Madonna Biography

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 over 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 body of work. She's commonly referred to as the 'Queen of pop'.

In 2000, The Guinness Book of Records credited Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums. Her record label, Warner Bros. Records, reported 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 sold over 100 million singles to date. According to Billboard Magazine, Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour was the most successful concert tour of a female artist in history.

Madonna's background as a Catholic has had great significance in her life and career. She has cited her parents and upbringing as the major influences in her life and career. Her mother's death profoundly affected her, and she later stated that, had her mother lived, she might not have felt such a strong need to prove herself. Madonna's father, Tony, is a strict Italian Catholic who raised his family in an atmosphere of religious observance.

The name "Madonna" is very Catholic as it references The Virgin Mary, who, in Italy and in the Roman Catholic Church, is often referred to as "The Madonna". Given Madonna's rebellion against Catholic-based ideals of womanhood, some have found it ironic that she shares the same name as the ultimate symbol of the Catholic ideal of womanhood. Early in her career, many assumed that "Madonna" was a stage name that the singer had chosen for shock value.

In her music career, Madonna's Catholic background and relationship with her parents has been most strongly reflected in her 1989 album Like a Prayer. In Like a Prayer, Madonna moved away from the dance pop of her previous albums and toward more personal and reflective lyrics, featured songs directly related to her parents and her Catholic upbringing. The video for the title track contained overt Catholic symbolism, such as the stigmata. "Promise to Try" told of her sadness at the faded memory of her mother and her struggle to recall her, while "Oh Father" told of a strict and distant father who elicited fear in the singer as a child and defiance as she grew older. The video for "Oh Father" depicts Madonna in a confessional and her father kneeling and praying before a picture of his dead wife. The album ends with the track "Act of Contrition", which contains verses from the Catholic prayer of the same name.

Madonna has used the Catholic symbol of the crucifix throughout her career: as a fashion accessory in her early videos, in the church setting of her "Like a Prayer" video, and in the stage design of her "Confessions" tour. The rosary has also often been used in Madonna's career. In the early 1980s, she wore it around her neck as part of her performance costume. Later, in the music video for the song La Isla Bonita Madonna portrays a character who is praying the rosary.

Madonna's Italian heritage has occasionally been referenced in her work. The video to her first number one single, "Like a Virgin," was filmed in Venice, Italy, and features Madonna in iconic Venetian settings. The "Open Your Heart" video ends with Madonna dancing into the sunset with a young boy, while her elderly boss chases after her, yelling at her in Italian. In the "Papa Don't Preach" video, often described as partly autobiographical in content, her father is played by Italian American actor Danny Aiello, and Madonna wears a shirt with the slogan, "Italians Do It Better". The video for her Who's That Girl? Tour, titled Ciao Italia: Madonna Live from Italy, was filmed mainly in Turin, Italy. (In the Ciao Italia: Madonna Live from Italy video, Madonna performs the song Papa Don't Preach while a large portrait of the Pope appears on the screen behind her. Coincidentally, "Papa" is the Italian word for "Pope".) In her 2005 documentary I'm Going To Tell You a Secret, she jokingly states that she has "big, fat, Italian thighs." In film, she achieved a rare good review for her portrayal of the Italian American character Mae Mordabato in A League of Their Own.

While much of her career has seen rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church, Madonna had both of her children baptised in a Roman Catholic Church. As a result, Madonna has often offended many Catholics, including the head of the Catholic Church himself. In 1990, when Madonna toured Italy with the Blond Ambition Tour concert tour, the Pope encouraged citizens not to attend the concert, and as a result, Madonna was forced to cancel two shows due to poor ticket sales. The Pope accused Madonna of blasphemy against the Catholic Church (a crime in Italy), and attempted to have Madonna banned from stepping foot on Italian soil. In response, in a 1990 press conference in Italy, Madonna declared, "I am Italian American and proud of it." In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Madonna said that the Pope's reaction hurt, "because I'm Italian, you know", but in another Rolling Stone interview the same year stated that she had ceased to practice Catholicism because the Church "completely frowns on sex... except for procreation". In the summer of 2006, Madonna drew criticism from Vatican officials when she took her Confessions Tour to Rome. Vatican officials claimed that Madonna's performance while hanging off of a cross while wearing a crown of thorns was an open attack on Catholicism and should not be performed in the same city as the pope's residence. In the documentary Italians in America - Our Contribution, author Gay Talese relates Madonna's rebellion against the Catholic Church to her Italian ancestry. Talese claims that Madonna's paternal ancestors come from a region of Southern Italy with a long tradition of rebellion against the Catholic Church.

In 1988, city officials in the town of Pacentro, Italy, planned to construct a 13-foot statue of Madonna in a bustier. The statue was intended to commemorate the fact that some of Madonna's ancestors had lived in Pacentro. The mayor of the city and the Pope intervened and prevented the project from coming to fruition, citing concerns that a statue of Madonna in their city would corrupt the morals of their youth.