Madonna turns 50: Highs and lows
Madonna – one of the most successful stars in pop history – celebrates her 50th birthday on Saturday.
Use our interactive timeline to find out more about the ups and downs of her career.
Full name: Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone
Born: August 16, 1958, Bay City, Michigan, USA
Also known as: The Queen of Pop, Material Girl, Madge, Esther, Mrs Ritchie.
Biggest hits: Holiday, Into The Groove, Like A Prayer, Vogue, Ray of Light, Music.
Quote: “A woman who pulled herself up by her bra straps and has been known to let them down occasionally” (Bette Midler, introducing Madonna at Live Aid in 1985).
1963 – MOTHER DIES
Madonna’s mother, also called Madonna, dies of breast cancer. The tragic event has a lifelong impact on the singer. “You walk around with a big hole inside you, a feeling of emptiness and longing,” the star later says.
1982-1985 – INITIAL CHART SUCCESS
Madonna moves to New York in 1977, where she studies with choreographer Alvin Ailey and works as a model.
Early music demos recorded with her boyfriend Stephen Bray make their way to Sire Records boss Seymour Stein, who demands to meet her, even though he is in hospital with a heart condition. Impressed with “the drive, the zeal, the ruthlessness” of a young Madonna, he signs her on the spot. But her first few releases only make an impact in clubs.
Holiday becomes Madonna’s first breakthrough hit in the US, reaching number 16 in late 1983. Her first top 10 hit comes a year later with Borderline, a song she later disowns. She is more proud of the subsequent, career-defining hits Like A Virgin and Material Girl. The sell-out Virgin Tour begins in 1985 with support from the Beastie Boys.
1985 – MARRIAGE
Madonna receives rave reviews for her role in mainstream film Desperately Seeking Susan (she previously made low-budget sexploitation movie A Certain Sacrifice in 1979).
She also hits number one with Into The Groove, plays Live Aid, and marries actor Sean Penn on a Californian clifftop, their vows drowned out by the roar of press helicopters circling overhead.
1986 – TRUE BLUE
True Blue was the first time Madonna had a writing credit on every song.
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The album True Blue, with its iconic Herb Ritts cover, cements Madonna’s reputation as the first lady of pop, reaching number one in 12 countries and spawning five hit singles.Papa Don’t Preach, which deals with teenage pregnancy, confirms the star’s willingness to tackle controversial issues, while Live To Tell’s raw vocals (recorded on the first take) show new emotional depth.
Her first world tour, Who’s That Girl, sees the singer mobbed by adoring fans in cities across the globe.
But Madonna’s film career takes the first of many serious beatings with the release of Shanghai Surprise.
A year later, she separates from Sean Penn, and the couple are granted a divorce in 1989.
1989 – LIKE A PRAYER
The video for Like A Prayer caused storms of protest
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The release of Like A Prayer marks the moment when critics first begin to describe Madonna as an artist, rather than a mere pop singer. The title track’s video, which shows the star kissing a black saint, causes storms of protest – but sends her straight to number one.She follows up the album with the hit single Vogue and the lavish Blond Ambition tour. At the end of 1990, Madonna seals her reputation with a Greatest Hits album – The Immaculate Collection.
1992 – SEX
The sex book was shot by noted fashion photographer Steven Meisel
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A coffee table photo book, Sex, finds Madonna in a number of sexually explicit poses with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Vanilla Ice. The book is derided in the press, and the dark and seedy Erotica album suffers as a result.Two years later, she makes a bizarre, expletive-filled appearance on David Letterman’s talk show. Madonna asks the host to smell her underwear, smokes a cigar and quizzes Letterman on whether he urinates in the shower. When she refuses to leave the stage, several audience members shout “get off”.
The show marks a low point in public perception of the star.
1996 – EVITA
Madonna’s casting in Evita helps to rehabilitate her image – and her film career. Meanwhile, she falls pregnant to fitness trainer Carlos Leon, giving birth to her first daughter, Lourdes, in October.
1998 – RAY OF LIGHT
Ray of Light was produced by British musician William Orbit
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Ray Of Light marks a musical return to form. Its laid-back blend of dance and electronica catches the pop superstar in a reflective mood, musing on fame and parenthood. She continues to mine this rich seam of futuristic pop with Beautiful Stranger in 1999 and Music in 2000, albeit with diminishing returns.In the meantime, she meets Guy Ritchie at a party thrown by Sting’s wife Trudi Styler. The couple have a son, Rocco, before tying the knot in Scotland days before the new Millennium.
2004 – RE-INVENTION
The Re-Invention tour took more than $125m (£62.5m) in ticket sales
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After the lacklustre American Life album, Madonna looks to the past for her Re-invention World Tour. Highlights including the yoga-inspired dance routines of Vogue, and a bagpipe version of Papa Don’t Preach.She follows it up with a love letter to disco, Confessions on a Dancefloor, produced by the tour’s musical director Stuart Price. Based around European dance music – including a prominent Abba sample on Hung Up – sells 8 million copies, but its singles perform badly in the US.
The accompanying tour draws flack when Madonna performs Live To Tell while strapped to a mirrored cross, wearing a crown of thorns.
2006 – ADOPTION
Madonna ‘s adoption was challenged by Malawian civil rights groups
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Madonna visits Malawi, arriving by private jet in the capital, Lilongwe. She says she is in the country on a humanitarian mission to visit Aids orphans, but government officials say she plans to adopt a child.A week later, Yohane Banda tells the Associated Press news agency the star has adopted his 13-month-old son, David. “I know he will be very happy in America,” he says.
Madonna denies she has used her status to “fast-track” the process, and the adoption does not receive final approval until 2008.
2008 – KEEPING BUSY
Hard Candy features collaborations with Justin Timberlake and Kanye West
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Showing no signs of letting up the pace as she approaches 50, Madonna parts company with record label Warner Brothers to sign a ground-breaking contract with concert promoters Live Nation.She is also inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; releases an album, Hard Candy; directs her first film, Filth and Wisdom, and produces I Am Because We Are, a documentary about Aids orphans in Malawi – all while fending off rumours about trouble in her marriage.
After celebrating her 50th birthday, the megastar sets off on her Sticky and Sweet world tour next week.
Michael was a personal love of mine, a treasured part of my world, part of the fabric of my life in a way that I can’t seem to find words to express 
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