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Biography: Born Madonna Louise Ciccone on August 16, 1958 in Rochester, Michigan, she trained as a dancer at University of Michigan and with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. Madonna performed with a number of rock groups before signing with Sire Records. Her had her first hit, ?Holiday,? in 1983.Her music incorporates a upbeat dance-club sound and catchy choruses. She hired Michael Jackson's manager prior to releasing Madonna (1983), an album which included five US hit singles. Subsequent albums have included Like a Virgin (1984), True Blue (1986), Ray of of Light (1998), Music (2000), American Life (2003), and Confessions on a Dancefloor (2005).

Madonna was the first female artist to take full advantage of the music video. She collaborated with top designers, such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, photographers, and directors. She drew inspiration from underground club culture and the avant-garde to create distinctive sexual and satirical images?from the knowing ingenue of ?Like a Virgin? (1984) to the controversial red-dressed ?sinner? who kisses a black saint in ?Like a Prayer? (1989).

By 1991 Madonna had achieved 21 Top Ten hits in the United States and sold some 70 million albums internationally, generating $1.2 billion in sales. Committed to controlling her image and career herself, Madonna became the head of Maverick, a subsidiary of Time-Warner. Her success as a performer and businesswoman sent a clear message of financial control in the industry.

Her defiant and sexual siren image soared in 1992 when she published Sex, a soft-core pornographic coffee-table book featuring her in a variety of ?erotic? poses as well as the release of the album, Erotica.

Madonna has also acted in films, including Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Shanghai Surprise (1986) and Body of Evidence (1993). In 1996 she starred in the critically acclaimed film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita (1996). She won a Golden Globe for her performance and her song, "You Must Love Me," earned an Academy Award. Also notable is the film Truth or Dare (1991), a documentary of one of her tours.

Madonna made her London West End stage debut in 2002 in Up for Grabs. In a new departure, her first children's book, The English Roses, was published in 2003. Madonna was inducted into the inaugural UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004.

In 2008 she wrote and was the executive producer of I Am Because We Are, a documentary about the lives of Malawi's 1 million plus AIDS orphans.

Madonna was married to actor Sean Penn from 1984 to 1988. In 1996, she gave birth to Lourdes Maria (Lola) Ciccone Leon, whom she had with her lover and personal trainer, Carlos Leon. She married British director Guy Ritchie in 2000; they have a son, Rocco John Ritchie.

On the eve of her 50th birthday, Madonna faced fresh challenges in her personal life. She had to deny reports she was seeking a divorce from husband Guy Ritchie and was romantically linked to baseball star Alex Rodriquez.

She offered no comment, however, to an explosive tell-all book written by her brother in which Chris Ciccone claimed Ritchie?s alleged homophobic attitude had strained the openly gay Ciccone?s relationship with his sister. He also called his sister a ?control freak with insomnia who lives off lists and schedules? and criticized her Kabbalah faith as validating her negative behavior. And the book labels her as promiscuous and a drug user.
In October 2006, during a trip to an AIDS orphanage in the southern African nation of Malawi, Madonna adopted a baby boy named David Banda. Madonna?s application to permanently adopt the boy was approved by Malawai?s high court on May 28, 2008, the pop star?s lawyer said.

"It's a beautiful and positive judgment," Alan Chinula told reporters. "Finally the court has granted Madonna full adoption rights of the boy ... It's all over, thank God."

Madonna and Ritchie, who were not in court for the ruling, had been caring for the child, David Banda, in London ever since a court granted interim custody 18 months before.

David's mother died when he was a month old. His father, Yohane Banda, has said that placing him in an orphanage was the best way to ensure that David can escape a life of grinding poverty.

Critics accused Madonna of using her vast wealth to fast-track the adoption process, a charge she has vigorously denied. A coalition of 67 local rights groups had challenged the interim custody order on the grounds that existing laws in Malawi do not allow for international adoptions.

In 2008 she wrote and was the executive producer of I Am Because We Are, a documentary about the lives of Malawi's 1 million plus AIDS orphans.

"It was a big struggle, and I didn't understand it," Madonna said May 22, 2008, at the Cannes Film Festival, comparing the process to the pain of childbirth. "But in the end I rationalized that, when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she (also) suffers an enormous amount."

Madonna continues to sing, act and manage a number of business interests, splitting her time between the UK and the USA. She launches her forthcoming Sticky and Sweet world tour August 23, 2008.

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