First things first
If we say Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, you may or may not have a clue who we are talking about. Then again, if we say simply Madonna – no further explanation is needed.
Madonna is one and only by all means. She is “Material Girl”, the one that looked “Like a Virgin”, her energy makes us feel “Frozen”. Her songs sound “Like a Prayer” and her voice is a “Ray of Light”. You’re right, those are just a few of Madonna’s hits. Almost every song she wrote and sang turned into a mega-hit. But let’s start from the beginning.
Madonna was born on August 16, 1958. Yesterday she celebrated her 60th birthday! Happy birthday, Queen!
Early days
As a teenager, she wasn’t rebellious but a straight-A student, working hard for good grades, often thinking about her future. At the same time, a desire to “become someone important” was strongly present. Dreams came true for little Noni, which was her nickname since she shared her first name with her mother. Cute, isn’t it?
Madonna lived in Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit until 1978, when she dropped out of college with only 35$ in her pocket and moved to New York City, pursuing her dreams of becoming a dancer. In the beginning, she had to work several jobs at the same time, just to survive in the Big Apple. An anecdote claims that she also worked at Dunkin’ Donuts where she got fired on the first day, after spilling jelly on a customer. That customer was Donald Trump.
Madonna became much more than a dancer, obviously – a singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, film director, author, businesswoman and a great humanitarian, on top of all. She had her first “Top 10” hit in 1984 with “Borderline”. Her controversial “Like a Prayer” song was strongly criticized by many, who saw that as disrespectful to their religious beliefs. Pepsi even canceled sponsorship with Madonna because of that issue, but she didn’t give up on her provocative erotic look and even more tingling songs.
Awards
She has been nominated for 18 Grammy awards and has won 5.
Madonna was quite an actress too – did you know that she appeared in 21 films, 3 theatrical plays, 10 tv show episodes and 16 commercials. Many of her films received poor reviews, but the role of Evita in 1996 brought her a Golden Globe award for best actress.
She was married twice – to Sean Penn (1985-1989), saying “he is the coolest guy in the Universe” and to Guy Ritchie (2000-2008) – interestingly Gwyneth Paltrow was the maid of honor at this wedding.
At the same time, there is an impressive number of famous men she dated, like Vanilla Ice, Tupac, John F. Kennedy Junior, Antonio Banderas, Lenny Kravitz, Dennis Rodman and the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Her exes agree on one thing – she is very jealous and possessive – she used to call them in the middle of the night, demanding to know if they were with another woman. Who would expect Madonna would be so insecure?
The singer has six children, two of them are biological – daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon and son Rocco Ritchie, and four are adopted – David Banda in 2006., Mercy James in 2009 and twins Esther and Stella Mwale in 2017.
Things you didn’t know…
What more can we say about Madonna, that you don’t know already?
Here we made a list of the most interesting facts for you.
– Madonna is not just a pretty face, her IQ is 140!
– She hates the color orange
– She’s been a vegetarian since she was 15.
– Mrs. Ciccone is 5 feet 44 inches tall (1.64m).
– Her iconic cone bra was sold for $52,000 at a Christie’s auction
– In 1999 People magazine named her the worst dressed star
– She loves Britney’s song “Hit me, baby, one more time”
– Swears a lot
– Madonna suffers from brontophobia – a fear of thunder
– She bought a mansion in Hollywood Hills, originally designed for Rudolph Valentino. She sold it
– According to Forbes, her net worth is $590 million (and she had only $35 in her pocket… dream big!)
– Guinness Book of World Records listed Madonna as the most successful music artist of all times
– Sold over 300 million records worldwide
– In the past year, her videos on YouTube were viewed 570 million times
– There are even five kinds of Madonna wine, made in her father’s winery. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Franc and Gewurztraminer. Each bottle is priced between 25 and 40$.
– She is a relative of Celine Dior, Camila Parker-Bowles, and Elen DeGeneres.
The Queen Of Pop Madonna Louise Ciccone! Happy birthday!
