Madonna (1958-…), an American singer, dancer, and actress, is one of the world’s best-known rock music performers. She also writes many of her own songs and has helped produce her own records and music videos.
Madonna was born on Aug. 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan. Her full name is Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. She studied dance at the University of Michigan but left school in 1978 to pursue a dancing career in New York City. She soon switched to singing and songwriting. Her album Like a Virgin (1984), which included the hit single “Material Girl,” became the first album by a woman artist to sell more than 7 million copies. Beginning with Like a Virgin, Madonna has had nine number-one albums on Billboard magazine’s “Billboard 200” music chart. Her latest number-one album was Madame X, released in 2019.
Madonna’s bold lyrics and flashy costumes gave her a sexy, independent, often shocking image. Some of her songs, including “Like a Virgin” from her 1984 album and “Like a Prayer” (1989), became controversial for mixing sexual and religious references. The sexual content of her 1992 album Erotica and a book of photographs of her called Sex (1992) stirred additional controversy.
Madonna acted in David Mamet’s play Speed-the-Plow (1988) in New York City. She appeared in several motion pictures, including Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) and A League of Their Own (1992). In 1996, she starred as Eva Perón , Argentina’s first lady, in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita. Madonna directed and co-wrote Filth and Wisdom (2008) and W. E. (2011). She has also written several children’s books, including The English Roses (2003) and its sequel The English Roses: Too Good to Be True (2006), Mr. Peabody’s Apples (2003), Yakov and the Seven Thieves (2004), and Lotsa de Casha (2005).
Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. She was married to the American actor Sean Penn from 1985 to 1989 and to the British director and screenwriter Guy Ritchie from 2000 to 2008.
