Complete with her short skirts, fishnet stockings, platinum blonde hair and a shiny gold cross dangling from her neck, Madonna stole the hearts of pop music fans throughout the 1980s. She was a radical hero to her many fans, a risqué and dangerous sex object in the eyes of critical parents, but most of all she was a revolutionary in terms of chart-topping pop music. Madonna spared no expense to be one of the most popular musical artists of the shoulder-pad decade. The Guinness Book of World Records lists her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time, with hundreds of millions of records sold worldwide. Madonna, with her scandalous outfits, racy lyrics and sultry onstage performances, helped to redefine a woman's role in the music world and she continues to shape that role even today.Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone in 1958 and soon enough she would be simply known as "Madonna," and no one would have to second guess just who that referred to. Her second album Like a Virgin became her first number one album on the U.S. albums chart, with the single "Like a Virgin" becoming a smash hit instantly.At this point, there was no looking back for little Miss Madonna Louise, she was on the fast track to success. Her follow up albums True Blue, You Can Dance and Like a Prayer exposed the racy singer and performer to more opportunities, like film roles, magazine covers and television promotions as well as hits "Papa Don't Preach," "Open Your Heart," "Like a Prayer," "Express Yourself" and "Cherish."In the early 1990s Madonna appeared in the baseball film A League of Their Own, which became a popular movie of the time and a few years later she would take the title role in the film Evita about the Argentina first lady Eva Peron. The soundtrack to the album contained three of her own singles, one of which, "You Must Love Me," won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song From a Motion Picture.Madonna is still in the fast lane these days, releasing new albums, participating in concerts and landing high spots on the Billboard charts. Madonna is a pop music icon, and even a couple of decades after her very first start in the music world she is still widely referred to as "The Queen of Pop."
