Madonna

📍Upper West Side, New York, NY 10024, USA

“Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan, in August 1958, and grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, where her mother died when she was five. She studied dance at the University of Michigan, then in July 1978 left for New York with little money, determined to become a dancer. Her first years in the city were hard: she lived in a series of cheap apartments, worked in a doughnut shop and as a model for art classes, and studied with the choreographer Pearl Lang. She drummed and sang in rock bands, including the Breakfast Club and Emmy, and immersed herself in the downtown club scene, where DJs at the Danceteria played her demo tapes. In 1982 she signed with Sire Records, and her first album, in 1983, launched her career as one of the best-selling artists of all time.”

Sources: Taraborrelli, J.R. Madonna: An Intimate Biography (2001), Simon & Schuster; Morton, A. Madonna (2001), St Martin's Press; Andersen, C. Madonna Unauthorized (1991), Simon & Schuster