna; their marriage lasted eight years (2000-2008).

Sting became the godfather of Rocco, the son of Madonna and Guy Ritchie.

Since childhood, Madonna has suffered from brontophobia - a panicky fear of thunderstorms and thunder.

Madonna was cast as Catwoman Selina Kyle in the 1992 film Batman Returns, but at the last minute the director changed his mind and chose Michelle Pfeiffer. She also auditioned for the role of Ginger in Martin Scorsese's Casino, but lost out to Sharon Stone.

Madonna turned down the leading roles offered to her in the films “The Famous Baker Brothers” and “Showgirls.”

Her height: 163 cm
Weight: 54.5 kg
Bust size: 91.5 cm
Waist size: 61 cm
Hip size: 86.5 cm
Eye color: green-blue
Natural hair color: dark brown

Madonna still does not have her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, although she was given such an opportunity back in 1990.

At that time, for some reason the singer did not show interest in the ceremony, and the invitation expired. Walk of Fame officials later stated that Madonna "must be re-nominated" to receive a star, adding that "since there is little interest in the singer, it is highly doubtful that she will be considered in the foreseeable future."

The Pepsico Corporation, which produces Pepsi-Cola, paid Madonna $5 million for a promotional video with her participation, which was never shown on television! Pepsi management decided at the last minute to withdraw the controversial commercial, which featured the song “Like A Prayer,” considering the ambiguous religious overtones of the musical work inappropriate.

Madonna "won" a record number of times (nine) in the Golden Raspberry anti-award: Worst Actress in the film Shanghai Surprise (1987), Worst Actress in the film Who's That Girl? (1988), Worst Actress in Body as Evidence (1994), Worst Supporting Actress in Four Rooms (1996), Worst Actress of the Century (2000), Worst Actress in Best Friend ( 2001), Worst Actress in Swept Away and Worst Supporting Actress in Die Another Day (both 2003).

Madonna was recognized as the best actress of the year by the organizers of the Golden Globe Awards in 1997. She was awarded for her starring role in the film Evita, despite the fact that her competitors were Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Debbie Reynolds and Barbra Streisand.

Madonna's filmography includes 22 films.

After conducting genealogical research, it was found that Madonna is distantly related to such famous personalities as singers Celine Dion and Gwen Stefani, as well as actor Mark Wahlberg.

Madonna auditioned for the lead female role in the film "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner, but the final choice was made in favor of Whitney Houston.

As a child, Madonna dreamed of becoming a ballerina.

In total, Madonna was nominated for a Grammy Award 20 times and received seven awards.

Madonna has been a vegetarian since the age of fifteen.

Madonna hates the color orange.

The provocative book Sex, written by the singer in support of the Erotica album and containing the singer’s illustrated sexual fantasies, sold out so quickly that additional copies had to be ordered the very next day after the book’s release.

Madonna dedicated her album True Blue to her then-husband Sean Penn, whom she called "The Coolest Guy in the Universe."

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow was a bridesmaid at Madonna and Guy Ritchie's wedding in Scotland.

Fight Club director David Fincher shot four Madonna videos as cinematographer.

Madonna's songs What It Feels Like For A Girl and Justify My Love were banned from MTV for various reasons.

The Recording Industry Association of America named Madonna the most commercially successful female rock artist of the 20th century. She also took second position as a female artist in the number of discs sold in the United States, selling 63 million albums!

singer Madonna

Madonna Louise Ciccone. Born August 16, 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, USA. American singer, songwriter, producer, dancer, writer, actress, film director, screenwriter, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Madonna is considered the most commercially successful performer in history according to the Guinness Book of Records. with 300 million confirmed licensed sales. Time included the singer in its list of “25 Most Powerful Women of the Last Century,” assessing her influence on modern music.

Madonna is the best-selling rock artist of the 20th century according to the Recording Industry Association of America and the second best-selling female artist in the United States with 64.5 million certified album sales.

Billboard recognized the singer as the most successful artist in the history of recording among solo singers and singers.

Madonna became famous for constantly “reinventing” her music and images. She became one of the first female musicians to have a successful career on a major label without losing creative or financial control. The singer's videos are an integral part of MTV, adding new themes of texts or images of video clips to the mainstream.

Madonna's songs have generally received positive reviews from music critics, despite frequent media controversy regarding their themes of racism, gender discrimination, religion, politics, sex and violence. Madonna's debut album of the same name was released in 1983 on the Sire label and became the first in a series of successful albums by the author/singer.

Madonna has won a record 20 MTV Video Music Awards and 7 Grammy Awards., including prestigious nominations for the albums Ray of Light (1998) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005), as well as 2 Golden Globes.

The singer has many chart records and hits that reached first place on the main music charts, among which the most successful were the songs “Like a Virgin” (1984), “La Isla Bonita” (1986), “Like a Prayer” (1989), “Vogue” "(1990), "Frozen" (1998), "Music" (2000), "Hung Up" (2005) and "4 Minutes" (2008).

According to Forbes as of 2016, Madonna is the richest female musician in the world with a net worth of $560 million.

The singer's 2008-09 Sticky & Sweet Tour ranks as the top-grossing solo artist of all time. Madonna's recognition in music and cinema is well known - since the late 80s the media has called her the “Queen of Pop”, and in 2000 the Golden Raspberry anti-award named her the worst actress of the 20th century.

Madonna's films as director and screenwriter “Filth and Wisdom” and “WE. We Believe in Love" were crushed by critics and received limited theatrical release.

Madonna was born on August 16, 1958 in a town on the shores of Lake Huron, Michigan, USA. The singer's mother and namesake, Madonna Louise Ciccone, was French-Canadian and worked as a radiography technician. Father, Silvio Ciccone, an Italian-American, worked as a design engineer for the Chrysler/General Motors defense design bureau.

Madonna is the third child in the family, there were six children in total. The first girl in the family was named Madonna Louise in honor of her mother; this name was never officially changed. The name "Veronica" was chosen by Madonna Louise Ciccone at age 12 for the traditional Catholic sacrament of confirmation and is not official.

Madonna's mother was descended from the Jansenist early French settlers, and her piety bordered on fanaticism. My mother played the piano and sang beautifully, but never wanted to perform in public.

During her sixth pregnancy, Madonna Ciccone (the eldest) was diagnosed with breast cancer. The mother adhered to the ideas of the pre-Vatican period, which still recognized sex as an immoral act, and abortion as murder under any conditions. She refused treatment for the rest of her pregnancy and died a few months after the birth of her sixth child at the age of 30.

Madonna (the younger)'s rejection of the fact that God could allow her mother to die became an important aspect of the singer's life and work. Two years later, the widowed father of the family remarried the maid Joan Gustafson - a simple woman and the complete opposite of the first. The couple's first child died, but soon they had two more children. The stepmother cared mainly about her own children, but the father forced all the children to call the woman “mom,” which Madonna never did, considering the father a traitor to the mother’s memory.

The family was quite wealthy, but Gustafson brought into the family the Protestant spirit of total economy on clothing and food - the family ate exclusively semi-finished products and the children almost did not wear store-bought clothes. Joan's methods of upbringing made her look like a sergeant-major, which further strained the atmosphere in the family. Madonna aroused a sense of female competition in her stepmother due to the singer’s strong external resemblance to her late mother. Madonna was subjected to severe bullying by two older brothers who were drug addicts, who fought with her for their father’s attention, which, according to biographers, early laid in her a hostile attitude towards drugs.

The Ciccone family lived in the Detroit suburbs, where Madonna attended St. Frederick and St. Andrew and West Catholic schools and was a cheerleader on the basketball team. The singer graduated from high school at the secular Rochester Adams School, where she participated in theatrical productions and school musicals.

Ciccone studied with excellent marks, and the teachers took on the role of a mother in her upbringing. The singer named the teacher of philosophy and Russian history Marilyn Fallows as one of two the most important people of your childhood. Despite her grades, Ciccone was considered by her peers to be a “good girl”; she was disliked for her excellent academic performance and position as a teacher’s favorite, and boys were afraid to ask her out on a date.

At the age of 14, Madonna was influenced as a pop lyricist by her friendship with the future recognized poet Win Cooper, who studied with her in the same school a grade older. According to Cooper, the girl was shy and a little aloof, avoided society, dressed modestly and especially loved the books of Aldous Huxley and the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover.

The key event of Madonna’s childhood is considered to be West’s performance at the school talent evening at the age of 14. In it, an artist covered in green and pink paint in a top and shorts shocked the audience by performing a dance to the famous song "Baba O" Riley" by The Who. The reputation of an exemplary excellent student girl was hopelessly damaged, the performance was discussed for a long time in the city, and the father put his daughter under house arrest . “Heroine of the day”, brothers and sisters began to tease: “Madonna is a whore”, although it had nothing to do with sex.

From the age of four, Madonna Ciccone imitated the dances of Shirley Temple, but took up ballet at almost 15 years old, which was acceptable for modern jazz choreography. Choreographer Christopher Flynn was her greatest influence. Flynn took her time and took the student to classical concerts, exhibitions and, to broaden her horizons, to gay clubs. Flynn was gay 30 years older, so the student’s love remained unrequited, but, according to the singer’s recollections, this was the only person who understood her. Appearance excellent students changed towards a sloppy bohemian appearance, scaring off others.

Biographers Andersen, Taraborrelli and Lucy O'Brien point out that although at age 14, Madonna had a reputation as a slut, but only at the age of 15 she had her first sexual experience with 17-year-old Russell Long, which the whole school and her father learned about at Ciccone’s suggestion. According to Lucy O’Brien, the fight against stereotypical attitudes toward women based on the “virgin/whore” criterion and the desire to tell others about her love experiences became the main themes of the singer’s work.

Madonna Ciccone graduated from school in 1976 a few months before her final exams. She continued her dance education on a full-time basis at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where Flynn received a professorship. The choice of a “frivolous” profession put a rift in the singer’s relationship with her father, who wanted his daughter to become a doctor or lawyer. The father believed that his daughter could find better use for her excellent certificate, which she successfully passed IQ test(according to biographers Christopher Andersen (1991) and Randy Taraborrelli (2000) The singer’s result at the age of 17 showed 140 points) and brilliant recommendations from teachers. Right to receive free higher education in the USA it is given to only a few, and Madonna moved into a university dormitory full of hopes for her brilliant future. According to teachers and colleagues, she had rare stamina even for a dancer, which was further developed by ballet training, and subsequently allowed her to become less out of breath while performing songs with simultaneous dancing.

According to the memoirs of choreographer Gaia Delang, young Ciccone was “very slender and light, her dance was infectious.” However, in technical terms, the budget Madonna was inferior to many ballerinas, causing their rejection and envy, and the inability to be absolutely the best caused protest and a desire to further stand out, as far as possible in the ballet class - with torn tights or unwashed short hair. In her free time from studying, Madonna visited Detroit clubs, in one of which she met black drummer Stephen Bray, her future collaborator and co-producer.

After a year and a half at the University of Michigan, Madonna attended a master class with the famous New York choreographer Pearl Lang, and began to dream of joining her group. She dropped out of university and moved to New York in 1978, dreaming of one day opening her own dance studio.

Having passed a tough casting, she entered the Lang group, but was far from being in the first lineup, which did not allow her to pay rent. The dancer worked part-time at Dunkin’ Donuts, where she burned a donut oven while dancing behind the counter, and at Burger King, where she also didn’t last, pouring jam on a rude customer. She soon made her debut on the New York stage in Lang's production of I Never Saw Other Butterflies, as a boy from the Jewish ghetto.

Soon, Madonna Ciccone began to weaken in class due to malnutrition, and Lang arranged for the dancer to work in the evenings for food. cloakroom attendant at the Russian Samovar restaurant. At the same time, she worked part-time as a model in an art studio and as a nude model for photographers. Madonna rented a room in a cheap, dangerous area of ​​New York, where she was once orally raped by a maniac armed with a knife. After a mental injury, Madonna Ciccone became absent-minded in her classes and stopped believing in her dance future, even with the troupe of Lang, a student of the iconic Martha Graham.

Due to a lack of funds to pay rent, Ciccone began auditioning for Broadway musicals and as a backup dancer. In 1979, during the casting as a backup dancer for the world tour of the French disco singer Patrick Hernandez, Madonna Ciccone's performance was liked by the singer's Belgian producers Van Lieu and Perrelin. Professionals cannot help but pay attention to her plasticity and praise her pleasant voice, which sang the Christmas song “Jingle Bells”. To the complete surprise of Madonna, who had not previously considered herself a singer, she is invited to Paris, where they promise to make her “something like a dancing Edith Piaf.”

The artist finally leaves the Lang troupe, her lover Dan Gilroy and spends six months with Hernandez’s tour in France, Belgium and Tunisia. The producers convince her of the prospects of a singing career, but 20-year-old Madonna is passionate about punk rock, rebels against the Belgians and did not want to sing the proposed disco-pop material. Six months later, the singer falls ill with pneumonia and, after recovery, flies to New York, succumbing to letters and persuasion from her boyfriend Gilroy, who was waiting for her in New York. Gilroy has a huge influence on Madonna Ciccone's transformation from dancer to musician: teaching her how to play drums and electric guitar and the basics of composition. After daily drumming lessons to Elvis Costello's disc, Madonna becomes a pretty good drummer and is accepted into Gilroy's Breakfast Club group. After a few months, the drummer begins to “pull the blanket over herself,” offering her own material and leaves the team along with the guitarist who joined her.

In 1979, she starred in the amateur film “Specific Victim” in the role of a repentant sadomasochist who is raped in the toilet by a maniac. The unsuccessful amateur film was far from pornographic, but at the suggestion of the “sensational” press laid skepticism about Madonna Ciccone as a former porn star. According to biographers, this influenced her belated recognition as a musician. In 1980, together with Michael Monahan and Gary Burke, the singer formed the quickly disbanded group Madonna And The Sky, and then created the rock group Emmy. Emmy - from Em, a diminutive of the first letter of the name Madonna (Madonna Ciccone signed and continues to sign her songs as M. Ciccone). Emmy imitated the early Pretenders, and Madonna played guitar in the group and sang her own songs. The singer's ex-boyfriend Stephen Bray sits on drums and with him the Emmy group continues to search for its own direction.

In the spring of 1981, Madonna Ciccone meets the owner of the Gotham recording studio, Camille Barbon. Soon, Barbon offers to become the singer’s personal manager on the condition that she leaves the group, and Ciccone immediately agrees. Barbon decides that Madonna will perform without a guitar in order to allow her to dance freely on stage.

Barbon proudly recalls that she was able to spot a potential star because she was one of the few female managers in the “male realm of show business.” Before meeting the manager, the singer is in a desperate situation - performing on stage in men's pajamas, asking for food from guys she meets, riding only a bicycle and living illegally in a cheap studio.

At first, Madonna awakens only maternal feelings in the thirty-year-old lesbian Barbon: Camilla rents her ward a place to live, sets a salary of $100 a week and gives money as needed. Ciccone's group makes several demo recordings and plays in small clubs and at student parties.

Barbon unsuccessfully seeks a contract with a label for the singer, but the bosses of the major labels do not want to take risks. Barbon sees the new Chrissie Hynde in the singer, but soon begins to abuse alcohol, be jealous of Madonna towards everyone and cause scenes.

The drummer of Madonna's band, African-American Bray, has been gravitating towards dance music and hip-hop since the days of Detroit and asks the singer to record something together. After the main rehearsal, they are left alone and write four songs: "Everybody", "Ain't No Big Deal", "Stay" and "Burning Up". By that time, Barbon had already been offering the singer to labels for a year and a half as a new rock star, and the ward decided to secretly distribute a dance cassette with a demo recording at the Dunsteria club in Manhattan, where representatives of labels and the press sometimes dropped by.

Club DJ Mark Kamins is impressed by Madonna's demo recording. He takes the tape and arranges for them to meet with Island label boss Chris Blackwell. The meeting ends in failure - Madonna lives with Kamins in a room without hot water with milk crates instead of furniture and begins to sweat heavily due to excitement. Kamins is so annoyed by the failure and immediately, through his acquaintance Michael Rosenblatt, arranges a meeting for Ciccone with the founder of Sire Records, Seymour Stein, who immediately signs her, even while lying in the hospital with a heart attack. Ciccone becomes simply Madonna (Ciccone is often pronounced in English as Siccone), and Barbon cannot forgive the betrayal of his “baby” and for more than 20 years does not give permission to release the singer’s early songs.

Already in the 2000s, Barbon confessed to his then alcoholism and forgives Madonna for the offense. Barbon praises her importance in the singer’s life, believing that thanks to her Madonna “didn’t have to sleep with someone to get on stage,” and “although at first there were rumors that someone was investing money in her, eventually they started her to be taken seriously."

All rights to Madonna's songs up to this demo belong to Gotham Studios and Barbon, and the question arises of what to release as a test single. All the songs on the cassette were co-written, but the friends traded rights - Bray's 100% credit for "Ain't No Big Deal" in exchange for Madonna's full rights to "Everybody". Madonna likes "Everybody", but Stein wants to release Bray's "Ain't No Big Deal", and "Everybody" is supposed to be on the flip side.

While the release is being prepared, Bray manages to sell “Ain’t No Big Deal” to another studio, which is recording a new vocalist. There is no time for a new recording and “Everybody,” as Madonna wanted, is being released as a single. With zero budget for promotion, they decide not to put the singer’s photo on the cover, so as not to scare off the non-white audience of the “black disco-soul singer.” "Everybody" climbs to No. 3 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart and then to No. 107 overall, just shy of the top 100 on Billboard's Hot 100. Management considers this a great result, given the zero PR costs, and wants to make sure that "Everybody" is not a fluke.

At Madonna's request, a more experienced Warner Bros. in-house arranger is selected to replace Kamins. Records by Reggie Lucas. The second single, “Burning Up,” also reached number 3 on the dance hits chart, repeating the success of “Everybody,” and after that Madonna was allowed to rent a studio to record her first album.

In July 1983, their debut album entitled Madonna was released. At first it goes unnoticed, but within a year it reaches number 8 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 in the UK chart. The singles “Borderline” (written by the Lucases), “Lucky Star” (written by Madonna and dedicated to the retired Kamins) and “Holiday” became hits. Madonna considered the disc rather mediocre and was not too happy with working with Lucas, but years later the disc became a post-disco classic.

According to O'Brien, her music on the album sounds like a cross between Pat Benatar and Teena Marie. Madonna is the author of most of the album's songs, but the main commercial success comes from "Holiday" by third-party authors, found by the singer's boyfriend DJ John "Marmalade" Benitez. This influenced the skepticism towards Madonna as an author capable of writing a hit. The singer also received serious criticism for her “girlish” vocals and performance style. Billboard writer Paul Grain made a prediction: “Cyndi Lauper will last a long time, but in six months no one will need Madonna”.

The singer responded to criticism: “People think that if you are sexy, visually attractive and excite the public, then you simply have nothing more to offer. This is the only image I have formed. It probably looks like this on the outside, and I fit the stereotype, but I do all this completely consciously. I have everything under control and am waiting for people to understand this and be confused.”.

After recording the album, on Stein's recommendation, Freddie Demann, who had previously worked for. Despite initial criticism, in 2013 Rolling Stone named the album one of the 100 best debut albums of all time. Currently, sales of the Madonna album amount to 10 million copies, but this was greatly facilitated by the popularity of her next disc.

The second album Like a Virgin was released in 1984 and for the first time in her career the singer topped the US album chart. The single of the same name remains in first place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 6 weeks, and the album sells 26 million copies worldwide. The hits are “Material Girl”, “Dress You Up”, “Angel” and “Over and Over”. Radio hit title "Material Girl"(Russian material girl, mercantile girl) is fixed as the singer’s nickname.

In 1984, Madonna performed the “title track” at the first MTV Video Music Awards and broke her heel, getting out of the situation as follows - she began to kneel and lie on stage in a wedding dress and a belt with the inscription BOY TOY, which shocked the television audience. The song talks about “metaphysical virginity,” and the video, filmed in Venice (the city of Venus), combines sacred and profane images: Leo, the symbol of the patron saint of the city, Evangelist Mark, and the zodiac sign of Madonna Ciccone, the Bride of Christ and a modern, experienced maiden in crosses and fennel. "Like a Virgin" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "200 Iconic Songs of All Time" list..

In 1985, the singer starred in an episode of the film “Visual Search”. The film's soundtrack contains "Crazy For You", Madonna's second No. 1 single in the US. Madonna later appears in the film Desperately Seeking Susan and this role is rated positively by critics. The film features the song "Into The Groove" - ​​the singer's first UK No. 1 single, and was written by Madonna Ciccone (with Bray), which gives her good press in the UK. The singer's first tour, The Virgin Tour, took place in the United States in 1985, with the Beastie Boys performing as the opening act. The performances reflect the surge in the singer's popularity at this time: concerts start with halls of 2,000 people, and 3 months later 22,000 spectators gather at Madison Square Garden. Tour calls “Madonnamania”: girls dress en masse “as Susan/Madonna” from the film and clips.

In July 1985, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published black and white photographs of the singer nude, taken in 1979 and subsequently sold by photographer Martin Schreiber. This causes the first scandal in Madonna Ciccone's newly launched big career, which threatened her career, which she deals with with her own hands. In the midst of criticism at the Live Aid charity concert, while dressed in several layers of outdated clothing, the singer is seen screaming “Take off your clothes!” crowd. She says that she will not take off her jacket even in the wild heat, since in a few years it could be used against her.

The New York Times editorial with the headline “Naked Photographs.” Madonna: “So what?”” becomes the basis of the film by the singer’s friend Keith Haring. As soon as the scandal with the photographs subsided, in early August the Los Angeles Times disseminated information that the film “A Specific Victim” (1979) with the participation of the artist was pornographic, which was immediately picked up by other publications. In October, the newspaper will write a refutation that, to the “disappointment of fans,” this is not so. In the summer of 1985, on her own birthday, Madonna married actor Sean Penn. The wedding is accompanied by the invasion of journalists in helicopters during the pronouncing of marriage vows. In his diary he called this day “the most exciting of his life,” noting the guests were “a delightful mixture of celebrities and nonentities.”

Third album True Blue with dedication to Sean Penn comes out in 1986. Rolling Stone magazine describes it as "sounding from the heart." The record becomes Madonna's producing debut (together with Patrick Leonard) and is the singer's most “gingerbread” and commercially successful release. The singer also changes her image and for the first time appears in the Hollywood image of a seductive blue-eyed blonde. The album includes the singer’s iconic ballad “Live to Tell,” written for the film Point Blank. "Live to Tell" becomes Madonna's first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 as a writer.

Three songs from the album hit the first line of Billboard: “Live to Tell”, “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Open Your Heart”, and the top five included “True Blue” and “La Isla Bonita”. That same year, the Madonna/Bray song “Each Time You Break My Heart” performed by Nick Kamen topped the UK chart, giving Madonna the recognition she so desired as a successful songwriter.

Madonna - La Isla Bonita

In 1987, Madonna is hospitalized for an X-ray after being hit in the head with a baseball bat. The press is awaiting trial, but the singer is not suing for domestic violence, since her husband Sean Penn is already facing a two-month sentence for fighting and driving while intoxicated.

Due to the aggressive behavior of “Mr. Madonna” towards journalists and his wife, the press begins to call them “evil Penns” and S&M (Sean & Madonna) - a hint of sadomasochistic relationships in the celebrity family. In the same year, the singer starred in the film “Who’s That Girl?”, which failed miserably. However, the success of the film's soundtrack is great - the title track of the same name becomes a No. 1 hit in the US and UK. The New York Times magazine calls the film the worst film of the year. In the same year, he goes on the Who’s That Girl World Tour, which completely compensates for the negative effect of the failed film. Critics praise the performances for their theatricality and "transforming a rock concert into a multimedia spectacle."

Reviewers write that the concerts are like a circus, where the heroine skillfully demonstrates the skills of an entertainer, acrobat and clown. The projection on stage of Tamara Lempicka's The Musician (1928), showing a brightly painted woman with long nails holding a lyre against the backdrop of New York skyscrapers, became a characteristic of Madonna's work for many years. According to authoritative music critic Lucy O'Brien, Madonna is an urban mixture of high art with glamor and vulgarity, where she is at the same time a muse, a creator, and sexy woman. By August 1987, Penn was released early from prison, and in December Madonna filed for divorce for the first time, but unexpectedly withdrew it two weeks later.

In 1988, the singer made her Broadway debut in the production of Move Over., with an obvious desire to improve the actor's reputation. The performance receives rave reviews, but Madonna herself receives negative comments from almost all critics and is disappointed in the benefits of her husband’s recommendations for her acting career. During rehearsals, Madonna begins to become friends with actress and open lesbian Sandra Bernhard, causing misunderstandings among the public.

The singer and Bernhard appear in identical clothes on David Letterman's show, which leads to publications about the singer's bisexuality. The final separation from her husband occurs in December 1988 after severe beatings described in the official arrest report of Sean Penn. The marriage of the singer and Penn officially ends in January 1989 and the singer withdraws her statement to the police, maintaining friendly relations with her husband due to his hereditary problems with alcohol. In 2003, Penn spoke about Madonna for the first time in an interview with Oprah Winfrey: “She was becoming the biggest star. I just wanted to make a movie and not attract unnecessary attention to myself. I was an embittered young man with so many demons living inside me that I don’t even know who could have tolerated me back then.”.

At the beginning of 1989, Madonna signed a contract with Pepsi, according to which she new song "Like a Prayer" debuts in the company's advertising. The commercial is innocuous and shows the singer's childhood, but the video for the song contains an anti-racist message and many Catholic symbols, including stigmata and burning crosses. The ambiguous relationship between the Madonna heroine and the animated statue of a black saint shocks television viewers and provokes public organizations. The company removes the advertisement from rotation and terminates the contract, but the singer receives her due amount of five million dollars. Vatican officials condemn the video clip, and some cardinals threaten Madonna with excommunication, but it remains a threat. The song was named by the British weekly New Musical Express as the 3rd best in the history of pop music, VH1 put the video in 2nd place.

The fourth album Like a Prayer was released at the end of 1989 and becomes a turning point in Madonna's career. Like a Prayer was written and produced in collaboration with Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray. The singer is producing her second album in a row and it is obvious that she wants to prove that True Blue's success was not an accident. Rolling Stone magazine describes the album as "... as close to art as pop music can get" and included it in its "500" list. best albums of all times." Leonard calls him a “divorcee” because of the singer’s depression due to her painful breakup with Sean Penn. 'Express Yourself' Becomes a Feminist 'Call to Arms' with a “preach of self-respect”, representing the transition from reflection to action. The themes of other songs, as expected, are domestic violence (“Till Death Do Us Parts”), nostalgia for lost relationships with brothers and sisters (“Keep It Together”), dreams of a child (“Dear Jessie”). All songs on the album Like a Prayer were written by Madonna, which makes the album the most personal, since the previous discs contained one or two songs by third-party authors.

Madonna - Like A Prayer

In 1990, the film with Madonna “Dick Tracy” and its soundtrack called I’m Breathless were released. The director of the film was Warren Beatty, who received a refusal from the singer to marry her after a year of dating. I'm Breathless contains songs by famous composer Stephen Sondheim and the writing duo Madonna-Leonard. For the first time, the singer enters the territory of jazz and the Broadway musical, which critics regard ambiguously. The most successful of I’m Breathless is “Vogue”, which topped the main charts. Recitative “ladies with an attitude; fellows that were in the mood..." written by Madonna on the plane as an illustration of the 30s, but becomes a characteristic of modernity. In Russia it is known as the epigraph of the first chapter of the book “Spiritless”. The title of the book is partially translated from the name of Madonna's character from the film - "Breathless".

The Blond Ambition World Tour took place in 1990 in support of the albums Like A Prayer and I'm Breathless. Rolling Stone praises the tour for its innovative interweaving of theater, ballet, film and concert on a production level unheard of at the time. The show's central message of juxtaposing masturbation and religious frenzy culminates in a call for a boycott of the singer's performance in Rome.

Madonna tries to justify herself on the spot by giving a great speech at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport: “My show is a theatrical play that invites the audience on an emotional journey... I do not impose my idea of ​​how to live on anyone, I simply describe to the audience my understanding of life, and let them evaluate everything themselves.” The singer avoids excommunication, but the concert is canceled due to low ticket sales. For the concert video of the tour, the singer receives her first Grammy, but she herself does not consider the award a recognition of her work, since the nomination for the video is secondary.

In the same year, the singer once again shocked the public with a video for the song. "Justify My Love". The video is prohibited from being shown on television due to the presence of erotic scenes. "Justify My Love" is the source of several scandals, the first of which is related to plagiarism. Madonna uses the text of a letter she came across from Ingrid Chavez, the then-girlfriend of the song's co-producer Lenny Kravitz, not wanting listeners to attribute it to the fantasies of another woman. The Chicago Sun-Times branded the singer with disgrace with words about the “unprecedented meanness” of stealing the song.

Madonna makes excuses and rewrites the song, replacing the lyrics with quotes from Revelation, but immediately receives accusations of anti-Semitism, which she also has to reject. The unrhymed lyrics of “Justify My Love” about the desire to make love and scandals affect the singer’s self-esteem and author’s vanity, making a qualitative leap in Madonna’s creative search, leading her into “adult” territory for the first time.

In 1991, Sondheim's song "Sooner or Later" from Dick Tracy won an Academy Award and was performed by Madonna at the ceremony as . It was from this moment that the singer was called the new Marilyn and began to be compared with the late sex symbol, immediately predicting the same unenviable fate. A documentary about the tour was released the same year and is called “Madonna: Truth or Dare.” The fragment with the joke/bravado “Madonna with a bottle”, outside the context of a party game (tell the truth or accept a challenge), reminiscent of forfeits, contributes to the perception of the singer in the context of pornography. Outside the USA and Canada (countries where the game was popular), distributors release the film under a different name - "In bed with Madonna", which does not reflect the content, but the singer has no right to change, although she admits that she “hates him because of his stupidity.” The film is one of the top ten highest-grossing documentaries of all time, and the New York Times calls the film "a smart, daring, vivid self-portrait."

In 1992, Madonna starred in the film A League of Their Own as a baseball player with the self-explanatory name May Mordabito. For the film, she recorded the song “This Used to Be My Playground,” which became No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. That same year, Madonna founded her own entertainment company, Maverick, a joint venture with Time Warner. The deal provides the singer with record royalties on par with Michael Jackson.

In 1992, the book-photo album “Sex” was published."Sex" contains illustrated sexual fantasies of her alter ego "Mistress Dita" talking to a psychoanalyst. The book is framed in a metal cover as an art object and is intended to be a manifesto. "Sex" sold 1.5 million copies in America alone and caused a flurry of negative reactions in the media and the AIDS-scared society.

The press holds a multi-page funeral for Madonna's career, considering that she has gone too far. The book "Sex" touches on the themes of masturbation, and draws clear parallels between sadomasochism and religious self-flagellation, and also contains an ironic attitude towards taboo. Lesbians felt that the singer was mocking their movement by portraying one of them, and called her a “sexy tourist.” French journalist Françoise Tournier wrote: “When you get to the bottom of Sex, as if you’ve found a poisonous mushroom, you realize that the one who is called the “new little Piaf” is driven more by a thirst for money than a thirst for sex.”.

“Sex” and the violent reaction to it in society has become the topic of many scientific studies and is considered the most powerful inoculation against the exhibitionistic celebrity/musician in a voyeuristic society. The book has been the most wanted book out of print for several years. After the release of “Sex,” boyfriend Vanilla Ice broke off an 8-month relationship with the singer, allegedly not expecting his photographs to be published in the book.

In 1992, the fifth studio album Erotica was released. Erotica took second place in the American charts, and the lead single reached third place on the Billboard Hot 100. In the year of release, Erotica was coolly received by critics and listeners due to the “shadow of the book,” but subsequently began to be considered one of the singer’s strongest works. The singles "Erotica", "Rain", "Deeper and Deeper", "Bad Girl" and "Fever" (a cover version of an Elvis Presley song) did not have the same chart success as the singer's previous works.

In 1993, without a theatrical release, the film “Dangerous Game,” directed by Ferrara and starring Madonna, was released straight to video. The New York Times calls the film "angry and painful, where the pain seems real."

"Dangerous Game" contains Sarah/Madonna's account of a real-life rape that took place in 1978. Erotic thriller with a singer "Body as Evidence" (1993) contains scenes of sadomasochism with bondage and fails with critics and distributors. The press cultivates the opinion that the singer is a sex maniac, the embodiment of sin, making a career exclusively through bed.

The 1993 tour of “The Girlie Show” in Europe and South America (instead of the USA and Canada) contains more burlesque, irony and clowning than eroticism, which softens the negative after the release of the book “Sex”, the album Erotica and film roles. A concert in Puerto Rico causes pickets: a singer dressed in military uniform, in response to the audience whistling when a huge American flag appears, holds a Puerto Rican flag in the crotch area. The episode was interpreted ambiguously due to the singer's numerous romantic interests with Puerto Ricans, and was later subjected to scrupulous analysis as an example of the mutual influence of Latin American culture and the United States.

Her sixth studio album, Bedtime Stories, was released in 1994 and became her first Grammy-nominated album. The hits are “Secret”, “Take a Bow”, “Bedtime Story” and “Human Nature”. Babyface/Madonna's "Take a Bow" hits No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, but breaks a record streak of 32 consecutive Top 10 hits on the UK singles chart.

The singer changes her style towards R'n'B and hip-hop, and for the first time since Like A Virgin began working with major producers - Dallas Austin, David Foster, Dave Hall (who worked with Mariah Carey) and Marius De Vries and Nellie Hooper ( worked with Björk). "Bedtime Story", the lyrics of which were written by the already recognized Björk, becomes an important milestone. Madonna perfectly masters the “Bjorkian architecture of the text” and lays the foundation for her next albums in it. The relationship with rapper Tupac Shakur ends for a racist reason - his friends “couldn’t believe he was hanging out with a white girl.”

The singer begins a short relationship with basketball player Denis Rodman. A year after the breakup, he writes a bestseller with an entire chapter about sex with Madonna. According to Lucy O'Brien, during the press coverage of this story, it became obvious that Madonna, who wants to have a child, starts relationships with unsuitable men, which harms her career.

In 1995, “You"ll See” from the album of ballads Something to Remember became a hit. The album reminds the public a little about Madonna’s talent as a songwriter and producer, which the press had not previously paid attention to amid the scandals. According to Taraborrelli, “for the first time about her career was spoken about more honestly and fairly.” In 1996, the singer starred in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita., where he performs songs from the soundtrack. For the recording, Madonna begins taking vocal lessons from Joan Lader for the first time, which brings results. On the Evita soundtrack, she demonstrates her upper register and singing with her diaphragm for the first time. The film about , the controversial wife of the Argentine president, is receiving positive reviews from film critics and author Andrew Lloyd Webber. Weber wins an Oscar for Madonna's performance of "You Must Love Me." Song "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" becomes a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart, and the singer receives a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.

In October 1996, Madonna gave birth to a daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone-Leon. The girl's father is the singer's then-boyfriend, Cuban fitness trainer and aspiring actor Carlos Leon. Seven months after the birth of their daughter, they separate, and Madonna incurs the wrath of public organizations “for a complete family” and accusations of “pregnancy for the purpose of promoting a film.” The singer baptizes the girl in Catholicism and named her after the city of Lourdes in France, which her extremely religious mother dreamed of visiting. During pregnancy, the singer delves into yoga, the study of Buddhism and Kabbalah, which she describes as “a physics lesson, a bridge between science and spirituality” rather than a religious teaching.

Seventh studio album by singer Ray of Light (1998) reflected the “spiritual rebirth” of the singer and became decisive in all her work. The direction of his development was influenced by motherhood, a philosophical rethinking of reality and an affair with the English screenwriter and actor Andy Bird. The album received critical acclaim, and the authoritative music publication Slant Magazine called it “one of the greatest pop masterpieces of the 90s.”

The disc was included in the list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and took 28th place in the "100 Best Albums of the 1990s" according to Rolling Stone magazine. The release was also accompanied by commercial success: the album topped the national charts in Australia, Canada, the UK and most European countries, and in the USA it finished at number two on the Billboard 200, losing first place to the soundtrack to the film “Titanic”.

Ray of Light has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. Album single "Frozen" the first time in the singer’s discography since “Vogue” (1990) that it reached number one in the UK chart. In the US, the song reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, where Madonna set the record for the most number of singles to reach number two. On the disc, the singer “looked carefully into the past and thought a lot about the mystical side of existence.” After Ray Of Light, Madonna was again seen as a progressive musician. Evaluating the work, the singer tried in every possible way to praise the “brilliant” producer of the album, William Orbit, but he himself considered his contribution to “her” album to be rather modest. Following the established tradition of a condescending attitude towards pop authors/performers, critics attributed the success of the record to Orbit. Ray of Light was awarded a Grammy(including in one of the main nominations “Best Pop Album”).

Madonna - Frozen

The hits included "The Power of Good-Bye", "Nothing Really Matters", "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" and the title track "Ray of Light". The video for "Ray of Light" last received 6 MTV Video Music Awards in 1999. Madonna's performance at the ceremony with a song in Sanskrit "Shanti/Ashtangi" and "Ray of Light" wearing an Indian outfit with a dot on his forehead, symbolizing devotion to God, sparked protests from the country's Hindu organizations and accusations of blasphemy.

The singer’s image was influenced by her passion for the book “Memoirs of a Geisha.” Also in 1999, she released the single “Beautuful Stranger” (Russian: beautiful foreigner), written for the soundtrack to the film “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” The song became a big hit outside the US and earned Madonna another Grammy for "Best Song Written for feature film" The singer's relationship with Andy Bird, described in this song as a “beautiful foreigner,” lasted about a year. In the summer of 1998, accompanied by him, she attended a party for Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, where she met Guy Ritchie, her future husband and father of her second child. Ritchie was single, dating model Tanya Strecker, and a romantic relationship with the singer began a year later, which included a public bar brawl between Ritchie and Bird. This story later became the basis for Robbie Williams' song “She's Madonna” (2006).

In 2000, the film “Best Friend” starring Madonna was released, for which she recorded a hit "American Pie" and the ballad "Time Stood Still". These songs ended the era of the Ray of Light album. In early 2000, she became pregnant by Guy Ritchie, who worked on the film Snatch. and was forced to move to London with him to record an album. In August 2000, their son Rocco was born.

In September 2000, the eighth studio album Music was released. The disc received rave reviews from critics and went to No. 1 in both the UK and the US, repeating the success of Like a Prayer (1989). Under the influence of the disc's co-author and co-producer, Mirve completely changed her sound and began using a vocoder for the first time. Three singles were released from Music: Music, "Don't Tell Me" and "What It Feels Like for a Girl". The video for "What It Feels Like for a Girl" was banned from MTV and VH1 due to scenes of violence. For the album, the singer chose a grotesque image of a cowgirl, expressing an ironic attitude towards America as a London resident.

Married Richie on December 22, 2000, the former stepson of a baronet, which automatically ranked the singer among the English aristocracy. The wedding in a Scottish castle took place according to the Presbyterian rite. Soon Madonna became a British subject. The Michigan native's fake British accent became a source of irritation for Americans and irony for the British. It caught on in spoken language expressions “Madonna syndrome” and “Madge complex”. Life on his own estate, Ashcombe, a Wiltshire village, influenced the mood of subsequent works and attitudes towards the United States.

In 2001, for the first time in 8 years, the singer resumed touring, and the sold-out Drowned World Tour took place. The concerts received positive reviews from critics, despite the dark drama. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, Madonna excluded from the show the moment of shooting a samurai with a gun, according to the plot, who was trying to cut off her head. For the first time since the early 1980s, the singer began accompanying on guitar, and was nominated for an Orville Gibson Award.

At the end of 2001, a single was released for the James Bond film “Die Another Day” under the same name "Die Another Day". For her cameo role in the film, the singer received the Golden Raspberry Award, in addition to the title of Worst Actress of the Millennium. The song received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song and a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Song. Movie "Gone" was critically panned and released straight to DVD in the UK. At the moment, this is Madonna's last film as an actress.

The ninth album, American Life, was released in 2003. and topped the charts in the US and UK. American Life was written and produced by Madonna in collaboration with Mirvais in a minimalist concept. American Life quickly lost ground and became the worst seller of its career at that time. The album received mixed reviews from critics due to its theme of debunking " American dream" in light of 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan. Later it was rated more highly. In addition to “Die Another Day” (2002), the singles included “American Life”, “Hollywood”, “Love Profusion”, “Nothing Fails”.

In France it was a great success due to the pacifist mood, since this country did not participate in the operation against the Taliban. The video for the title song featured a parody of American President George W. Bush and his kiss with Saddam Hussein. After accusations of lack of patriotism, there was a ban on playing Madonna's new songs on American radio stations. A week before the release, she said that “there is no better time for a pacifist video than during war.” At the last moment, she withdrew the clip, stating that she “did not want to embarrass people whose relatives are fighting in Afghanistan,” which did not affect the ban.

In September 2003, Madonna Ciccone made her debut in children's literature with the picture book English Roses, topping The New York Times bestseller list. Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller unexpectedly shared his positive opinion about the book, calling it “more than just a children’s fairy tale” in the newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Madonna's performance at the MTV ceremony provoked a scandal. The singer appeared dressed as a groom, and Christina Aguilera played the role of the bride. The French kiss with Spears caused a scandal in the press due to its hint of lesbianism. The singer justified herself by the logic of the kiss in the stage images she performed.

Madonna and Britney Spears - kiss

In 2004, the Re-Invention World Tour took place in support of American Life. In contrast, the Drowned World Tour contained a sufficient number of old hits in a new sound in addition to songs from the new album. The performances received mixed reactions from critics due to the general politicization and open support of Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. During the tour, a second documentary film, “I’m going to tell you a secret,” was filmed. The film was made in the style of “In Bed with Madonna,” but showed the singer’s passion for “Zohar” and her touching relationship with her children and husband Guy Ritchie. A DVD of the film and live album of the same name was released a year later. According to Lucy O'Brien, the film began the merging of the singer with the image of the righteous woman.

In 2005, Madonna Ciccone suffered an accident at her Wiltshire estate. The new horse unsuccessfully threw the singer to the ground during her first ride. Before the accident in the village, Madonna had completely grown into the role of an English aristocrat (by marriage), a reclusive wife and mother of the family. In addition to the British accent and horse riding, she began drinking ale in local pubs and learned to fish. The singer began hunting pheasants, although before that she was a vegetarian, for which she was blacklisted by PETA.

After the horse "played polo" with the singer, she lost consciousness and woke up with multiple fractures. After this, the singer changed internally and outwardly lost a lot of weight. The album was called Confessions on a Dance Floor and returned Madonna to the leading position in almost all the charts, as well as the title of queen of the dance floor. This happened not least thanks to the mega-hit “Hung Up”, written based on an Abba sample. Madonna Ciccone wrote and produced the record with her longtime engineer and keyboardist Stuart Price. Due to the lack of rotation of Madonna's new songs in the United States since the American Life scandal, the singer's homeland became one of the few countries where the single "Hung Up" did not become No. 1, but only took 7th place.

During the subsequent tour, another scandal took place, according to Lucy O'Brien, caused by the experience of near death due to a fall from a horse. This was the performance of the classic ballad “Live To Tell” a la Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns on a mirror cross, accompanied by video of children suffering in Africa and quotes from Matthew 25:40. At the end of the issue, addresses of sites for collecting donations for sick African children were shown. This speech caused questions and anger among activists of social movements, which quickly faded due to the spread of the video. the Internet, the singer’s statements and the meaning of the song itself.

All tickets for the tour concerts were sold out, except for the singer's first concert in Moscow, where the Russian Orthodox Church called on believers to boycott the performance, calling it "blasphemous." At the end of the tour, the singer and her husband adopted a one-year-old child from Malawi, David Banda. This caused another scandal and a wave of protests against the “purchase” of a child, since the then laws of Malawi, despite 1 million orphans in the country, did not allow adoption by foreign citizens. That same year, Madonna Ciccone produced and narrated a documentary about the disastrous state of affairs in the African country of Malawi, entitled I Am Because We Are, which was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008.

In 2007, Madonna Ciccone began to master the new profession of film director, writing the script for a partly autobiographical parable film "Dirt and Wisdom". In the film, the hero is trying to promote his rock band, while earning his living by beating masochists for money and dressing up as. “Dirt and Wisdom,” starring Evgeny Gudzem, was included in the Panorama program at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was coolly received by critics. Film critics positively noted the music of the gypsy folk-punk rock band Gogol Bordello and the presence of the main character, which Russian swearing brought into the British non-commercial film.

The eleventh album Hard Candy was released in early 2008 and topped the charts in 37 countries, including the US and UK. To work on Hard Candy, Madonna Ciccone turned to the main hit-makers of the second half of the 2000s: Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams. The singer explained the reason for the change in style with her interest in these artists and the desire to learn from the new generation. The singer admitted that she wanted to regain the love of American radio listeners, whom she lost with her 2003 anti-war album. The album received mixed reviews from critics for the lack of originality characteristic of previous works, and some crisis of the singer herself, reflected in the provocative cover of the album, which sharply contrasts with the style of “Ray of Light”.

The album's first single was a duet with Timberlake, 4 Minutes. The song 4 Minutes only partially met expectations, becoming a radio hit and Madonna’s most successful single in the States since “Don’t Tell Me” (2001), but never became No. 1 in the United States due to low rotation on radio, despite record-breaking sales, the song became her record 13th No. 1 single in the UK. A hit in Europe was the song "Give It 2 ​​Me", performed with Pharell Williams.

The tour in support of the album was called the Sticky and Sweet Tour and did not contain provocative material. The Sticky and Sweet Tour broke the record for the most successful tour for a solo artist, previously set by Madonna herself with her previous Confessions Tour. The book by the singer's gay brother Christopher Ciccone, Life with My Sister Madonna, published against her will in early 2008, showed Guy Ritchie as an obvious homophobe and a slippery guy manipulating his sister. During the tour in October 2008, the singer announced her divorce from her husband. On June 12, 2009, the singer adopted a Malawian girl, Mercy James, whose desire to adopt is considered the main reason for Madonna’s divorce from her husband, who had three children. For the first time in her career, the singer decided to extend the tour until the summer of 2009.

In 2009, the third collection of Madonna's best songs was released. Celebration, which ended the singer’s relationship with the Warner Bros. label. The singer's boyfriend, model Jesus Luz, starred in the video for the song "Celebration". In 2010, Madonna exclusively granted the rights to her entire catalog of songs to the television series Glee. In April 2010, the episode "The Power of Madonna" was released. The episode received the singer's approval, and the soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 album chart.

In 2010, Madonna Ciccone opened a chain of her own fitness clubs, named after her Hard Candy album. In 2010, Madonna Ciccone and her daughter Lourdes Leon launched the youth clothing brand Material Girl. At the presentation of the collection, Madonna Ciccone met Pokemon Crew breakdancer Brahim Zeba, who performed at the event, who became the singer’s boyfriend for 3 years and also starred in her video.

In December 2011, the film “WE. We believe in love", where Madonna Ciccone directed and wrote the screenplay. The film received scathing criticism, but Andrea Riseborough's performance as Wallis Simpson and the film's soundtrack drew rave reviews. The continuation of the “Russian” theme in Madonna’s second film was noted: the main character’s name is Eugene and he is depicted as an intelligent, positive character.

At the beginning of 2012, Madonna’s song “Masterpiece” from the film “Us. We Believe in Love" was recognized as the best at the Golden Globe Awards.

Madonna - Masterpiece

On February 5, 2012, Madonna performed at halftime of the 46th Super Bowl, which aired on NBC. She sang a medley of “Vogue”, “Music”, “Open Your Heart”, “Express Yourself”, “Like a Prayer” and a new song “Give Me All Your Luvin’” with Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and the LMFAO group. Madonna's game and performance became the most watched television program in US history. Patriotic critics noted that the singer inappropriately mocked the “sacredness” of the Super Bowl for Americans by using images of the goddess Isis/Cleopatra performed by Elizabeth Taylor. In the US, the new single set a record for top ten hits for a solo artist, breaking the achievement. The single was a flop in the UK.

The singer's twelfth album MDNA was released on March 26, 2012 and topped the US and UK charts. Critics considered the record a dark record of a painful divorce, and The Telegraph called it a "late-break success" due to Madonna's lack of progress as a songwriter. The video for the second single Girl Gone Wild was censored due to explicit scenes. The album, without a promotional tour in support, became the worst-selling album in the singer's career.

The MDNA Tour began on May 31 and became the most successful tour of 2012. The concerts caused a public outcry in the United States due to the use of imitation weapons on stage. Billboard once again named Madonna the record holder for music industry income - $34.6 million for the year. In 2013, Madonna received 3 Billboard Music Awards. In August 2013, Forbes magazine named the singer the top celebrity earner of the year, earning $125 million.

On September 24, Madonna released a 17-minute short film, "secret project revolution", performing a cover of Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars" at the premiere. The film was declared as a human rights film and was the result of a collaboration between Madonna the director and photographer Steven Klein. At the same time, “secretprojectrevolution” in HD and 2K format was officially released for free download after registration on the BitTorrent “Bundle” site. The film became the first project within the framework of a joint campaign between Madonna and VICE called “ArtForFreedom” (Russian: Art for Freedom). The film was accompanied by the launch of Madonna's magazine of the same name on the Flipboard service.

In December 2014, an unexpected leak of 13 demo versions of songs that were recorded while working on Madonna's thirteenth studio album occurred on the Internet. The artist was furious at what happened, later leaving several threatening messages addressed to the pirates. A few days after the leak, on December 20, Madonna officially announced her thirteenth long play, called Rebel Heart. In connection with the pre-order of the album, six new songs out of a possible 19 have become available, including the lead single "Living for Love". The album was released on March 10, 2015.

In the 2016 presidential elections, she supported her distant relative -. Two weeks before the election, she announced a performance by stand-up comedian Amy Schumer, known in the United States for her below-the-belt jokes. Ciccone joked that she would give a blowjob to anyone who voted for Clinton.

On January 21, 2017, during a speech at the mass protest “Women's March,” Madonna twice used obscene language towards opponents of the action. In a performance that followed the speech with songs like “Express Yourself” and “Human Nature,” she changed the latter line to an expletive directed at the 45th president, with whom she had been in open feud since the early 1990s. The singer was criticized for swearing and speaking out loud “anti-patriotic” thoughts about the explosion of the White House. There was no prosecution due to the general context of the speech, in which she also quoted the Anglo-American poet Auden.

Since September 2017, Madonna moved permanently to Lisbon, where her adopted son David Banda successfully qualified for the Benfica FC football academy.

Madonna's height: 163 centimeters

Madonna's personal life:

Madonna's first husband was an actor and director, an Oscar winner. Sean Penn. They got married in 1985, and 4 years later Madonna decided to get a divorce - they often argued, and her husband also beat her.

On the set of Dick Tracy, Madonna began an affair with the director and leading actor, Hollywood legend Warren Beatty. However, she did not marry the artist.

Her daughter's father became her Cuban boyfriend Carlos Leon in 1996 (the diva would break up with him six months later). Madonna's daughter was named Lourdes, she has already celebrated her 18th birthday, and she has a joint business with her mother - her own clothing line.

Madonna and Carlos Leon

In mid-1998, together with her then friend Andy Bird, the singer attended a party with Sting. There there was a meeting with director Guy Ritchie, a British man who would later become her husband and change Madonna’s personal life, and very much so.

In 2000, Madonna moved in with her lover, and the couple’s son Rocco was born in August of the same year.

Madonna and Guy Ritchie

Madonna discography:

1983 - Madonna
1984 - Like a Virgin
1986 - True Blue
1989 - Like a Prayer
1992 - Erotica
1994 - Bedtime Stories
1998 - Ray of Light
2000 - Music
2003 - American Life
2005 - Confessions on a Dance Floor
2008 - Hard Candy
2012 - MDNA
2015 - Rebel Heart.

Filmography of Madonna:

1985 - Susan's Search in Vain
1987 - Who is this girl?
1987 - Dick Tracy
1991 - In bed with Madonna
1992 - A League of Their Own
1993 - Dangerous Games
1996 - Evita
2000 - Best Friend
2002 - Gone
2005 - Madonna. I want to tell you my secrets
2002 - I am because we are
2008 - Dirt and wisdom
2011 - WE. We believe in love
2017 - (Her-Story)

Madonna's books:

"Sex"
"English Roses"
"Mr. Peabody's Apples"
"Jacob and the Seven Thieves"
"The Adventures of Abdi"
"Lotsa Tight Wallet"
"English roses. Love and friendship."

Childhood

In 1958, Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in Michigan, USA. Her family was very devout, sometimes her mother’s faith reached the point of fanaticism, which caused many problems for the girl’s father. Madonna never considered her name unusual, since her mother had the exact same name according to family tradition, so she was not surprised that she was not teased. Upbringing in Madonna's family was strict, despite the wealth that their entire family had, the girl's parents forced her to save on literally everything. Fresh food appeared in the house extremely rarely; the bulk of the diet consisted of frozen semi-finished products. In most cases, clothes were made by the stepmother herself.

First attempts to show your personality

The girl's father was a kind man, but because of his work he did not have time to pay due attention to all six children. Frequent competition for her father's attention led to Madonna hating her brothers. Being intoxicated, they often mocked their sister in an attempt to attract their father's attention. At school, Madonna found peace only on the theater stage. She was a loner who preferred solitude to noisy companies. Many considered her too unusual and had a hard time accepting the fact that she was good at everything. The turning point that decided Madonna's future fate was a school performance. After painting her body with paints, the girl performed a dance to the song “Baba O’Riley.” This event turned her whole world upside down and broke the image of a diligent girl that had been attached to her. The father, furious at this prank, punished Madonna, and the neighbors will remember this performance for many years to come.

University years

At the age of 15, the girl began attending ballet lessons. The mentor saw the potential for something great in Madonna and began to expand her horizons. Excellent grades and excellent memory contributed to the completion of schooling as an external student. After receiving her diploma, Madonna went to the University of Michigan for the Arts. Relations with her father deteriorated and communication ceased; he saw a different future for his brilliant daughter. Magnificent abilities were contained not only in Madona's mind, but also in her body. Her incredible stamina allowed her to train several times longer than her classmates. Despite all her talent, the girl still lacked technical skills and experience and had to look for ways to stand out from the crowd differently.

Chasing a dream

In 1978, the girl leaves everything and goes to New York to do great things. Her goal was the team with which the famous choreographer Pearl Lang worked. Persistence and skill allow Madonna to perform in her production within a few months. To support herself, the girl works part-time as a cloakroom attendant in her free time. Living on the pennies she earns from various part-time jobs, Madonna has to live in dangerous areas of New York. At the age of 20, when the girl was returning home, she was raped by a gang living nearby. Having refused to report to the police, the dancer continues to persistently strive for her dream. However, strong pressure after experiencing stress leads to her losing faith in herself. Gradually, she begins to lose concentration on training and attend them less and less.

Discovery of singing talent

During one casting she went through, agents from a famous company noticed her and asked her to sing “Jingle Bells.” After much persuasion, she agreed and was quite surprised that she was praised. Madonna was offered to move to Paris where professionals would work on her and make her a star. The girl agreed and soon left the country. However, already in 1981, Madonna returned to the USA and met Camille Barbon. The woman saw talent in the young lady and began to develop it. Madonna's new manager, Camilla, tried to do everything for her, including providing for her needs. At first everything went great, but soon Barbon began to drink a lot and this affected her attitude towards the singer. Constant scandals, attacks of jealousy in public and incomprehensible mockery led to frequent quarrels. All this time, the singer is trying to promote her independent songs in secret from the drunkard Barbon.

First contract

She manages to find a DJ willing to help her sign a contract with a major record company. However, everything went downhill due to the poor health condition Madonna was in due to poor living conditions. But the refusal did not stop the assertive girl and soon she signed a contract with Sire Records.

In 1983, the first studio album “Madonna” was released. The album was received ambiguously by the public and was not noticed for a long time. However, the artist’s talent and extraordinary ideas were hard to miss.

In 1984, another collection “Like a Virgin” was published. This material was considered more successful and it brought first positions on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. A tour to mark the successful release of the album takes place in many cities in the United States. At the beginning of the tour, Madonna was able to gather only 2 thousand spectators; by the end of her tour, the halls for more than 22 thousand people were filled in a few days. It would seem that everything was fine, but the difficult past returned at the most unexpected moment.

A series of failures

Shortly before her wedding to Sean Penn, the singer finds herself in the midst of a scandal. Journalists got hold of old photographs of the naked singer. All this instantly takes on incredible proportions and the media begin to cover the singer with tons of false rumors.

In 1987, the artist was hospitalized with a head injury. While intoxicated, her husband hit the singer on the head with a baseball bat. As expected from the media, many articles on this topic are soon appearing. One of them contained speculation about sadomasochistic relationships in the family and the singer’s participation in porn filming. However, the singer ignores all the gossip and soon everything calms down by itself.

In 1989, the singer was excommunicated from the church because of the “Like a Prayer” video. If the church perceived this video negatively, the music industry was delighted with the masterpiece created by Madonna, calling it the future musical art. That same year, the singer divorced her husband, which led to her depression.

From the beginning of 1991 to 1994, the singer provoked many scandals, changing every day.

Return to the top

Her mood stabilized in 1994, after the release of the album “Bedtime Stories”. The public received the new compositions well, which raised them to leading positions in the world charts.

In 1996, the singer gave birth to a daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone-Leon, despite having a child together, her relationship with Carlos Leone soon broke up. 1998 gave Madonna fans a new album, “Ray of Light,” which became the first in her work to receive only positive reviews from critics. First positions on the Billboard Hot 100 and national charts return Madonna to the top of popularity. For this album, the singer was awarded the Grammy Award for the first time, which was an incredible surprise for her.

Bold statements. Censorship in the USA

In 2000, Madonna married Guy Ritchie, with whom she gave birth to a son.

In 2001, the singer staged a large-scale tour, which had to be interrupted due to the September 11 terrorist attack. During the concert, she gave a speech in which she accused the US government of causing this violence. Such bold speeches led to negative attitudes from the government.

In 2003, the collection “American Life” was released; after the release of this album, the singer was accused of anti-patriotic views and was banned from holding concerts. The thing is that in the video of one of the songs on this album, topics were raised that showed the ruling power of the United States from the worst side.

In 2005, the singer released a new album, “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” Great shows and a world tour helped this collection reach the top of the charts. Released in 2008, “Hard Candy” does not cause a strong reaction from listeners due to the simplicity of the songs.

Latest performances

In 2010, the singer agreed to collaborate with the creators of the series “Glee” and transferred to them the rights to all her songs. In the same year, she opens a network of fitness clubs around the world and visits many of the countries personally. In the winter of 2014, shortly before the release of the album “Rebel Heart,” information was leaked and many of the songs became publicly available. However, the singer was not at a loss and released the songs as planned.

During her 2015 tour, the singer holds the record for the most money raised during a tour, most of which she donates to charity. In 2016, the singer appears in the chamber performance “Tears of a Clown.”

In January 2017, the singer protested against Donald Trump, which caused a harsh reaction and many bans on his part. Now most of her public appearances have been canceled due to the scandal with Trump.

• According to the Guinness Book of Records, Madonna is the most commercially successful performer in the history of music, as well as the best-selling rock performer of the 20th century.
• The singer actively professes Kabbalah. Religiosity, however, does not prevent her from shocking the audience with her appearance at concerts. Nevertheless, Madonna is so superstitious that she never accepts gifts from strangers.
• The athletic singer is very careful about her figure, spending many hours in the gym. Many young girls can envy her shape even now! Perhaps that is why she was cast as a fencing teacher in the James Bond film Die Another Day.
• She would like to live in Manhattan and share secrets with Demi Moore, but her reputation played a cruel joke on her. Madonna was unable to purchase the apartment she liked in Manhattan, in the famous San Remo building where Demi Moore lives, because the residents' committee did not approve her application. The residents decided that Madonna's fame would create too much trouble and noise for them.

Awards:

• Grammy Awards Best Long Form Music Video (1992)
• Grammy Awards Best Dance Recording (1999)
• Guinness World Records song to top the charts in the most countries (41) (2005)
• Guinness World Records The most successful album-selling female singer of the 21st century in the UK. (2011)

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone(English: Madonna Louise Ciccone, born August 16, 1958, Bay City, Michigan, USA) - singer, actress, director, songwriter, music producer and entrepreneur. On this page you will find full biography Madonna, her success story and the main stages of her ascent to the musical Olympus.

I am interested in learning more about famous and successful people in order to understand what helped them achieve such heights in life. To do this, we have a place where you can get acquainted with the biographies of outstanding people of our time who have succeeded in life.

But now there are only men in this section. This is probably not entirely fair; there are many amazing examples among women whose experience can be taken into account. Therefore, let's urgently correct this injustice!

They say that good things do not last forever, and sooner or later they come to an end. These are the words of people who have achieved nothing in life. / Madonna

It is very difficult to write something new about a person known throughout the world. The popularity of our today's heroine is really off the charts.

It’s hard to remain a modest “gray mouse” if you are the most commercially successful singer who has set a record for the sales of her records - more than 250 million albums and 100 million singles. “The Queen of Pop” is what her fans call her.

In this article we will go through known facts her biography and see how a simple girl from a large family managed to achieve amazing success.

A person's dreams can be judged by what he achieves in adulthood. She will turn 61 in August 2019. Madonna looks 100% her age. In 2018, the singer took part in the #10YearChallenge, a flash mob on Instagram, during which she shared her new photo and a photo from 10 years ago.

The 10-year difference between Madonna's photos is almost invisible

The singer can boast of more than one achievement. The girl from the Great Lakes State, as Michigan is fondly called by Americans, has truly achieved a lot.

Madonna's name is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with such stars as Louis Armstrong, ABBA, Queen

At the same time, as rightly noted in the singer’s official biography in the online version of the Hall of Fame, her achievements are not limited to the field of music, “and in terms of celebrity she is comparable to Marilyn Monroe.”

By the way, Madonna is very close to this image, to which she brings her own unique charm. In 2015, it was in this image – beautiful, bright and inviting – that the singer greeted visitors on the official website www.madonna.com. Now the “style icon” in the image of “Madam X” is promoting her 14th studio album of the same name, which is scheduled for release in June 2019.

However, Madonna herself considers physical beauty, although beautiful, to be ephemeral, and values ​​it more than “the self-confidence that comes with achieving goals.”

By the way, a very apt statement that I experienced myself. Be sure to take it into your arsenal.

The fact is that when you have confidence in your own abilities, then you are not afraid of any new goals or obstacles. This is especially important to achieve financial success.

After all, when we earn money, we always risk something. People often avoid risks because they lack confidence in themselves.

Let's say you want to get involved in some financial instrument or create your own business. If you have dozens and hundreds of conquered goals behind you, then you will view the business not as a business, but simply as another goal that you want to conquer.

And you know that you will do it, because you have done it more than once. For such people, failures are not a big deal. They are charged for success. And as a rule, they achieve everything. As you can see, even Madonna confirms this.

The success of the pop diva allows her to be very confident in herself. I would like to give a list of all her awards, but full list Madonna's awards will last for a couple of pages. Therefore, I will leave this information at extracurricular reading and, as they say, I will be brief. Madonna has been nominated dozens of times and received the American Music Award, Billboard Music Award, The American Moviegoers Awards, BRIT Awards, Japan Gold Disc Awards, Grammy and others.

In 1996, Madonna received the prestigious Golden Globe film award for her role in the film Evita. In 2012, she received this award for the second time for the soundtrack “Masterpiece” for the film “WE. We believe in love." It’s impossible to count all the awards and honors of the performer, because their number has exceeded 290! She is named the best-selling female singer of all time and is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Madonna has more than 20 film roles, hundreds of songs and dozens of albums under her belt.

Well, just not a woman, but some kind of “Drummer of capitalist labor.” Her inexhaustible powers are impressive! In my opinion, it’s time for the “hot thing” Madonna to be awarded another award for her “hot” stage experience!

You may ask, do I love her music and would I buy a ticket to see her perform? I’ll answer you this way: “there are no comrades according to taste,” but what definitely attracts me in our heroine is her amazing ability to achieve her goals.

“The Energizer” - Madonna manages to prove herself in many areas. If she decided to issue business cards, the standard letterhead would not accommodate all of her positions. After all, she is a singer, songwriter, writer, screenwriter, director, dancer, actress, businessman, designer.

Human cloning is officially prohibited, so let's discard this reason, which explains Madonna's active professional activity, as fantastic. So what helps her keep up “on all fronts”?

The singer herself reveals the recipe for success:

In a word, a visual aid to a multi-faceted, “self-made” person. On this score, the pop diva is convinced that a person is a material from which one can make “a chic dress, or a doormat.”

Do you know what you want? As my experience in conducting trainings, consultations and coaching shows, people don’t know what they want. And if they do know, then most often it is something imposed on them from the outside and is not their “native” goals.

The same goes for ambitions. Think bigger, don’t be afraid to set grandiose and important life goals for yourself. Buying an expensive car, an apartment and regularly going on vacation can hardly be called ambitious.

What helped her become like this?

As a child, Madonna had neither rich parents nor relatives associated with show business. She was born in 1958 into a Catholic family, where her mother, Madonna Louise Fortin, took care of the children (Madonna had three more brothers and two sisters), and her father, Silvio Ciccone, worked as an engineer-designer.

The head of the family adhered to a strict upbringing of his offspring, forbade watching television, demanded excellent school grades and compulsory church attendance. Madonna's mother died of cancer when the girl was only 5 years old. This was a huge tragedy for the child. Madonna's father married for the second time, and soon Louise Ciccone had a half-brother and sister.

Now the show business star admits that there was a lot of terrible and unpleasant things in her life, but she does not want to be pitied, since she does not feel sorry for herself. The formation of Madonna’s personality occurred not thanks to some conditions, but in spite of it.

She had to work hard to get to the top

Since childhood, the girl wanted to stand out from the crowd, not get lost in total mass. With her shocking antics, Madonna already at a young age attracted the attention of others, which, apparently, she did not receive enough in the family. Either a girl will dress in multi-colored stockings, or she will perform a dance in only a bikini at a young talent competition.

In high school, Madonna participates in public life and demonstrates organizational, acting and dancing abilities. Despite her classes in the drama club and ballet studio, Madonna also has excellent performance in school subjects.

Although why should we be surprised, because her IQ is 140 points! According to this indicator, the pop star is 3 points ahead of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

After school, Madonna continued her dance education at the University of Michigan, where she was awarded a scholarship as the best student. On the recommendation of a ballet teacher, and of her own free will, Madonna soon left the university and moved to New York to continue her career as a dancer.

A city with great opportunities did not welcome her with open arms. Madonna would later call her arrival in the metropolis, without money and with grandiose plans, the most courageous act of her life.

“My fear of something usually means I have to do it.”, Madonna admits. It is this quality in her that really impresses me. After all, courage is not the absence of fears in a person, but, on the contrary, the courage to look them in the eyes.

The taxi driver who dropped off the young provincial girl in the center of New York took from her neither more nor less, but almost half of the available cash - 15 dollars. At first, Madonna lived in virtual poverty, periodically spending the night in attics, and even sometimes checking the contents of garbage cans in search of food. However, this did not break our heroine and did not spoil the character of the future mega-star. Her distinctive quality has always been her ability to communicate and make acquaintances.

Madonna accidentally meets the Gilroy brothers, who had their own small orchestra. Soon they find a new acquaintance a place to stay and take her into their ensemble. Madonna comes to the conclusion that not dancing, but singing can be the chance that will lead her to worldwide fame and adoration.

She earns money from her audio recordings, which she unsuccessfully tries to promote in clubs.

There is still not enough money, and during this period Madonna manages to work as a cloakroom attendant, as a model in an art studio, and does not neglect nude photo shoots.

In the end, the persistent girl meets the famous New York DJ Mark Kamins, with whose support she releases her single “Everybody” in 1982. After the success of this song, the recording company Sire Records signed her.

In 1983, the debut album “Madonna” was released.

The pop diva admits: “I pulled myself up by the straps of my own bra.” For those who are quick to nod their heads, saying we know how she made her way onto the stage, let us answer in Madonna’s own words:

The debut album immediately brings the singer long-awaited recognition. The song “Holiday” from this disc is included in the TOP 20 American singles, and the next year it enters the top ten in Europe. In 1984, Madonna released a new album, “Like a Virgin,” which featured the hit song “Material Girl.”

This record gives the singer her eponymous nickname and firmly sticks with her. Madonna agrees that she is quite a "material girl."

Her income is growing rapidly, and in 1992 she and the TV presenter Oprah Winfrey declared two of the richest women in show business

The Queen of Pop's personal net worth is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. Starting from scratch, the star now has a whole staff of assistants working on her image, but still takes part in financial matters, squeezing every last cent out of discs, video clips and shows.

Madonna's work changes over time. In the 80s, she toured the United States, trying on different, but always intriguing images. According to statistics, Madonna sells more albums than any American singer.

In 1989, the outrageous Madonna outdid herself in the video for the song “Like a Prayer.” The explicit video with controversial religious motives received sharp disapproval from the Catholic Church. As a result of this uproar, Pepsi terminated its previously concluded advertising contract with the singer.

Madonna’s creative motto of that period is expressed clearly: “scandals are the best advertising,” and the singer deservedly received another nickname “marketing genius.”

In 1990, the singer became the first female businessman to appear on the cover of Forbes magazine.

Madonna creates a controversial image for herself. Nobody knows what to expect from her next video or provocative PR move. Her activities cause a certain resonance in society, and this is exactly what she has always strived for - power and fame.

In addition to a huge number of fans, Madonna also has an army of ill-wishers, some of whom condemn “flirting” with religion, and some do not approve of creativity in general.

The heroine herself shares her memories as follows:

If we compare the star’s behavior in her turbulent youth and now, we can say that Madonna has “settled down.” She no longer causes public scandals, confirming the image of a self-sufficient and calm woman.

The pop diva, in addition to musical creativity and writing, is busy managing her own company Maverick, which produces films, books and music albums.

And if earlier the singer stated that “everyone has every right to share my opinion,” now Madonna admits that life has taught her to give in. After all, compromise is not a weakness, but an opportunity. “get your way through more subtle means.”

Well, flexibility and the ability to adapt are useful qualities in the arsenal of a motivated person.

Madonna has four children - daughter Lourdes, whose father was fitness trainer Carlos Leon, son Rocco from ex-husband film director Guy Ritchie, and adopted son David and daughter Mercy. Her words speak about the role that Madonna’s heirs play: “The most important thing in life is children. It is in children's eyes that we can see the real world."

It is to them that she tries to give what she did not receive from her mother due to her early death: home comfort, proper upbringing and true family values. Madonna tries to devote a lot of time to her family, realizing that there can be many pop stars, but the children have only one mother.

Madonna remains a workaholic, waking up early in the morning and dedicating several hours every day to staying in shape.

The self-made lady does not want to stop there. " I am my own experiment, and my own masterpiece.", she declares.

Madonna is a shocking singer who has become famous throughout the world not only for her beautiful voice, but also for her demeanor during performances and in life.

The image of the American queen of show business is criticized, discussed, copied, admired and horrified, but not forgotten for many years. The pop star made history in the music industry as a singer, dancer, actress, author of many popular songs, as well as director and screenwriter.

Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ishot71/

In many of her works, Madonna uses political, sexual and religious attributes, breaking stereotypes established by society. Her actions are condemned and hated, while others admire her courage and independence from the opinions of others. They have only one thing in common: the name Madonna has been on everyone’s lips for decades.

How did an ordinary girl manage to reach the very pinnacle of fame? Is the path to world fame so easy? You will find the most interesting facts about the biography, career and personal life of world stars on our website.

Biography of Madonna

The name Madonna comes from the Italian words mia donna, meaning “my lady.” Madonna Louise Ciccone is the singer's real name, inherited from her mother. The girl's devout mother decided to perform the Catholic rite of anointing when she was 12 years old. For this purpose, the name Veronica was chosen, which is not official.

2. Horoscope and parameters

Today the singer is 59 full years old. With a height of 1 m 58 cm, she weighs 47 kg. A great performer, born in the year of the dog, her zodiac sign is Leo.

3. Childhood

Madonna Louise Ciccone was born on August 16, 1958 in Bay City, located on the Huron coast, in the American state of Michigan.

Her father, Silvio Ciccone, is of Italian descent. He spent his entire life as a design engineer at the largest automobile manufacturing corporation, Chrysler/General Motors.

Madonna Louise Ciccone Sr., after whom the future singer was named, was Canadian. She worked in one of the X-ray laboratories in her hometown. In her free time, the woman played the piano well and had a pleasant voice. But she didn’t even think about developing her singing talent.

The parents were so happy about their third child, the only girl at that time, that they decided to name her after her mother. In total there were six children in the family.

4. Early loss

Her mother's French roots greatly influenced her piety, which at times reached the point of fanaticism. Her descendants were Jansenists, ready to suffer martyrdom for their faith. Madonna's mother was also a staunch Catholic.

When the elder Ciccone was pregnant with her last child, she was diagnosed with a malignant breast tumor. Due to her religious beliefs, she refused to have an abortion, considering it murder, and also did not agree to treatment for the disease throughout her pregnancy. A few months after the birth of her last baby, she died. At that time, she was barely 30. So the girl, at the age of five, was left without maternal care.

Madonna the Younger was very worried and could not come to terms with the fact that she had lost the person she loved most and dearest to her. This event played a crucial role in her later life and affected the singer’s work.

5. Greedy and envious stepmother

2 years after tragic death beloved wife, Silvio decided to marry a second time. Raising six children alone became unbearable for him. His chosen one was the maid - Joan Gustafson - an ordinary woman from the people, the complete opposite in character and manners of the deceased Ciccone.

The first-born of a young married couple died, but soon they had two more children - son Mario and daughter Jennifer. All my mother's love and the woman gave affection to her own children, she did not like her husband’s children and tried in every possible way to humiliate them. The father, despite this, forced his children to call the stepmother they hated “mom.” A protest broke out in little Madonna. It seemed to her that dad had betrayed the memory of her own mother. Hard times have come for the girl.

Although the family was considered quite wealthy, this could not be said from the children. Joan, a Protestant from birth, saved on absolutely everything. The children had the cheapest clothes, sewn with their own hands, and the food in the refrigerator was of average quality semi-finished products. The stepmother's methods of raising her reminded her of a non-commissioned officer, which aggravated the already tense situation in the house.

6. Difficulties in the family

Unable to withstand the cruel trials of fate, the girl’s older brothers, Anthony and Martin, became addicted to drugs. They no longer controlled themselves and constantly mocked the poor girl. Father often took a sip from the bottle. The rude maid Joan could not replace the woman he loved.

Madonna had a hard time. She was humiliated, insulted, mocked, but she did not allow herself to be trampled into the dirt. Having suffered from drug addict brothers, an alcoholic father and a harmful stepmother, she decided that she would never do that. She wanted a completely different life.

7. School years

The girl studied at St. Frederick and St. Andrew Catholic School and attended West Middle School. For a long time she was a cheerleader for the local basketball team. The passion for dancing began in her childhood. The father wanted his daughter to get a profession that could bring the family a stable, guaranteed income. He saw the girl as a lawyer or a doctor and did not want to hear anything about dancing. With Madonna's mental abilities (her IQ was 140 points), it was possible to enter any institute or university on a budget basis.

Despite her father's categorical attitude, she managed to persuade him to enroll her in a ballet dance club. Her mentor was Christopher Flynn - good teacher with non-traditional orientation. He managed to instill in the girl confidence in her beauty and uniqueness. Flynn not only taught her to dance, but also took her with him to various nightlife establishments. There Madonna saw life as it is. Going to gay clubs enlightened her about sex.

At the age of 16, she managed to seduce her teacher, who had temporarily forgotten his sexuality.

The future celebrity graduated from high school at Rochester Adams High School. Here she had the opportunity to participate in musicals and other stage productions.

8. Girl “hello”

Despite good grades and great success at school, little Ciccone was strange. The teachers had high hopes for her and tried their best to help. She still considers one of her teachers, Marilyn Fallows, to be the main person of her youth.

She failed to win the respect and friendship of her peers. Her classmates did not like her for her exemplary behavior and studies; many envied her. Madonna led an aloof life, avoided noisy companies, and did not allow guys to get close to her. The girls laughed behind her back, sometimes publicly ridiculing her reticence. The boys did not pay attention to the girl. They were repelled by their peculiar appearance and inner world future performer.

9. The turning point

When the singer was 14, the school held a competition for the most talented students. It was then that the modest woman decided to show herself in all her glory. Painted green and red, wearing mini-shorts and a tank top, the young lady rocked out to the popular single “Baba O’Riley,” performed by The Who. The people were in shock, the trick was on everyone’s lips. Everyone forgot about the long-term reputation of a nerdy girl.

The father became furious and locked up his daughter. The brothers and sisters blushed in front of the guys for Madonna's unsightly prank. The nickname “whore” and the image of a dissolute, unprincipled girl stuck to her.

In 1976, the girl took exams as an external student and graduated from school. Despite her father, she continues to study dance at one of the universities in Michigan for free. Christopher Flynn takes over as professor.

After finishing her second year, the girl quits her studies and moves to New York with high hopes of opening her own music studio. Thus begins a long and difficult path to world fame.

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Madonna's career

10. Hard start

The ambitious girl had about 35 dollars in her pocket. This was all her savings at that time. In order to somehow survive in a huge metropolis, she participates in all musical castings, trying to get a spot as a backup dancer for little-known groups. Part-time jobs at Dunkin’ Donuts and Burger King did not bring in significant income.

The poor guy had to beg for a piece of bread and dig through trash cans for food. She moved around the city on an old bicycle and lived illegally in studio premises. But Ciccone did not give up.

In the 80s, Madonna was taken to the Breakfast Club. Then she organized the troupe “Madonna And The Sky”, which soon disbanded. The rock group Emmy, founded later, also turns out to be a failure.

In 1981, luck smiled on the dancer for the first time. Fate brought her into contact with Gotham Camille Barbon, who owns her own recording studio.

11. First successes

Camilla decisively took on the strange but promising person and acted as a manager. In one of the establishments in Manhattan, Madonna met DJ Mark Kamins. Her recordings impress the guy, and he organizes the girl an audition for “Island”. Chris Blackwell, the head of the label, criticized the young lady's works to smithereens.

Persistent Mark decided not to give up and took the recordings to Warner Bros. General manager the company appreciated the talent of the rising star. From this moment, endless recordings of albums, videos and the performer’s most hit songs begin.

12. Recording the first single and debut album

The first single, "Everybody", recorded at Warner Bros., went straight to bronze on the Hot Dance Club Songs, although there was zero budget for its promotion. The song fell 7 positions short of entering the Hot 100, published in Billboard magazine.

To ensure the singer’s success, the second single “Burning Up” is being recorded, exactly repeating the popularity of the first. The song takes 3rd place in the charts. The performer’s recordings begin to be recognized and loved, people sing along to them, and people dance to them.

A little later, Madonna rented a recording studio for the first time to create her debut album, released in 1983, entitled “Madonna.” The songs "Borderline", "Lucky Star" and "Holiday" become hits. Still, the album does not have the deafening popularity that Madonna herself would like.

13. Second album and long-awaited glory

The following year (1984), the album “Like a Virgin” was released, occupying first position in the Billboard “hot” hundred for 2 months. In total, the album sold 26,000,000 copies.

That same year, the singer attended the grand event MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed the main track of her second album. The single “Like a Virgin” was recognized as a cult among two hundred other American musical compositions.

14. Further successes and peak of popularity

On the creation of the third album “True Blue”. All songs are imbued with tenderness and love. The album achieves commercial success. The original song “Live to Tell” takes first position in the Billboard Hot 100.

Throughout her musical career, the celebrity has released more than 11 successful albums and often toured countries, surprising enthusiastic fans with innovative concerts. Thanks to her image, outrageousness and uniqueness, the performer has left a century-old mark on the music industry.

The singer has collaborated with many famous performers: Prince, Lenny Kravitz, William Orbit, Ricky Martin, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., Benassi Bros.

15. Acting

Throughout her life, Madonna starred in 20 films, where she played a variety of roles. At the beginning of 90, the film “Dick Tracy” was released.

In the 1991 documentary “In Bed with Madonna,” she was given the opportunity to play herself. The film is recognized as one of the ten best-selling documentaries of all time.

In 1992, Ciccone starred in the film A League of Their Own, where she played a baseball player named May Mordabito.

The following year, a film called “Dangerous Game” appeared in theaters. Here the woman got the main role. The actress got so accustomed to the character that the picture seemed to come to life and become a reality.

In 2007, she realized herself as a screenwriter and director in the film “Dirt and Wisdom.”

Madonna's personal life

16. A little girl's first adult relationship

The singer first entered into an intimate relationship at the age of 15. The girl's chosen one was 17-year-old Russell Long. The connection between the young people was more a challenge to her father for the girl than caused by love feelings. The constant control of the pope and Catholic prohibitions influenced Madonna's decision.

In the future, this affected not only the life of the performer, but also her creative activity.

17. First husband

The woman’s first official husband, Sean Penn, appeared in the star’s life in 1985. Their romance developed rapidly, and in the same year they legalized their relationship.

The marriage of young people was doomed to failure. The sexy Madonna attracted the attention of men and loved to flirt, thereby provoking her life partner. The husband had a heightened sense of possessiveness. He was jealous of his wife for everyone he met. Therefore, scandals and fights often broke out in the family, ending for the girl in the emergency room.

4 years after the wedding, the couple broke up. In yet another scandal, Sean beat his wife half to death, after which she reported him to the police and filed for divorce.

18. Birth of a daughter

Having recovered from her first unsuccessful marriage, Madonna decides to start a new relationship. This time the American diva’s lover was actor and trainer Carlos Leon. In 1996, the couple’s first child, the charming Lourdes Maria, was born. But the birth of a baby does not prevent the couple from separating. At the time of the breakup, the girl was barely 6 months old.

19. New relationships

In 1998, at one of the social parties, a British man drew attention to Madonna. A couple of years later the couple gets married. A luxurious wedding took place in one of the ancient castles of Scotland. That same year, the couple welcomed their second child, baby Rocco.

After 6 years family life happy parents decide to adopt a black boy, David Banda. According to the public, it was this act that provoked discord in the family. 2 years after the adoption, the couple separated.

20. Without a husband, but not alone

Despite the divorce from her husband, the woman did not despair, and that same year she took custody of the Malawian baby Mercy.

In 2017, African twins appeared in the family - Stella and Esther, 4 years old.