Louise Veronica Ciccone, better known as Madonna, was born in 1958, in Bay City, Michigan.  She grew up in a humble home with six brothers.  Her Italian-American father was a laborer at Chrysler, and her mother of French-Canadian descent, died when she was only 6-years-old.

Madonna left home and headed to the Big Apple in 1977.  She wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a ballet dancer.  She did dance classes with Alvin Ailey, and modeling classes.  In 1979, she got her foot into show business when she got a job dancing for the Patrick Hernandez Revue.  She had tremendous success with the disco single Born to Be Alive.  This single permitted Madonna to travel, and get to know the music scene.

After this experience, the young dancer formed a group, the Breakfast Club, with her boyfriend at that time, Dan Gilroy.  It did not take long for Madonna to become the group's singer.  In 1980, she formed another group that only lasted a few months.  That was all the time Madonna needed to be noticed.  A demo was sent to Sire Records, where Madonna signed her first contract in 1982.

Madonna recorded the song Everybody, that became a hot dance club song.  Her next single in 1983, was Physical Attraction, and was another hit on the dance charts.  In September of the same year, Madonna released her first self-titled album.  The first single was Holiday.  This song went beyond the dance clubs, and was her first song to be on the Top 40.

For her second album, Madonna worked with the reputable producer Niles Rodgers, former member of the group Chic.  Her album, Like a Virgin was released in 1984.  It is still considered to be one of the most remarkable albums of the 1980s.  The title song was an instant number one hit on the billboards, and remained number one for six weeks.  In 1985, Madonna's success was immeasurable.  She was selling millions of albums, and had popular videos for her latest music.

While her musical career was soaring, Madonna decided to try out the film industry.  She played opposite Rosanna Arquette in the movie Desperately Seeking Susan (1985).  Although the movie was not a huge success, it did have some popularity at the box-office.  During this time, Playboy and Penthouse both published photos taken of Madonna in 1977.

Madonna's personal and professional life started to get a lot of attention by the tabloids.  In August 1985, the rising star married American actor Sean Penn.  The relationship was very rocky, and ended in divorce in 1989.

After so many years of success, critics were skeptical about Madonna being able to keep it up.  In 1986, Madonna released the album True Blue, and the song Live to Tell hit number one on the charts.  The next release, Papa Don't Preach, followed suit, and became a number one around the world.  Desite this busy musical career, Madonna did not want to give up on acting, and starred in the movie Shanghai Surprise with her husband, Sean Penn.  The critics described this movie as a flop.  Madonna's perseverance kept her acting, and in 1987, she played in the box-office failure Who's That Girl?  The soundtrack was far from being a failure.

After a quiet year, Madonna made a booming comeback in the spring of 1989 with the album Like a Prayer.  It immediately went to number one, and is described as the most ambitious album of the decade.  It integrated pop, dance and rock.  Following its release, Madonna did the Blonde Ambition tour, which was chronicled by the Truth or Dare film that came out in 1991.

After her overwhelming year, Madonna decided to spend the following year back in cinema.  She played in the movie A League of Their Own (1992), opposite Geena Davis and Tom Hanks.  This movie had greater success, and generated more than 130 million dollars around the world.

In 1995, Madonna decided to change her image.  She had the starring role in the film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita, and was playing opposite Antonio Banderas.  The part of Evita Peron was an opportunity for Madonna to put her controversial sexual image in the past, and allow people to see her talent.  This part gave her recognition by others in the film industry.  She won a Golden Globe for best actress.  After shooting this movie Madonna announced that she was pregnant.  Her daughter Lourdes, was born in 1996, about the same time Evita hit the big screen.

Another transformation was seen in Madonna when she released her seventh album Ray of Light in 1998.  It featured electronic, techno music.  It received rave reviews by the critics, and her fans could not get enough.  Her next release Music continued to explore this new musical avenue.

The year 2000 was very eventful for Madonna.  She married film director Guy Ritchie (Snatch: Pigs and Diamonds), whom she had been dating for several years.  The couple had a boy that they named Rocco.

Ritchie and Madonna tried their hand at a movie together in 2002.  The romantic comedy Swept Away cost more than 10 million dollars to produce, and was a disaster.  This failure could have meant the end of Madonna's acting career, but again, Madonna is not one to let it bring her down.  In April 2003, she released the controversial album American Life.  The reviews were mixed.

Madonna's versatility has provided her with many opportunities.  Being a mother opened up her eyes to the literary world of children. In September 2003, Madonna launched her first book The English Roses.  It was a best-seller, and was followed by Mr. Peabody's Apples (November 2003), Yakob and the Seven Thieves (June 2004), and The Adventures of Abdi (November 2004).

Despite this new interest, Madonna did not neglect her musical fans.  In 2004, she launched a world tour, called the Re-Invention Tour.  This tour was seen as the most successful tour of that year.

In 2005, Madonna published another children's book Lotsa de Casha.  Confessions on the Dance Floor was released about the same time.  The public and critics were happy that the album was a return to Madonna's usual style of music, after the controversial album American Life.  The first single on this album Hung Up became one of the most successful singles of all time.

A long-awaited world tour was planned for 2006.  In just a few hours the tickets were scarce.  A few hours before her first concert, Madonna launched the CD/DVD of her previous tour, I'm Telling You a Secret.                                                                 

Later that year Madonna signed on to become the new cover girl  for the Swedish clothing store H&M.  She created a collection called M by Madonna, to be launched in the spring 2007. 

In September 2007, Madonna's name made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for being the singer with the highest income in 2004. After completing her Confession tour, Madonna knocked off Britney Spears, who had held this title since 2001.  The DVD for Madonna's Confessions Tour will be out in 2007.In October, Madonna adopted a one-year-old boy, David Banda, from Malawi, Africa.  This adoption was contested by many local agencies.

In February 2007, Madonna was honored at the Elle Style Awards.  The 48-year-old star won for having the most style.