Most successful female recording artist-world record set by Madonna
NEW YORK City, USA -- After selling around 120 million albums and 40 million singles - a combined total more than any other female- Madonna, 50, sets the world record for the Most successful female recording artist .
Photo: Born on August 16 1958, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone is a singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, documentary maker and author. ( enlarge photo )
Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan on August 16, 1958, the third of eight children in a devout Italian-Catholic family.
SHE began her music career as a 14-year-old pop prodigy with no cash and big aspirations. Now, as Madonna hits the big five-O today, she has the world at her feet and her biggest ever tour on the horizon.
Her big breakthrough came in 1984 when she signed a record deal and made her first two big hits "Like a Virgin" and "Holiday".
The singer has the knack of constant reinvention, from cone corsets, her Sex book and kissing Britney Spears, to becoming a children's author and raising awareness about the devastating effects of HIV in Malawi.
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In 1989, the video for "Like A Prayer", her third transatlantic chart-topper, with its links between religion and eroticism, was condemned by the Vatican and caused Pepsi-Cola to cancel a sponsorship deal with the star. The resulting publicity helped the album of the same title to become a global bestseller.
In her 1990 "Blonde Ambition" tour, she famously wore a Jean Paul Gaultier conical bra and covered the stage in religious imagery. The Vatican called it "one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity."
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At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards Madonna kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera as they performed her classic song "Like A Virgin".
A new poll of more than 1,200 Madonna fans, conducted by MSN Entertainment, named 'Like A Prayer' as her best song of all time. The album of the same name also topped the poll as Madonna's best.
Of all her fashion moments, the golden cone corset was voted as the best to date, beating her 1980s Marilyn Monroe look and black bangles and fingerless gloves.
The Sunday Times estimates Madonna and Ritchie's fortune at around $600 million. It is rumoured that the 20 year old arrived in the Big Apple with just $35 (£18) in her pocket.
Her latest reincarnation is a shrewd businesswoman, after she severed ties with long-term record label Warner Brothers to sign up with Live Nation, a company that until recently specialized in music tours.
As well as earning a reported $120 million over the life of the agreement, Madonna appeared to be among the first to recognize which way the music industry was heading.
Recorded music, many artists now believe, is making them less money than live performing, meaning they are looking to spend less time in the recording studio and more on the stage.
The singer has two other children, a son, Rocco, and a daughter named Lourdes.
Youngest Successful Singer-world record set by Cleopatra Stratan
Most successful solo artist-world record set by Elvis Presley
Most succesful tenor-world record set by Luciano Pavarotti
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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