Don’t expect Madonna to take a bow just because she’s turning 60.
The Material Girl — now just five years away from being eligible for Medicare — has not been shy about ringing in her milestone birthday Thursday. She’s been counting down the days to the big event on social media with no shortage of sultry snaps.
“Getting ready for my spankings!,” she wrote in one countdown post decked with festive emojis like cake, champagne and a party hat. She threw in a flame emoji to compliment her fiery outfit in an accompanying photo, an all-black ensemble that showed off her thighs.
Who better to represent the sexagenarian set?
But as much as the Queen of Pop is known for pushing the envelope and her daring fashion statements, there are lots of other reasons fans “Cherish” the groundbreaking singer.
Highlights from her 35-years and counting career include being named the best-selling female recording artist of all time, the top solo touring artist of all time, and the most successful solo act on Billboard’s Hot 100 song list.
Not bad for a girl born in Bay City, Michigan who overcame a tough childhood. Born Madonna Louise Ciccone on Aug. 16, 1958, she lost her mom when she was just five. Her mother, who she was named after, died at age 30 from breast cancer in 1963.
The loss had a major impact on Madonna’s life and career. She told Billboard in 2016 that her childhood led her to make sure she had complete control over everything in her life. “My mother dying and me not being told, and a sense of loss and betrayal and surprise,” she told the outlet. “Then feeling out of control for the majority of my childhood, and becoming an artist and saying that I will control everything. No one will speak for me, no one will make decisions for me.”
Madonna had a strained relationship with her father after he remarried. In the late ‘70s, she moved to New York and started landing gigs as a backup dancer before performing in bands. Making the wise decision to go solo, her first two singles — “Everybody” and “Burning Up” — did well on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
This led to her debut album, 1983’s “Madonna,” which rose to number eight on the Billboard 200 chart and included hits like “Lucky Star,” “Borderline” and “Holiday.”
Just as significant, female superfans began wearing the fishnet stockings, lace fingerless gloves, and skirts over leggings that the style icon sported in videos.
She followed “Madonna” with 1984’s “Like a Virgin.” And her performance of the album’s title track at the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards that year shocked viewers long before Kanye West ripped the mic from Taylor Swift’s hands or a scantily clad Britney Spears danced with a snake. That year, Madge rolled around on stage in a wedding dress, touching herself while singing the lyrics to “Like a Virgin.”
The Material Mom followed up the outrageous act with another at the 2003 VMAs, where she locked lips with both Spears and then Christina Aguilera at Radio City Music Hall.
No stranger to controversy, she’d already taken heat for the video for 1989’s “Like a Prayer.” The clip featured the singer’s dream about kissing a black saint along with a KKK-like cross burning. The video was condemned by the Vatican, but ultimately led to her being taken more seriously as an artist.
Next came the sexually charged 1992 album “Erotica,” released alongside the coffee table book, “Sex,” which was loaded with explicit photos and cameos from celebs like Naomi Campbell and Vanilla Ice.
(Excerpt) Read more in: NY Daily News