Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone

asdasdasdMadonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan on August 16, 1958 to parents Madonna Louise and Silvio Anthony Ciccone. Her mother was of French Canadian descent and her father was Italian American. She was the third of six children and was raised in the Detroit suburbs. In 1958, when her mother was 30, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away. In order to take care of herself and her siblings, five year old Madonna turned to her grandmother to find comfort and support. She and her siblings despised housekeepers because they believed that no one could take the place of their mother. After her father's marriage to the family's housekeeper, Madonna began to develop feelings of resentment towards her father which developed into a rebellious attitude. She said, "I didn't accept my stepmother when I was growing up." She attended St. Frederick's and St. Andrew's Elementary Schools and later West Middle School. She earned high grade point averages and was known for her notorious behavior. In Rochester Adams High School, she was a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad. After graduating high school, Madonna attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship and dropped out after two years.

From 1977 to 1979, Madonna moved to New York City, where she began performing in the downtown music industry. She started to work as a backup dancer for other established artists and while performing in a world tour, she met musician Dan Gilroy, which whom she became romantically involved. Eventually, she formed the punk-influenced Breakfast Club with Gilroy. A year later, she left Breakfast Club and formed the rock group Emmy with her former boyfriend drummer Steve Bray. Eventually, Bray and Madonna separated from the group and started working on some dance and disco-oriented tracks. Ultimately, these musical groups lead her to her first music contract. A demo tape of these tracks were discovered by Mark Kamins, a New York-based DJ/producer. Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, which signed the singer in 1982. Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire, a label belonging to Warner Bros. Records.

Madonna released her first album, Madonna, which would be the first of her countless albums that would be released throughout her career. This album was produced by Warner Bros. producer Reggie Lucas. On October 6, 1982, Madonna's debut single "Everybody" came out and became a dance hit. It was a part of her self-titled debut album. However, while working on her debut album, she was unsatisfied with the completed tracks and didn't agree with Lucas' producing techniques. She asked for her boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez to help finish her album and remix most of the tracks and produced "Holiday", which was her third single. In this album, the overall sound of Madonna is in the form of upbeat synthetic disco, utilizing