Madonna
Madonna, full name Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone (1958— ). US singer and film actress. Born into an Italian family, she trained as a dancer and began to record in the early 1980s. The song ‘Holiday’ became a US hit in11983. With her striking looks, skilful use of the new medium of video, and talent for self-publicity, she rose to international stardom in 1985-86, when the album Like a Virgin became a million seller. Her success continued with such hits as ‘Like a Prayer’ (1989),and ‘Justify My Love’ (1991), making her the best-selling female performer of all time. In the 1990s her stage performances became more sexually explicit and she published a controversial book of erotic photographs, Sex (1992). Sales of recent releases, such as Bedtime Stories (1995), suggest that her immense popularity may be waning.
