Sexy Madonna

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone Ritchie (born August 16, 1958), known as Madonna, is a Grammy and Golden Globe award winning American dance-pop singer-songwriter, record and film producer, dancer, actress, author and fashion icon. She is noted for her ambitious music videos and stage performances as well as using political, sexual, and religious themes in her work.

In 2000, Guinness World Records listed Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums; in 2005, her record company credited her as having sold over 200 million albums worldwide. Madonna is the highest earning female singer of all time according to both the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, and Billboard Magazine. Forbes magazine has estimated her net worth at $325 million. In addition, Madonna holds the record for the top-grossing concert tour by a female artist.

Early life

Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan. She was the third of six children born to Silvio "Tony" Ciccone, an Italian-American Chrysler engineer whose parents originated from Pacentro, and Madonna Louise Fortin, who was of Quebecer descent.

She was raised in a Catholic family in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills). Madonna's mother died of breast cancer at age 30 on December 1, 1963. Her father later married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children together.

Madonna convinced her father to allow her to take ballet classes. Her ballet teacher, Christopher Flynn, exposed Madonna to gay discotheques. She attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad. Madonna received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan.

She left at the end of her sophomore year in 1978 and moved to New York City to pursue a dance career. Madonna has said:

""When I came to New York it was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi-cab, the first time for everything. And I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done.

She had little money and for some time lived in squalor, working low-paying jobs including a stint at Dunkin' Donuts. She also worked as a nude model. She studied with Martha Graham and Pearl Lang, and later performed with several modern dance companies, including Alvin Ailey and the Walter Nicks dancers.

While performing as a dancer for the French disco artist Patrick Hernandez on his 1979 world tour, Madonna became involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she later formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club. In it, she sang and played drums and guitar before forming the band Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend Stephen Bray. She and Bray wrote and produced dance songs that brought her local attention in New York dance clubs. DJ and record producer Mark Kamins was impressed by her demo recordings, so he brought them to the attention of Sire Records founder Seymour Stein.

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1980-1985: Rise to fame

In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records (a new wave label belonging to Warner Bros. Records) in the United States that paid her $5,000 per song. Her first release, "Everybody", a self-written song produced by Mark Kamins, became a hit on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Chart but failed to make an impact on the Billboard Hot 100. It also gained airplay on U.S. R&B radio stations, leading many to assume that Madonna was a black artist. The double-sided 12" vinyl single featuring "Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction" followed in 1983, and was a success on the U.S. dance charts. These results convinced Sire Records' executives to finance an album.

Her debut album, Madonna, a collection of dance songs, was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, but in the process both realized they could not work well together. After initial production on the album was completed, Madonna took the record to her then boyfriend, John "Jellybean" Benitez, who remixed and rearranged it. It reached number eight on the U.S. albums chart and contained three successful Hot 100 singles, "Holiday", "Borderline", and "Lucky Star". At the time of its release, Madonna sold three million copies worldwide, one million of those in the U.S. It has since been certified with current sales of thirteen million worldwide.

Madonna's style became popular. Teenage girls were dressing like her.

Her follow up album, Like a Virgin, was an international success, and became her first number one album on the U.S. albums chart. Buoyed by the success of its title track, which reached number one in the U.S. (with a six week stay at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart) as well as hit singles with "Material Girl" (#2 US, kept out of the number one spot by USA For Africa's "We Are The World" single), "Angel", and "Dress You Up", the album sold twelve million copies at its time of release and currently stands at seventeen million copies worldwide and produced four top-five singles in the U.S. and the UK Her performance of the song at the first MTV Video Music Awards, during which she writhed on the stage (on top of a wedding cake) wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, lacy stockings, garters, and her then-trademark "Boy Toy" belt, was the first of several public displays that boosted Madonna's fan base as much as they incensed some critics, who felt that her provocative style attempted to disguise an absence of talent.

In 1985, Madonna entered mainstream films, beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest. The soundtrack to the film contained her second number one pop hit, the Grammy-nominated ballad "Crazy for You", as well as the UK hit "Gambler". Later that year she appeared in the commercially and critically successful film Desperately Seeking Susan, with her comedic performance winning her positive reviews. The film introduced the dance song "Into the Groove", which was released as a B-side to her single "Angel", peaking at number five in the US and becoming a major hit internationally, and her first number one in the UK.

Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in the U.S. in 1985 titled The Virgin Tour, with opening act The Beastie Boys.

In July 1985, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of black and white nude photos of Madonna taken in the late 1970s. The publications caused a swell of public discussion of Madonna, who at first tried to block them from being published, but later remained unapologetic and defiant. Speaking to a global audience at the outdoor Live Aid charity concert at the height of the controversy, Madonna made a critical reference to the media and stated she would not take her jacket off, despite the heat, because "they might hold it against me ten years from now". Madonna later appeared on the cover of the NY Post newspaper quoted saying about the photographs "I'm NOT ashamed."

In May 2005, Belgian songwriter Salvatore Acquaviva sued Madonna in Belgian court over plagiarism in one of her 1998 singles, "Frozen". Acquaviva claimed the track took several bars from his 1993 song "Ma Vie Fout L'camp" ("My Life's Getting Nowhere"). In November 2005, a Belgian judge ruled in favor of Acquaviva. Stores in the country had just fifteen days to remove all singles and albums containing the track. Furthermore, the judge issued all television and radio stations to stop playing the song, or face a 150,000 euro fine. Madonna can still appeal the ruling if she wishes.

On July 2, 2005, Madonna performed for the Live 8 benefit concert. Before Madonna performed "Ray of Light," Madonna yelled out "Are you fucking ready London?" The BBC aired this unedited, which upset several people who watched the concert. The BBC later apologized for this and other instances of profanity aired during the benefit concert.

A track on Madonna's tenth studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, called "Isaac", sparked controversy when Israeli rabbis claimed the track referred to Rabbi Isaac Luria, arguing that Jewish law forbids using a holy rabbi's name for profit. Madonna denied the claims that "Isaac" referred to the rabbi, but to the name of the backup singer featured on the track.

Madonna once again was forced to edit one of her music videos to make it suitable for airplay. The video for her single "Sorry" included a scene where she makes a rude finger gesture that networks refused to air.

Controversy followed Madonna to her Confessions Tour when Catholics expressed outrage at her decision to be displayed hanging to a cross with a crown of thorns on her head while performing "Live to Tell".

Furthermore, she angered the Vatican again when she invited Pope Benedict XVI to view her performance in Rome. Outrage spread throughout Rome upon the arrival of Madonna's tour, sparking anger from various religious groups, and the Catholic Church called for Madonna's excommunication. A huge Madonna ad on the side of a scaffolding near Vatican City, shot for the H&M campaign, also caused an uproar. Calls were made for the ad to be taken down, but it ultimately stayed in place.

In Moscow, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJC) urged all members to boycott her first-ever Russian concert in Moscow due to her use of religious symbolism.

In Germany, prosecutors threatened to open an investigation on charges of insulting religious beliefs over her mock crucifixion before her concerts in Dusseldorf, Germany. After seeing the performance, prosecutors decided not to open an investigation. They stated that although the performance may be "hurtful to religious people", Madonna is protected by artistic freedom laws.