Madonna

Background information
Birth name : Madonna Louise Ciccone
Also known as : Madonna Ciccone, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, Madonna Penn, Madonna Ritchie
Born : August 16, 1958 (1958-08-16) (age 50) Bay City, Michigan, United States
Origin : New York City, New York, United States
Genre(s) : Pop, rock
Occupation(s) : Singer-songwriter, dancer[1] record producer, film producer, film director, fashion designer, author, actress, entrepreneur
Instrument(s) : Vocals, guitar, percussion
Voice type(s) : Mezzo-soprano
Years active :1982–present
Label(s) : Sire (1982-1995) Maverick (1992-2004) Warner Bros. (1982-2008) Live Nation Artists (2009-)
Associated acts : Breakfast Club, Emmy
Website : madonna.com

Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie (born August 16, 1958), known as Madonna, is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in Bay City, Michigan and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Madonna moved to New York City for a career in modern dance. After performing as member of the pop musical groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her self-titled debut album in 1983, and then produced three consecutive number-one studio albums on the Billboard 200 in the 1980s and four more since year 2000.
Madonna is known for her works that explore religious symbolism and sexual themes which also drew criticism from the Vatican in the late 1980s. In 1992, she founded an entertainment company, Maverick, which published a book of photographs (Sex). She also released a studio album (Erotica) and starred in a film (Body of Evidence) with erotic themes. These works generated negative publicity and coincided with a fall in commercial sales in the 1990s. Madonna's career was revived in 1998, when the release of her album Ray of Light garnered critical acclaim.
Madonna has acted in 22 films. Although many failed critically and commercially, she earned a Golden Globe Award for her role in the 1996 film Evita. In 1996 Madonna conceived a daughter, Lourdes Maria (also known as Lola) by personal trainer Carlos Leon before marrying film director Guy Ritchie in 2000. She and Ritchie have two sons, Rocco and David Banda, a Malawian boy they adopted in 2006, which caused media allegations they violated that country's adoption laws.Madonna has been regarded as "one of the greatest pop acts of all time" and dubbed the "Queen of Pop" by various sources. She is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America as the best-selling female rock artist of the twentieth century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States with 63 million certified albums. Guinness World Records list her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time and the top-earning female singer in the world with an estimated net worth of US$490 million, having sold over 200 million records worldwide. On March 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Discography
Main articles: Madonna albums discography, Madonna singles discography, and Madonna: Music Video & DVD Videography
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

Tours
Madonna has had eight successful tours in the course of her career, being:
1985: The Virgin Tour
1987: Who's That Girl World Tour
1990: Blond Ambition World Tour
1993: The Girlie Show World Tour
2001: Drowned World Tour
2004: Re-Invention World Tour
2006: Confessions Tour
2008: Sticky & Sweet Tour

Source: en.wikipedia.org