The Queen Of Pop Turns 50

LONDON (Aug. 16) - Madonna won't have much time to fret about turning 50. While many people passing the milestone may prefer to pause and reflect, the "queen of pop" is in the midst of final preparations for her world tour which kicks off in Cardiff, Wales, a week after her Aug. 16 birthday.
If previous shows are anything to go by, the 40-plus "Sticky & Sweet" dates around the globe will put Madonna under the kind of physical and mental strain that would test a woman half her age.
But the world's most successful female recording artist has never let age, sex or background get in her way, and has remained in the ascendancy with an uncanny ability to reinvent herself just when the old Madonna was nearing her sell-by date.
CONTROVERSY
Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan on August 16, 1958, the third of eight children in a devout Italian-Catholic family.Her big breakthrough came in 1984 when she signed a record deal and made her first two big hits "Like a Virgin" and "Holiday." The following year she married Hollywood wild boy Sean Penn and landed one of her most memorable screen roles in "Desperately Seeking Susan."
Madonna then urged director Alan Parker to give her the biographical role of Argentine heroine Eva Peron in the musical film "Evita" that won her a Golden Globe Award in 1996.She has appeared in over 20 films, several of which have bombed, most notably 2002's "Swept Away," directed by Ritchie.Musically, she has few, if any real rivals.The Recording Industry Association of America has described her as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States.Guinness World Records list her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time and she has sold an estimated 200 million albums. Her last tour, "Confessions," became the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist.The Sunday Times estimates Madonna and Ritchie's fortune at around $600million.
Much of Madonna's success is built on her shock value. In 1989, the video for "Like A Prayer," her third transatlantic chart-topper, with its links between religion and eroticism, was condemned by the Vatican and caused Pepsi-Cola to cancel a sponsorship deal with the star.The resulting publicity helped the album of the same title to become a global bestseller.In her 1990 "Blonde Ambition" tour, she famously wore a Jean Paul Gaultier conical bra and covered the stage in religious imagery. The Vatican called it "one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity."
At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards Madonna kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera as they performed her classic song "Like A Virgin."
Copyright 2008, Reuters via(Source:AOL News)