August 4, 2008. Copyright 2008, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Pop icon Madonna celebrates her 50th birthday with a sell-out world tour
By Susan Shepherd

LONDON, August 4, Graphic News:  When the Beatles were at the height of their fame, John Lennon outraged the Church worldwide by suggesting the band was probably bigger than Jesus. Madonna has said she wonÕt be happy Òtill IÕm as famous as GodÓ. And, like the Fab Four, Madge -- to use one of her many nicknames -- has publicly embraced a mystic faith, won legions of devoted followers and managed to offend religious leaders, from the Vatican to Israel, en route. As she turns 50, the Michigan-born daughter of an Italian immigrant father can certainly claim to be known around the globe, currently as much for the state of her marriage and a tell-all autobiography by her brother, Christopher Ciccone, as for the record-breaking music, videos and films of the last 25 years. Undeterred, the singer, who has now had more Top 10 Billboard chart hits than Elvis, sets off on her three-month Sticky & Sweet world tour within days of her milestone birthday.

A mother of three -- including two-year-old David Banda, an African boy she found in an orphanage in Malawi and controversially adopted -- Madonna lost her own mother at the age of six, to breast cancer. Her childhood passion for ballet set her on the path to becoming a performer, first as a dancer and then, in New York, as a band member, composing, playing drums and singing, until a record deal with a label owned by the Warner Brothers empire launched her solo career in 1982.  From the start, the Catholic-raised Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone blatantly used imagery from her upbringing as part of her act -- from song lyrics to fashion accessories. Combining this with overt sexuality, albums such as Like a Virgin (1984), Like a Prayer (1989) and The Immaculate Collection (1990) sold millions.

Complaints from Church authorities -- including the Pope -- served only to fuel MadonnaÕs popularity. In 1992 she published a photographic book, Sex, in which she featured with both men and women. The album Erotica, released the same year, further boosted her sex-siren image, along with her earnings which, to date, are estimated at more than 400 million dollars, making her the worldÕs top-selling female artist.

Film success arrived in 1985 with the critically-acclaimed Desperately Seeking Susan, the same year that she married fellow actor Sean Penn; the couple divorced in 1989. Her performance as Eva Peron in the 1996 screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd WebberÕs Evita won her a Golden Globe award for Best Actress. Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie in Scotland in December 2000, having given birth to their son, Rocco, that summer. Her eldest child is 11-year-old Lourdes, whom she calls Lola, from her relationship with her former fitness trainer, Carlos Leon. A convert to the Jewish cult of Kabbalah, Madonna is reported to have given $20 million towards the building of a faith school and to have persuaded friends -- her husband among them -- to join her on her spiritual quest.
/ENDS