Madonna Louise Ciccone(born August 16, 1958), better known worldwide by only her first name, is an iconic American pop singer, songwriter, musician, record and film producer, dancer, actress, author, and peace advocate whose level of fame and success has earned her superstar status for more than two decades. She is usually noted for her innovative music videos, elaborately mounted stage performances, and use of political, sexual, and religious themes and imagery in her work. She is commonly referred to as the 'Queen of Pop'.

In 2000, Guinness World Records credited Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums. As of November 2000 Guinness World Records Her record label, Warner Bros. Records, claimed in 2005 that she had achieved international sales in excess of 200 million albums. Madonna is the highest earning female singer of all time, according to the 2007 Guinness Book of Records. Madonna has reportedly sold over 100 million singles to date. According to Billboard Magazine, Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour has been reported to be the most successful concert tour of a female artist in history.. In 2006, the World Music Awards named Madonna the World's Best Pop Artist. In total Madonna has sold in excess of 335 million records world-wide (205 million albums & 130 million singles) 65 million in the U.S alone. These sales confirm Madonna as one of the world's all-time best-selling artists.

Biography

Early life

Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan. The third of six children born to Silvio \"Tony\" P. Ciccone, a Chrysler engineer of Italian-American extraction, whose parents originated from Pacentro, in the region of Abruzzo, Italy, and Madonna Louise Fortin, a French Canadian. 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 thirty on December 1, 1963, and Madonna has frequently discussed the impact her mother's death had on her life and career, calling it \"one of the hardest things I've faced in my life.\" Her father later married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children together.

Tony Ciccone required his children to take music lessons; however, after a few months of piano lessons, Madonna convinced him to allow her to take ballet classes instead. Madonna's ballet teacher, Christopher Flynn, mentored her in dance and provided Madonna with her first exposure to gay discotheques, a scene that would later have an impact on her music and style. She attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a straight-A student, excelled at sports, and was a member of the cheerleading squad. Madonna received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan, though, in 1978, with Flynn's encouragement, Madonna left at the end of her sophomore year and moved to New York City to pursue a dance career. Looking back at her arrival in New York, 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 dollars in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done.\"