Quick Facts:
Name: Madonna Louise Ciccone
Born: 16th of August 1958
Birth Place: Rochester, Michigan, USA

Madonna was born on the 16th of August 1958 in Rochester, Michigan, USA. Her family lived in Pontiac, Michigan at the time, but was visiting grandmother in Bay City when Madonna decided to appear in the world. She was christened Madonna Louise Ciccone, but her family used to called her 'Little Nonni'. When she was only five years old the mother she loved died of breast cancer. Madonna talks: "One of the hardest thing I've faced in my life was the death of my mother and that's something I really haven't got over to this day."

Madonna learnt to be strong and independent early in life and she carries a clear memory of her mother's courage: "She tried to keep her fear deep down inside and not let us know - she never complained". When the mother died the Ciccone family was torn apart. Madonna and her brothers and sisters were sent to live with various relatives until, after a couple of years to Madonna's horror, her father Tony married their housekeeper Joan Gustafson.

Her father insisted that the children have to call his new wife 'mother' but Madonna found that very hard to do. In fact, she never called Joan mother. Madonna was the oldest girl of eight children and that is the reason she caught most of the responsibility. Madonna remembers: "As the oldest girl in my family, I felt like all my adolescence was spent taking care of babies. I think that's when I really thought about how I wanted to get away from all that. I saw myself as the quintessential Cinderella." And about his father Madonna says: "If we didn't have school homework then father found us something do to around the house - he was very adamant about us being productive." And also, "If my father hadn't been so strict I wouldn't be who I am today."

When Madonna was small, she loved to hum along to songs on the radio as she helped with the housework. She remembers: "There was always music in our house, either records or the radio or someone singing on the bathtub." Soon her father wanted her to take piano lessons, because most of the family played a musical instrument and his father was really big on that. This was not to be as Madonna was her father's favorite and persuaded him to let her take dance lessons instead. "I wanted to do everything everybody told me I couldn't do, I couldn't wear make up, I couldn't wear nylons, I couldn't cut my hair, I couldn't go on dates, I couldn't even go to the movies with my friends". She craved attention by wearing odd socks, appearing in a friend's home movie with a fried egg on her stomach. She also appeared in a local talent contest where she danced to a record by 'The Who' wearing only bikini and body paint. As said before, she wanted to do everything she was told she shouldn't or couldn't. She'd roll up her uniform skirt until it was short, She'd go into the bathroom and put make-up and nylon stockings on. Apart from being a flirtatious rebel, Madonna was very good at her schoolwork. Madonna remembers "I was really competitive in school with my grades and stuff coz my father used to give us rewards if we got "A" on our report cards. It wasn't so much that I was interested in learning.....my father gave us 25 cents for every "A" that we got so I wanted to earn the most amount of money." After Madonna left school she attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship.

Soon after studying some time in the university of Michigan Madonna wanted to go to New York to chase her dreams. Everyone was against the idea but her dance teacher said, "Go for it!" - and luckily for us she did! It was the bravest thing I'd ever done. My goal was to conquer the city and I feel I have." She lived in terrible house, coz Madonna hadn't money for better. She remembers: "When my father first came to visit me, he was mortified. After a while Madonna realized that the way to the top for her was not going to be through pure modern dance. It wasn't the competition that put her off but the lack of work opportunities Madonna finally got a deal with Gotham Records and released her first single 'Everybody'. When it was first played on the radio and in clubs, many fans mistook Madonna for an Afro-American disco diva. Record company also didn't put Madonna's picture on this single's cover, they wanted people think that she was Afro-American, to sell more records.

The new album 'Like A Virgin' (1984) established Madonna as a popular artist and soon nearly everyone had a copy of this "Crazy for you" gave Madonna her first Grammy nomination. Madonna's first big tour was named after her album- "The Virgin Tour". During "Material Girl" video shooting she met Sean Penn. And just after saying"I wouldn't wish being Mr. Madonna on anyone", she married him. Madonna remembers "I was jumping up and down on my bed, performing one of my morning rituals and all of a sudden Sean gets this look in his eye and all of a sudden I knew what he was thinking. I said: whatever you`re thinking I`ll say yes to. That was his chance, so he popped it." On the 16th of August, 1985- they married in a Malibu media circus, 13 helicopters with paparazzi photographers were soaring in circles during the wedding ceremony, the groom Sean Penn tried to beat some paparazzi photographers, who were spying in the bushes. Madonna remembers: Madonna's marriage to Sean Penn officially ended on 10th of January,1989 when Madonna - for the second time - filed for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. Madonna is known as a person who can do anything: she is a singer, an actress, a composer, a producer and an executive. Madonna has success everywhere. She has broken every available radio, video, sales, and box-office record. Madonna is the richest woman in the world followed closely by Oprah Winfrey. Madonna makes about 130 millions US$ for a year!!! Continuously released albums, singles, music- videos and movies hold Madonna's myth high.