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Short Biography

Madonna Louise Ciccone (born August 16, 1958), better known as Madonna, is an American dance-pop singer-songwriter, dancer, record, film producer,actress, and pop culture icon. She is a multiple Grammy and Golden Globe-award winner, known for her ambitious music videos, vivacious stage performances and her controversdial use of political, sexual, and religious themes in her work. Reviews about her overall body of work remain mixed, with many music critics and colleagues putting her artistry in doubt, while others proclaim her the "Queen of Pop". [98] She has been criticized for egocentrism, publicity stunts and a tendency to generate controversy. Joni Mitchell once declared, "She has knocked the importance of talent out of the arena.". Other popular entertainers like Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey[citation needed] have expressed disapproval of her artistic abilities, disdain, or criticism against her image and work.

Moments of her career in which Madonna has been heavily criticized include her 1989 music video for "Like a Prayer", the publication of the book Sex and album Erotica in 1992, her 2003 album American Life, her 2006 performance of "Live to Tell" during the Confessions Tour, and her adoption of Malawian infant David Banda in 2006.

Despite these observations, since her debut in 1982, Madonna has released many chart-topping albums and singles, and has become one of the best-selling female artists in popular music, selling more than 250 million albums. Billboard reported that her 2006 Confessions Tour held the record for the top-grossing concert tour by a female artist. According to both the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, and Billboard Magazine, she is the top earning female singer. Forbes magazine has estimated her net worth at $725 million. On September 27, 2007, she was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2001, the Guinness Book of World Records listed Madonna as the "World?s Most-successful Female Musician".

Madonna Louise Ciccone (her adopted Catholic confirmation name but not legal second middle name is Veronica) was born in Bay City, Michigan. She was the third of eight children (her siblings are Martin, Anthony, Christopher, Paula, Melanie, Mario, and Jennifer)[8] born to Silvio "Tony" Ciccone, an Italian-American Chrysler engineer whose parents originated from Pacentro, and Madonna Louise Fortin, who was of French-Canadian 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.

She left the University of Michigan at the end of her sophomore year, in 1977, 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 includi