MADONNA AT 60: HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUEEN OF POP
Madonna's 60th
birthday: The pop star through the years
Reinventing
herself for 40 years, the Queen of Pop has stirred controversy and drawn
criticism. Here are some of her iconic looks.
https://news.sky.com/story/madonnas-60th-birthday-the-pop-star-through-the-years-11473536
As Madonna turns 60, we take a look back at
her most memorable moments, outfits and controversies.
Reinventing
herself over nearly four decades, most people have experienced the release of
new Madonna music at some point in their lives.
Madonna at 60: A colourful career in pictures
Celebrated pop star, actress, director and
writer Madonna celebrates her 60th birthday on Thursday.
The artist - full name Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone -
has performed on 10 concert tours and sold more than 300 million records,
making her the best-selling female recording artist of all time, according to
the Guinness World Records.
We take a look at the star's career and life
in pictures, from her early beginnings studying dance in New York, to her chart
success, film career and family life.
Madonna, seen below in a photo from her high school
yearbook, grew up in Rochester, Michigan.
She moved to New York in
1977 where she studied dance and worked as a model. Madonna is seen below
posing for a number of photo shoots in which she showed she was already
beginning to develop her own personal style and attention to her image.
Pursuing a music career, Madonna recorded
demos with her boyfriend Stephen Bray.
An early rejection letter from 1981 was auctioned in New
York City in 2001, in which a music professional states: "I do not feel
she is ready yet, but I do hear the basis of a strong artist."
When her demos found their
way to Sire Records boss Seymour Stein - while he was being treated in hospital
- he was impressed with "the drive, the zeal, the ruthlessness" of
the young musician who came in to see him in his hospital bed to ensure she got
the deal with his label.
Holiday was Madonna's first breakthrough hit
in the US, entering the chart late in 1983 and climbing to number 16 in January
1984.
Other early career-defining singles Like A Virgin and
Material Girl followed.
The year 1985 was a landmark one for the young singer.
Her Virgin Tour was a sell-out, supported by the Beastie Boys, and Madonna
(below) played at the historic Live Aid concert,
helping to raise money for famine victims in Ethiopia.
Madonna also featured in her first mainstream
film the comedy drama Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985, receiving generally
positive reviews from both critics and cinema-goers.
The artist, who played a streetwise chancer, starred
alongside Rosanna Arquette, a conservative housewife struck with amnesia.
Madonna married actor Sean Penn on a
Californian cliff top in 1985, with press helicopters circling and a
strong-worded message (we can't repeat it here) to photographers written in the
sand on the beach below.
The couple starred together in the 1986 film Shanghai
Surprise, set in China during the Japanese occupation in 1938.
Despite the controversy, the album went
straight to number one.
The album was followed by the single Vogue and the Blond
Ambition tour and again saw Madonna undertaking a big image reinvention. This
time sexuality and female power were the messages.
In 1992 Madonna turned her hand to books,
again sparking controversy. She published the "coffee table" photo
book, Sex, featuring Madonna in a number of sexually explicit poses, some with
celebrities including Naomi Campbell and Vanilla Ice.
Again, reaction was mixed, ranging from outrage to
applause for her courage and message of empowerment.
In 1996, Madonna's film career was given a
boost with her casting in the starring role of Evita, playing Evita Duarte, the
wife of Argentine president Juan Peron.
She is seen below being directed by Alan Parker in the
film.
Madonna's first daughter, Lourdes, with
fitness trainer Carlos Leon, was born in 1996.
The artist returned to music in 1998 with her album Ray
Of Light, featuring dance and electronica styles, covering topics like fame and
parenthood - and again sporting a new relaxed "new age" look.
The singer is seen below in stills from the video of the
album's title track.
A day after the baptism the couple married,
holding an exclusive wedding reception at Skibo Castle in Inverness, seen
below.
The celebrity guest list included actor Rupert Everett,
designers Stella McCartney and Donatella Versace, with actress Gwyneth Paltrow
as maid of honour.
Ritchie directed his wife in the film Swept
Away in 2002, also starring Italian actor Adriano Giannini, seen below.
The film told the story of a socialite stranded on a
Mediterranean island with a communist sailor. It was a box office flop and
picked up five Golden Raspberries.
It was in 2003 that Madonna locked lips with
Britney Spears (pictured) and Christina Aguilera while performing with the two
younger singers at the MTV Video Music Awards, an event that gained much press
attention.
In 2004, Madonna hit the
road again with her Re-invention World Tour, taking more than £62.5m in ticket
sales, with yoga-inspired dance routines, and a bagpipe version of Papa Don't
Preach.
Madonna extended her family with the adoption
of 13-month-old David from Malawi,
receiving final approval on the adoption in 2008. In the same year, Madonna and
Ritchie divorced, ending their eight-year marriage.
Madonna and Ritchie are seen below with their son Rocco
and her daughter Lourdes in 2007 at the Arthur And The Invisibles premiere in
London.
Madonna released her album
MDNA in 2012, followed by a world tour, below.
The artist released her album Hard Candy in
2008. She also directed her first film, comedy drama Filth and Wisdom,
celebrated her 50th birthday and embarked on her Sticky And Sweet world tour,
seen below.
The Super Bowl performance
also featured artists Nicki Minaj, Redfoo and SkyBlu, at the Lucas Oil Stadium
in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 2014, Madonna made a red carpet appearance
with her son David Banda Mwale Ciccone Ritchie at the 56th Grammy Awards in
Los Angeles, California.
When performing on stage for
the Brit Awards 2015 in London, Madonna hit the headlines with an unfortunate
tumble when her cape was whipped off by a backing dancer.
The singer headed out on the road again with her 2016
Rebel Heart Tour, seen here in China.
In 2017, Forbes estimated Madonna's net worth
at $580m (£454m), making her the richest female artist based in America. Celine
Dion is a runner-up with $380m (£299m).
After seven huge world tours, the artist is
looking to develop her performance style to suit smaller audiences. She told Mark Savage from BBC News
in 2017: "I like doing intimate shows and being able to
talk directly to the audience.
"This is something I'm exploring right now: the idea
of doing a show that doesn't travel the world, but stays in one place."
Madonna Turns 60 [Slide show]
