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. (enlarge
photo)
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."
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.